Sola Scriptura – Scripture Alone

Readers of Swedenborg are often accused of a reliance upon another source of truth than the Word. But what we see in Swedenborg is not a replacement of the Word, but an understanding of WHY the Word is regarded as holy, quite different from the one found in the mainstream churches.

“That the Word is holy and Divine from inmosts to outer-mosts is not evident to the man who leads himself, but is evident to the man whom the Lord leads. For the man who leads himself sees only the external of the Word, and judges from its style; but the man whom the Lord leads judges of the external of the Word from the holiness that is in it. The Word is like a garden, that may be called a heavenly paradise, in which are dainties and delightful things of every kind, dainties from the fruits, and delightful things from the flowers; and in the middle of it trees of life, and near them fountains of living water, and round about trees of the forest, and near them rivers. The man who leads himself judges of that paradise, which is the Word, from its circumference, where the trees of the forest are; but the man whom the Lord leads judges of it from the middle of it, where the trees of life are. The man whom the Lord leads is actually in the middle of it, and looks to the Lord; but the man who leads himself actually sits down at the circumference, and looks away from it to the world.” (Apocalypse Explained, paragraph 1072, section 2)

“… although people have said that every jot is divinely inspired they have not meant by that anything more than this, that those narratives serve to disclose certain historical facts from which some specific point may be deduced that can be included in the doctrine of faith – of use to those who instruct and to those who learn – and that because they are divinely inspired they have a Divine impact on human minds and do more good than any other kind of historical narration. But regarded in themselves historical narrations can do little to lead to a person’s change for the better and nothing whatever to bring him to eternal life; for in the next life the things that belong to history cease to be remembered. … To enter heaven and experience its joy, that is eternal life, souls have no need of anything except that which is the Lord’s and which derives from Him. It is for the sake of these things that the Word exists, and those are the things which it contains interiorly.” (Heavenly Secrets, paragraph 1886, section 4) “… the Church resides where the Word is and owes its existence to the Word, and worship consists of those things that are contained in the Word. Consequently whatever the quality of a person’s understanding of the Word is, so is the quality of the Church in him and the quality of his worship.” (Heavenly Secrets, paragraph 10707, end) “… The term ‘Church’ is not used because it is the place where the Word is and teachings drawn from it, or because it is where the Lord is known and the sacraments are celebrated. Rather it is the Church because it lives in accordance with the Word or with teachings drawn from the Word, and seeks to make those teachings its rule of life.” (Heavenly Secrets, paragraph 6637, section 2)