76. The Existence of the Church Rests on the Word, and Its Quality Depends on the Quality of Its Understanding of the Word

THERE can be no doubt that the existence of the church rests on the Word, since the Word is divine truth itself (§§1-4), the teachings of the church come from the Word (§§50-61), and our union with the Lord comes through the Word (§§62-69). However, some may doubt that our understanding of the Word is what makes the church, if only because there are people who believe that they are part of the church solely by virtue of having the Word, reading it, or hearing it from the pulpit, and by thus having acquired some knowledge of its literal meaning. They do not know how to understand a single thing in the Word, though, and some of them do not even attach much importance to the Word at all. So at this point I need to show that it is not the Word that makes the church but the way the Word is understood, and that the quality of the church depends on the quality of the understanding of the Word among the people who are in the church. This is shown by the following.

3006. These are the things that angels perceive when the names Jesus Christ are used, and the things that are meant by its being said that in no other name is there salvation, and by what the Lord stated so many times concerning His name, as in John,

Whatever you ask in My name, I will do. John 14:13-14.

In the same gospel,

These things have been written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name. John 20:31.

And elsewhere. 'His name' means everything in its entirety by which the Lord is worshipped, and so the essential nature of all worship and doctrine, see 2724. Here therefore the good of love and charity is meant when joined to the truth of faith, which constitutes the fabric of doctrine and worship in their entirety.