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566. 五十九, 何为地狱之火和咬牙切齿
迄今为止, 几乎没有人知道圣言中论及地狱之人的永火和咬牙切齿是什么意思. 这是因为人们仅以物质的方式思考圣言的内容, 对它的灵义一无所知. 所以有些人就将火理解为物质的火, 有些人理解为总体的折磨, 有些人理解为良心的自责, 有些人则认为经上提及火只是为了在恶人里面激起恐惧. 同样, 有些人以为咬牙切齿是指真的咬牙切齿, 有些人以为仅仅是指人听见这种牙齿叩击声时所感到的一种恐惧. 不过, 人若了解圣言的灵义, 就能知道何为永火, 何为咬牙切齿, 因为圣言的每个词及其意义都包含一个灵义. 事实上, 圣言的核心是属灵的; 灵义只能以属世的词语向世人表达, 因为人在自然界, 并基于自然界的事物进行思考. 故接下来有必要解释一下何谓死后恶人的灵所进入, 或他们的灵在灵界所遭遇的“永火”和“咬牙切齿”.
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566. 地獄之火和咬牙切齒
迄今為止, 鮮有人瞭解聖言所說地獄不滅之火和咬牙切齒是何含義。因為他們從物質的角度理解聖言的描述, 對靈義一無所知。關於地獄之火, 有的將其理解為物質的火, 有的認為它是痛苦的總稱, 有的將其理解為良心的譴責, 有的認為它只是對罪惡的警戒。關於咬牙切齒, 有的將其理解為磨牙, 有的將其理解為磨牙之聲帶給人的戰慄。
瞭解聖言靈義的人卻明白不滅之火和咬牙切齒各是何義, 因為聖言的每個描述都含有靈義。從本質上說, 聖言是屬靈的。但是, 屬靈的含義必須通過屬世的表達法才能傳遞給我們, 因為我們處在人間, 通過人間的事物進行思考。
接下來, 我將解釋不滅之火和咬牙切齒是惡人進入心靈世界以後將要面臨的遭遇。
566. Hellfire and Gnashing of Teeth
Until now, hardly anyone has known the meaning of the eternal fire and gnashing of teeth ascribed to people in hell in the Word. This is because people think materialistically about statements in the Word, in ignorance of its spiritual meaning. So some of them understand the fire to be material fire, some think it is torment in general, some the pangs of conscience, some that it is just words meant to strike a terror of evil into us. Some understand the gnashing of teeth to be a kind of grinding, some only the kind of shudder we feel when we hear this kind of clash of teeth.
Anyone familiar with the spiritual meaning of the Word, though, can realize what eternal fire and gnashing of teeth are, since there is spiritual meaning in every expression and in the meaning of every expression in the Word. At heart, that is, the Word is spiritual, and spiritual meaning can be expressed to us only in natural terms because we are in a natural world and think on the basis of what we encounter in it.
In the following pages, then, I shall explain what the eternal fire and gnashing of teeth are that evil people find after death, or that their spirits experience once they are in the spiritual world.
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566. WHAT HELL FIRE IS AND WHAT THE GNASHING OF TEETH IS
What eternal fire is, and the gnashing of teeth, which are mentioned in the Word in reference to those who are in hell, scarcely as yet has been known to anyone, because they have thought materially about the things that are in the Word, not knowing its spiritual sense. So fire has been understood by some to mean material fire, by others to mean torment in general, by others remorse of conscience, and others have held that it is mentioned merely to excite terror in the wicked. Likewise some have supposed the gnashing of teeth to mean actual gnashing, and some only a horror, such as is excited when such a grinding of teeth is heard. But anyone who is acquainted with the spiritual meaning of the Word may know what eternal fire is, and what the gnashing of teeth is; for every expression and every meaning of the expressions in the Word contains a spiritual meaning, since the Word in its bosom is spiritual; and what is spiritual can be set before man only in a natural way of expression, because man is in the natural world and thinks from the things there. Therefore it will now be told in the following passages what is meant by "eternal fire" and "the gnashing of teeth" into which the spirits of evil men enter after death, or which their spirits, then in the spiritual world, endure.
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566. WHAT HELL FIRE IS AND WHAT THE GNASHING OF TEETH IS.
What eternal fire is, and what the gnashing of teeth is, which are mentioned in the Word in reference to those who are in hell, scarcely any one as yet has known, because the contents of the Word have been thought about only in a material way, and nothing has been known about its spiritual sense. So fire has been understood by some to mean material fire, by others to mean torment in general, by others remorse of conscience, and others have held that it is mentioned merely to excite terror in the wicked. Likewise some have supposed the gnashing of teeth to mean actual gnashing, and some only a horror, such as is excited when such a collision of teeth is heard. But any one who is acquainted with the spiritual meaning of the Word may know what eternal fire is, and what the gnashing of teeth is; for every expression and every meaning of the expressions in the Word contains a spiritual meaning, since the Word in its bosom is spiritual; and what is spiritual can be set before man only in natural forms of expression, because man is in the natural world and thinks from the things of that world. Therefore it shall now be told what is meant by "eternal fire" and "the gnashing of teeth" into which the spirits of evil men enter after death, or which their spirits, then in the spiritual world, endure.
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566. [LIX.] QUID IGNIS INFERNALIS, ET QUID STRIDOR DENTIUM.
Quid ignis aeternus, ac stridor dentium, qui in Verbo dicuntur de illis qui in inferno sunt, vix ulli adhuc notum est; ex causa, quia de illis quae in Verbo sunt, materialiter cogitaverunt, non scientes ejus sensum spiritualem: quapropter per ignem" intellexerunt quidam ignem materialem, quidam in genere cruciatum, quidam conscientiae morsum, quidam modo ita dictum ad incutiendum terrorem pro malis: ac per stridorem dentium" intellexerunt quidam talem stridorem, quidam modo horrorem, qualis est cum talis collisio dentium auditur. Sed qui spiritualem sensum Verbi novit, is scire potest quid "ignis aeternus," et quid "stridor dentium;" nam cuivis voci, et cuivis vocum sensui in Verbo, spiritualis sensus inest, quoniam Verbum in suo sinu est spirituale, ac spirituale coram homine non potest aliter quam naturaliter exprimi, quia homo in naturali mundo est, et ex illis, quae ibi, cogitat. Quid itaque "ignis aeternus," et "stridor dentium," in quos homines mali quoad suos spiritus post mortem veniunt, seu quos eorum spiritus, qui tunc in spirituali mundo sunt, patiuntur, in nunc sequentibus dicetur.