Coming to a genuine understanding of God’s words is no simple matter. Do not think this way: “I can interpret the literal meaning of God’s words, and everyone says my interpretation is good, and gives me a thumbs-up, so this means I understand God’s words.” That is not the same as understanding God’s words. If you have gained some light from within God’s utterances, and you have gotten a sense of the true meaning of His words, and if you can express the intention behind His words and what effect they will ultimately achieve—if you have a clear understanding of all of these things—you can be considered to have some level of understanding of God’s words. Thus, understanding God’s words is not all that simple. Just because you can give a flowery explanation of the literal meaning of God’s words does not mean you understand them. No matter how much you can explain their literal meaning, your explanation is still based on human imagination and a human way of thinking. It is useless! How can you understand God’s words? The key is to seek the truth from within them. Only in this way can you truly understand God’s words. God never speaks words that are empty. Each sentence He utters contains details that are certain to be exposed further in His words, and they may be expressed differently. Man cannot fathom the ways in which God expresses the truth. God’s utterances are very profound and cannot be easily fathomed with human thinking. People can discover roughly the entire meaning of every aspect of the truth as long as they make an effort. The details that remain are to be filled in for them during their subsequent experience, by the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit. One part is pondering and understanding God’s words and seeking their specific content by reading them. Another part is understanding the meaning of God’s words by experiencing them and obtaining enlightenment from the Holy Spirit. Through constant progress in these two aspects, you can come to understand God’s word. If you interpret it on a literal, textual level or from your own thinking and imaginings, then even if you explain it floridly and eloquently, you still don’t really understand the truth, and it is all still based on human thinking and imaginings. It is not gained from the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit. People are liable to interpret God’s words based on their notions and imaginings, and they may even misinterpret God’s words out of context, making them liable to misunderstand and judge God, and this is troublesome. Therefore, the truth is mainly gained by understanding God’s words and being enlightened by the Holy Spirit. Being able to understand and explain the literal meaning of God’s word does not mean you have gained the truth. If understanding the literal meaning of God’s word meant you understood the truth, then you would only need to have a little education and knowledge, so why would you need the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit? Is God’s work something that the human mind can comprehend? Therefore, understanding the truth is not based on human notions or imaginings. You need the enlightenment, illumination, and guidance of the Holy Spirit to have real experience and knowledge. This is the process of understanding and gaining the truth, and it is also a necessary condition.

—The Word, Vol. 3. The Discourses of Christ of the Last Days. How to Know Man’s Nature