The number "two" has two different meanings in the Bible. In most cases "two" indicates a joining together or unification. This is easy to see if we consider the conflicts we tend to have between our "hearts" and our "heads" -- between what we want and what we know. Our "hearts" tell us that we want pie with ice cream for dinner; our "heads" tell us we should have grilled chicken and salad. If we can bring those two together and actually want what's good for us, we'll be pretty happy. We're built that way -- with our emotions balanced against our intellect -- because the Lord is built that way. His essence is love itself, or Divine Love, the source of all caring, emotion and energy. It is expressed as Divine Wisdom, which gives form to that love and puts it to work, and is the source of all knowledge and reasoning. In His case the two aspects are always in conjunction, always in harmony. It's easy also to see how that duality is reflected throughout creation: plants and animals, food and drink, silver and gold. Most importantly, it's reflected in the two genders, with women representing love and men representing wisdom. That's the underlying reason why conjunction in marriage is such a holy thing. So when "two" is used in the Bible to indicate some sort of pairing or unity, it means a joining together. In rare cases, however, "two" is used more purely as a number. In these cases it stands for a profane or unholy state that comes before a holy one. This is because "three" represents a state of holiness and completion (Jesus, for instance, rose from the tomb on the third day), and "two" represents the state just before it.

74. Insofar as Someone Refrains from Every Form of Adultery as Being a Sin, So Far He Loves Chastity

In the natural sense of the sixth of the Ten Commandments, to commit adultery means not only to behave licentiously, but also to engage in obscene acts, to speak lasciviously, and to entertain filthy thoughts. In the spiritual sense it means to adulterate the Word’s goods and falsify its truths. And in the highest sense to commit adultery means to deny the Lord’s Divinity and profane the Word. These are all forms of adultery.

From rational sight the natural person may know that to commit adultery also means to engage in obscene acts, to speak lasciviously, and to entertain filthy thoughts. But he does not know that to commit adultery means in addition to adulterate the Word’s goods and falsify its truths. And still less does he know that it also means to deny the Lord’s Divinity and profane the Word. Consequently, neither does he know that adultery is so great an evil that it may be called the height of diabolical conduct. For someone engaged in natural adultery is also engaged in spiritual adultery, and the converse. The reality of this will be demonstrated in a separate little publication on marriage.

Still, the kinds of people who are engaged in all these forms of adultery simultaneously are those who do not, in faith or life, regard adultery as a sin.