János 1:8

The "he" here – John the Baptist – represents the external, literal meaning of the Bible. It is a powerful thing, but that power comes from what’s inside it: the internal ideas that express the Lord’s perfect love and leadership. These ideas – called "divine truth" in the Writings – are represented by the "light," and were embodied in the physical form of Jesus.

The purpose of the Bible’s literal stories, then, is not to teach us directly. We are not supposed to read them and try to extrapolate modern interpretations of ancient rules, or even to seek literal applications of Jesus’s own statements. The stories are there to contain and confirm the perfect loving truth within, which is a direct expression of the Lord. That’s what we should be seeking, learning, embracing and following.