133. "'Who calls herself a prophetess.'" This symbolically means, and who make that faith the central doctrine of the church and found their whole theology upon it.

A prophet in the Word symbolizes the doctrine of the church, as may be seen in no. 8 above, and so likewise does a prophetess.

As people know, the Protestant Reformed Christian Church has accepted faith alone as the only means of salvation, and therefore works of charity have been divorced from faith as being not saving. As a result, the entire doctrine of human salvation, called theology, consists today of that faith, and accordingly is "the woman Jezebel."

These days we tend to think of "roads" as smooth swaths of pavement and judge them by how fast we can drive cars on them. A "path" is something different, suitable only for walking or maybe bicycles, and a "way" has more to do with giving directions than any physical reality. When we get "lost" it usually means we're in a car on an unfamiliar road -- a far cry from being in the middle of a trackless wilderness with no idea which direction to go. The ancient world was very different, with isolated towns and endless square miles of trackless wilderness. Then a "way" was a set of landmarks to follow to get from one place to another through the wilderness. A "path" was a way used enough to leave a visible trace on the ground, and a "road" was a heavily used path, easily followed and walkable. So it makes sense that when used in the Bible, all three terms represent guiding truth, ideas that lead us where we want to go. This is pictured in the modern use of "way" -- when we talk about the "way" to do something or the "way" to get somewhere. We're talking about the correct, best, most efficient method of doing something or getting somewhere. And it's good information -- truth -- that helps us find that best way.