SS39.由此明显可知，字义上的圣言是真正的圣言本身，因为字义里面有灵和生命；属灵意义是它的灵，属天意义是它的生命。这就是主所说的话，即：我对你们所说的话就是灵，就是生命（约翰福音6:63）。主向世人说这些话，是在属世意义上说的。没有属世意义，即字义，属灵和属天意义就不是圣言；因为没有这层意义，它们就像没有身体的灵和生命，也像一座没有根基的宫殿，如前所述（33节）。
39. We can tell from this that in its literal meaning the Word is really the Word. There is spirit and life within; the spiritual meaning is its spirit and the heavenly meaning is its life. This is what the Lord said: “The words that I speak to you are spirit and are life” (John 6:63). The Lord said his words to the world and said them in their earthly meaning.
Apart from the earthly meaning, which is the literal meaning, the spiritual and heavenly meanings are not the Word; [without it] they are like a spirit and life without a body - and as just noted in 33, like a palace that has no foundation to rest on.
39. It can be seen from this that the Word in its literal sense is the Word itself, inasmuch as that sense has within it spirit and life — the spiritual sense being its spirit, and the celestial sense its life.
It is as the Lord says: “The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life” (John 6:63). The Lord spoke His words for the world’s comprehension, employing their natural meaning.
The spiritual and celestial senses are not the Word apart from the natural sense, the sense of the letter, as they would be like spirit and life without a body, and as said before in no. 33, like a palace lacking a foundation.
39. From this it may be evident that the Word is the Word itself in its sense of the Letter, for within this there reside spirit and life; the spiritual sense is its spirit, and the celestial sense is its life. This is meant by what the Lord says:
The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life. John 6:63.
The Lord spoke His words before the world, and in the natural sense. The spiritual and celestial senses are not the Word, without the natural sense, which is the sense of the Letter; for they are like spirit and life without a body; and they are, as has been said above in No. 33, like a palace which has no foundation.
39. From all this it is evident that in the sense of the letter the Word is the very Word itself, for within this sense there are spirit and life, the spiritual sense being its spirit, and the celestial sense its life. This is what the Lord says:
The words that I speak unto you are spirit and are life (John 6:63).
The Lord spoke His words before the world, and in the natural sense. The spiritual sense and the celestial sense without the natural sense which is the sense of the letter, are not the Word; for without it they are like spirit and life without a body; and are (as before said, n. 33) like a palace without a foundation.
39. Ex his constare potest quod Verbum sit ipsum Verbum in suo sensu litterae, in hoc enim intus est spiritus et vita; sensus spiritualis est ejus spiritus, et sensus caelestis est ejus vita. Hoc est quod Dominus dicit,
"Verba quae Ego loquor vobis, spiritus et vita sunt" (Johannes 6:63).
Dominus verba sua coram mundo, et in sensu naturali locutus est. Sensus spiritualis et sensus caelestis non sunt Verbum absque sensu naturali, qui est sensus litterae, sunt enim sicut spiritus et vita absque corpore; et sunt (ut prius33, dictum est,) sicut palatium cui deest basis.