565. 'Man' here means the human race at that period of time, in particular the race that was evil or corrupt. This becomes clear from the following verses,

My spirit will not reprove man for ever, in that he is flesh, verse 3;

The evil of man had been increased on the earth; and all the imagination of the thoughts of his heart was altogether evil, verse 5;

I will wipe out man whom I have created, verse 7; and in the next chapter,

All flesh creeping over the earth breathed its last; and every man, in whose nostrils was the breath of the spirit of life. ¹ Genesis 7:21-22.

Concerning man it has been stated already that the Lord alone is Man, and that by virtue of Him every celestial man or celestial Church is called man, as is every other man or Church. And the same applies also to every individual, of whatever faith, to distinguish him from animals. But nobody is man or different from animals except, as has been stated, by virtue of remnants, which are the Lord's. Indeed remnants are what enable anyone to be called man; for it is on account of remnants which are the Lord's and so are obtained from Him that even the worst human being is called a man. For without remnants a person is in no sense a man but an utter beast.

Poznámky pod čarou:

According to Swedenborg, a person's name in the Bible represents his or her entire spiritual nature, their whole state of love (good or evil) and thought (from heavenly wisdom to infernal insanity). This is why the name of the Lord is so important; it represents and embodies His perfect love and perfect wisdom, which is everything that we should worship and follow. It's easy to see that names are important in the Bible. Jehovah changed Abram and Sarai to Abraham and Sarah, changed Jacob to Israel and included in the Ten Commandments the order that believers "shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain." In the New Testament, Zacharias was told to name John the Baptist "John," and both Joseph (Matthew 1:21) and Mary (Luke 1:31) were told to name Jesus "Jesus." Jesus himself renamed Simon as Peter, and included the phrase "hallowed be thy name" in the Lord's prayer.

(Odkazy: Luke 1)