82. We say that every constituent of the Word contains a marriage of the Lord and the church and so a marriage of goodness and truth, because wherever a marriage of the Lord and the church is found, present there also is a marriage of goodness and truth. Indeed, from the first springs the latter. For when the church or a person of the church is governed by truths, the Lord then flows into those truths with goodness and gives them life. Or in other words, when the church or a person of the church possesses intelligence as a result of truths, then the Lord flows through the goodness of love and charity into that intelligence and so infuses it with life.

5. 1. What the spiritual meaning is. The spiritual meaning is not the sense that shines from the literal one when one is studying the Word and interpreting it in order to confirm some dogma of the church. This sense is the Word’s literal sense. Rather its spiritual meaning is one not apparent in the literal one. The spiritual meaning lies within the literal one, like the soul within the body, like thought within the eyes, and affection within the face, which operate in concert, like cause and effect.

That spiritual meaning is what principally causes the Word to be spiritual, not only for people, but also for angels. Consequently that meaning is the means by which the Word communicates with the heavens.