267. 13. Because of the Word, Even People Who Are outside the Church and Who Do Not Have the Word Have Light.

No connection to heaven is possible unless somewhere on earth there is a church where the Word exists and where the Lord is known through that Word. This is because the Lord is the God of heaven and earth - without the Lord there is no salvation. (For the Word providing a connection to the Lord and association with angels, see 234-239 above.) It is enough if there is one church where the Word exists. Even if this church consists of comparatively few people, still the Lord is present throughout the world by means of the Word, since heaven is connected to the human race through the Word.

227. With the help of a body of teaching, the Word is not only understood, it shines in our intellect - it is like a lampstand with the lamps lit. Then we see much more than we had seen before and understand things we had not understood before. Things that are unclear or out of harmony we either pass by without noticing or we notice and explain in such a way that they harmonize with our body of teaching.

The Word is viewed on the basis of a given body of teaching and explained along its lines. Our experience of the Christian world testifies to this. All Protestants see the Word through their body of teaching and use it to explain the Word. So do all Roman Catholics. Jews do likewise. A body of false teaching yields false beliefs, and a body of true teaching yields true beliefs. Clearly then, a body of true teaching is like an oil lamp in the dark and a signpost on a roadway.