372. When the good and the true are united in an angel or in one of us, they are not two entities but one, since the good then follows from the true and the true from the good. This union is like the one that occurs when we think what we intend and intend what we think. Then our thought and our intention form a unity; the thought forms or presents in a form what our volition intends, and our volition gives it its appeal. This is also why two spouses in heaven are not called two angels, but one.

Again, this is the meaning of the Lord's words,

Have you not read that the One who made them from the beginning made them male and female and said, "For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and cling to his wife, and the two will become one flesh." So they are no longer two, but are one flesh. What God has united, let no one sever. Not everyone accepts this word, only those to whom it is given. (Matthew 19:4-6, 11; Mark 10:6-9; Genesis 2:24)

Here we have a description of the heavenly marriage angels are in and at the same time the marriage of the good and the true. "Let no one sever what God has united" means that the good is not to be severed from the true.

The Hebrew of the Old Testament has six different common words which are generally translated as "wife," which largely overlap but have different nuances. Swedenborg uses two different Latin words, which largely overlap but have different nuances. Meanwhile, "wife" is often paired with "man" or "husband," which are also catch-all translations for a basket of Hebrew and Latin terms. So it's hard to pin down one universal meaning for "wife"; context and subject matter have a large effect.

In general, though, marriage in the Bible represents the union we all seek between our hearts and our minds. If we know what is right and pursue it faithfully, the Lord will ultimately help us love doing what is good, and the two aspects of ourselves will be unified. On a higher level, marriage represents the union we can have with the Lord, both individually and collectively as a church. As an intrinsic part of the marriage, the wife plays a key role in that meaning. But that meaning is different depending on what is being described.

If the marriage is describing a person who is spiritual in nature – "spiritual" being the second degree of heavenly life, in which people are led by intellect and knowledge with the desire for good following – the wife represents the desire for good, the affections that drive the person. If the marriage is describing someone who is celestial in nature – "celestial" being the highest degree of heavenly life, in which people are led from love, with the intellect and ideas following – the wife represents the true ideas held by the person or church. If the marriage is describing the union between the Lord and the church, the wife represents the church.

In a way, these are symbolic meanings that actually have little to do with gender. When "wife" describes a church, obviously that church can include both male and female people. When "wife" describes an aspect of a person, that person can obviously be either male or female.

(Odkazy: Arcana Coelestia 915, 1468, 1904 [1-2], 3246 [3-4], 3398, 4823 [2])