I've not heard that Diamond has definitively explained the song, kinda guess he offers different explanations at different times, if he even does explain it.
But the song is not religious. Like Kenneth Burke, he couches his thoughts on secular things and relationships in religious terminology. The song's about his love for a woman, the religious terminology it intended to bring thoughts of redemption, sanctification and healing to the relationship between him and his beloved. His love for her is considered as a sacred thing, and sacred words are being used to express it.
I've not heard that Diamond has definitively explained the song, kinda guess he offers different explanations at different times, if he even does explain it.
But the song is not religious. Like Kenneth Burke, he couches his thoughts on secular things and relationships in religious terminology. The song's about his love for a woman, the religious terminology it intended to bring thoughts of redemption, sanctification and healing to the relationship between him and his beloved. His love for her is considered as a sacred thing, and sacred words are being used to express it.