1540、如前所述（1020，1283，1401，1403，1408:1节），圣言的真实历史始于前一章，即第十二章。在此之前，确切地说，在希伯之前，它们都是虚构的历史。此处亚伯兰故事的继续在内义上表示主，尤表在祂的外在人与内在人结合，以至于构成一体之前，也就是在祂的外在人以同样的方式变得属天，成为神性之前，祂最初的生命，以及这生命是什么样。历史事件是代表主的，而这些话本身则表示那些被代表的事物。但由于这是一段历史，所以读者不可避免地将注意力集中在这些事件上；尤其是今天，绝大多数人，事实上几乎所有人根本不相信内义的存在，更不相信内义就存在于每句话中。即便内义被清楚证明至此，恐怕他们仍然不会承认它的存在。还有一个原因是，内义似乎与字义相去甚远，以至于几乎无法识别。然而，仅考虑到以下事实，读者也能看出，这些历史不可能是圣言或圣经，即：当与内义分离时，它们和其它历史一样，毫无神性可言；而正是内义使得圣言成为神性。
内义是圣言本身，这一点从已经揭示的许多事清楚看出来，如：
我从埃及召出我的儿子来。（马太福音2:15）
除此之外还有其它许多经文。主复活后也亲自教导门徒，摩西和众先知指着祂都写了什么（路加福音24:27）；由此教导他们，凡圣言中所写的，无不关乎祂、祂的国和教会。这些是圣言的属灵和属天事物；而包含在字义中的事物绝大部分是世俗、肉体和尘世的，永远不可能构成主的圣言。如今的人们都有这样的特点，他们只感知到这类事物，几乎不知道什么叫属灵和属天事物。上古教会和古教会的成员则不然；他们若生活在今天并阅读圣言，根本就不关注字义，而是视字义如无有，只关注内义。如果有人以其它任何方式来感知圣言，他们必大为震惊。因此，古人所有的书都是以这种方式写成的：它们在内义上拥有不同于文字上的意思。
New Century Edition
Cooper(2008,2013)
[NCE]1540. Inner Meaning
TRUE history in the Word started in the last chapter, chapter 12, as noted [搂搂1020, 1283, 1401, 1403, 1408:1]. Up to that point 钬?or rather up to Eber's story 钬?it was fiction.
The continuing story of Abram here symbolizes the Lord, in an inner sense. Specifically, it symbolizes his early life and what this was like before his outer self united with his inner self to form a single entity, that is, before his outer self likewise became heavenly and divine.
The historical events are what represent the Lord; the actual words symbolize the things represented.
Because it is a history, though, readers cannot help fixing their attention on those events. This is especially true today, when few if any believe that an inner meaning exists, let alone that it permeates every single word. Perhaps they will still fail to acknowledge an inner sense, even when it has been so clearly demonstrated. Part of the reason may also be that the deeper meaning appears to depart so radically from the literal meaning that it can hardly be recognized. But the reader can see [that there is such a meaning] simply by considering the fact that the historical details cannot possibly be Scripture, since in isolation from any inner meaning they contain no more divinity than other stories do. The deeper sense is what makes the narrative divine.
[2] The inner meaning is the real Word, as much of revelation discloses. One example is the statement, "Out of Egypt I called my child" (Matthew 2:15),{*1} and there are many others besides. After his resurrection, the Lord himself also taught his disciples what it was that Moses and the prophets had written about him (Luke 24:27). In doing so, he showed them that nothing is written in the Word that does not focus on him, his kingdom, and the church. These are the spiritual and heavenly subjects of the Word. What the literal meaning contains is worldly, bodily, and earthly, for the most part, and could never constitute the Lord's Word.
Modern people are such that this dimension is all they perceive; what the spiritual and heavenly dimension is they scarcely know. Not so the people of the earliest church and the ancient church. Had they lived today and read the Word, they would have paid no attention to the literal meaning (which they would view as insignificant) but only to the deeper meaning. They are stunned that anyone could perceive the Word in any other way. For this reason, all the books of the ancients were written to express something different in an inner sense than in the literal sense.
Footnotes:
{*1} "Out of Egypt I called my child" is a passage from Hosea 11:1 that is quoted in Matthew 2:15. In its original use and in the literal sense, it refers to God's summons to the Israelites after the centuries they spent in Egypt. In Matthew 2:15, however, it is understood to be a prophecy concerning Jesus. [LHC]
Potts(1905-1910) 1540
1540. THE INTERNAL SENSE The true historicals of the Word began, as before said, with the foregoing chapter-the twelfth. Up to that point, or rather to Eber, they were made-up historicals. In the internal sense, the historicals here continued respecting Abram are significative of the Lord, and in fact of His first life, such as it was before His external man had been conjoined with the internal so as to make one thing; that is, before His external man had been in like manner made celestial and Divine. The historicals are what represent the Lord; the words themselves are significative of the things that are represented. But being historical, the mind of the reader cannot but be held in them; especially at this day, when most persons, and indeed nearly all, do not believe that there is an internal sense, and still less that it exists in every word; and it may be that in spite of the fact that the internal sense has been so plainly shown thus far, they will not even now acknowledge its existence, and this for the reason that the internal sense appears to recede so far from the sense of the letter as to be scarcely recognized in it. And yet that these historicals cannot be the Word they might know from the mere fact that when separated from the internal sense there is no more of the Divine in them than in any other history; whereas the internal sense makes the Word to be Divine. [2] That the internal sense is the Word itself, is evident from many things that have been revealed, as, "Out of Egypt have I called My son" (Matt. 2:15); besides many others. The Lord Himself also, after His resurrection, taught the disciples what had been written concerning Him in Moses and the Prophets (Luke 24:27); and thus that there is nothing written in the Word that does not regard Him, His kingdom, and the church. These are the spiritual and celestial things of the Word; but the things contained in the literal sense are for the most part worldly, corporeal, and earthly; which cannot possibly make the Word of the Lord. At this day men are of such a character that they perceive nothing but such things; and what spiritual and heavenly things are, they scarcely know. It was otherwise with the men of the Most Ancient and of the Ancient Church, who, had they lived at this day, and had read the Word, would not have attended at all to the sense of the letter, which they would look upon as nothing, but to the internal sense. They wonder greatly that anyone perceives the Word in any other way. All the books of the Ancients were therefore so written as to have in their interior sense a different meaning from that in the letter.
Elliott(1983-1999) 1540
1540. THE INTERNAL SENSE
As has been stated, narratives in the Word that draw on true history began with the previous chapter. Down to that point, or rather down to Eber, they were made-up history. The continuation of the Abram story here means in the internal sense the Lord and in particular His life as it was at first before His External Man had been joined to His Internal to the point of their functioning as a unit, that is, before His external Man as well had become celestial and Divine. The historical details are what represent the Lord, while the actual words mean those things that are being represented. But because they are historical descriptions the mind of the reader. inevitably dwells upon them, especially nowadays when the majority, indeed almost everybody, does not believe in the existence of an internal sense at all, let alone within individual words. And perhaps they will still not acknowledge the existence of it even though it has been shown so clearly up to this point. There is the further reason that the internal sense seems to be so withdrawn from the sense of the letter that it is scarcely recognizable. Yet they can know of it merely from the consideration that historical records by themselves cannot ever constitute the Word, for there is no more of the Divine in them when they are separated from the internal sense than in any other historical narrative. It is the internal sense that makes it Divine. The fact that the internal sense is the Word itself is clear from many things that have been revealed, such as
Out of Egypt have I called My son. Matt 2:15.
besides many others like this. The Lord Himself also, after the Resurrection, taught the disciples what had been written concerning Himself in Moses and the Prophets, Luke 24:27, thus that nothing has been written in the Word which does not have regard to Him, to His kingdom, and to the Church. These are the spiritual and celestial things of the Word, but the sense of the letter consists for the most part of worldly, bodily, and earthly images which cannot possibly constitute the Word of the Lord. Nowadays people are such that they do not perceive anything except matters of this sort. They scarcely know what spiritual and celestial things are. It was different with the member of the Most Ancient Church or of the Ancient Church. If he were living today and reading the Word he would not pay any attention to the sense of the letter, which he would regard as nothing at all, but only to the internal sense. Members of those Churches are utterly amazed that anyone perceives the Word in any other way. All the books of the ancients therefore were written in such a fashion that they had a different import in the interior sense from what they had in the letter.
Latin(1748-1756) 1540
1540. SENSUS INTERNUS HISTORICA vera Verbi incohata sunt, ut dictum, capite praecedente xii; illuc usque seu potius ad Eberum fuerunt historica facta: quae nunc de Abramo continuantur, in sensu interno significant Dominum, et quidem primam Ipsius vitam qualis fuit antequam Externus Ipsius Homo conjunctus fuit cum Interno adeo ut unam rem agerent, hoc est, antequam Externus Ipsius Homo similiter caelestis et Divinus factus sit. Historica sunt quae Dominum repraesentant, ipsa verba sunt significativa illorum quae repraesentantur: sed quia historica sunt, mens legentis non aliter potest quam teneri in illis, cumprimis hodie cum plerique et fere omnes non credant dari sensum internum, minus in singulis verbis; et forte nec agnitum adhuc, tametsi ita manifeste huc usque ostensum est; ex eo quoque, quod sensus internus appareat ita recedere a sensu litterae ut vix cognoscatur; sed scire possunt solum inde quod historica nusquam possint esse Verbum, quia in illis separatis a sensu interno non plus Divini est quam in alio quodam historico; at sensus internus facit ut Divinum sit. Quod sensus internus sit ipsum Verbum, constat a multis quae revelata sunt, ut Ex Aegypto vocavi filium Meum, Matth. ii 15;praeter plura alia; Ipse etiam Dominus post Resurrectionem docuit discipulos quid apud Mosen et Prophetas scriptum fuisset de Ipso: Luc. xxiv 27, ita quod nihil in Verbo scriptum quod non Ipsum spectet: Ipsius regnum, et Ecclesiam; haec sunt spiritualia et caelestia Verbi; at quae sensus litterae habet, sunt utplurimum mundana, corporea, et terrestria, quae nusquam facere possunt Verbum Domini. Hodie tales sunt ut nihil nisi quam talia percipiant; quid spiritualia et caelestia, vix sciunt; aliter quam talia percipiant; quid spiritualia et caelestia, vix sciunt; aliter Antiquissimae et Antiquae Ecclesiae homo, qui si hodie vixisset et legisset Verbum, nihil attenderet ad sensum litterae: quem videret sicut nullum, sed ad sensum internum; mirantur valde quod aliquis aliter percipiat Verbum: quare etiam omnes antiquorum libri ita scripti sunt ut aliter ferrent in sensu interiore quam in littera.