54. The reason the Word is not only understood but also shines with the aid of a body of teaching is that the Word is not understandable apart from a body of teaching but is like a lampstand with no lamp, as just noted [§52]. So the Word understood by means of a body of teaching is like a lampstand with a burning lamp on it. We then see more than we had seen before and understand what we had not understood before. Things that are obscure and contradictory we either do not see and ignore or we see and explain in such a way that they harmonize with our body of teaching.
The experience of the Christian world bears witness to the fact that people see the Word through their body of teaching and explain it from that perspective. Obviously, all Protestants see the Word in the light of their teachings and explain it accordingly. Catholics too see it and explain it in the light of their teachings, and Jews see it and explain it in the light of theirs. A body of false teaching yields false beliefs, and a body of true teaching yields true beliefs. We can therefore see that a body of true teaching is like a light in the darkness and like signposts along the way.
However, our body of teaching must not only be drawn from the literal meaning of the Word, it must be supported by it as well, since if it is not supported by it, the truth of our body of teaching would seem to contain only our own intelligence and none of the Lord’s divine wisdom. That would make our body of teaching a castle in the air and not on the ground, a castle with no foundation.
