Editing Swedenborgianism (section)

=== {{anchor|Doctrine of sacred scripture}}The Bible ===
The Bible concerns God and his kingdom.<ref>Swedenborg, Emanuel. ''Doctrine concerning the Lord'', 1763 (DL). Rotch Edition. New York: Houghton, Mifflin and Company, 1907, in ''The Divine Revelation of the New Jerusalem'' (2012), n. 1.</ref> The New Church has three pillars: God's divinity, the holiness of the Bible, and a life of good works.<ref>Swedenborg, Emanuel. ''The Final Judgment Continued'', 1763 (FJC). Rotch Edition. New York: Houghton, Mifflin and Company, 1907, in ''The Divine Revelation of the New Jerusalem'' (2012), n. 88, and DP, n. 259.</ref> The Bible is divinely inspired; according to adherents, its spiritual sense has been revealed in the New Church through symbolic correspondence.<ref>Swedenborg, Emanuel. ''Doctrine concerning Sacred Scripture'', 1763 (DS). Rotch Edition. New York: Houghton, Mifflin and Company, 1907, in ''The Divine Revelation of the New Jerusalem'' (2012), n. 5–36.</ref> Its literal meaning, similar to a parable, hides the inner, spiritual sense: "The truths of the sense of the letter of the Word are in part not naked truths, but are appearances of truth, and like similitudes and comparisons are taken from such things as are in nature; and thus are such as have been accommodated and adapted to the capacity of the simple and also of children."<ref>DS, n. 40.</ref>

The Bible cannot be properly understood without doctrine, and church doctrine should be confirmed with it. Doctrine can only be known by those who are enlightened by God,<ref>DS, n. 50–61.</ref> and those who are not can fall into [[heresy]].<ref>DS, n. 91–97.</ref> The Bible [[Biblical infallibility#Infallibility and inerrancy|contains divine truth]]; according to New Church adherents, a person joins God and his angels when reading it.<ref>DS, n. 62–69.</ref>