7999. 'A purchase paid for with silver' means who is in possession of some spiritual truth. This is clear from the meaning of 'a purchase' as that which is acquired and made one's own, dealt with in 4397, 4487, 5374, 5397, 5406, 5410, 5426; and from the meaning of 'silver' as truth, dealt with in 1551, 2954, 5658, at this point spiritual truth since a slave who was bought means in the internal sense the natural man, and the master who bought him therefore means the spiritual man. No one can know what this really implies unless he knows in what way the spiritual buys the natural for itself, that is, acquires and makes it its own. When a person is being regenerated his internal and external, that is, his spiritual and natural, are at variance with each other at first; for his spiritual desires the things of heaven, whereas his natural desires those of the world. But at this time the spiritual is constantly entering the natural and bringing it into agreement. This is done by means of truth; and what the spiritual brings into agreement with itself within the natural is said to be 'bought with silver', that is, acquired and made its own by means of truth.

4487. 'Their acquisition, and their purchase' means their truths. This is clear from the meaning of 'acquisition and purchase' as truths. But a distinction exists between these two expressions in that 'acquisition' when also used of small cattle means the good of truth, for that is what is meant by 'small cattle', but the good of truth is truth in will and action, see 4337, 4353, 4390. 'Purchase' however, which is elsewhere called 'the purchase of silver', means truth. The former - the good of truth - is called celestial truth, whereas the latter is called spiritual truth, 2048. Celestial truth is truth which has been made part of life, whereas spiritual truth is truth that constitutes doctrine.