Fire, in the spiritual sense, can mean either love or hatred depending on the context, just as natural fire can be either comforting in keeping you warm, or scary in burning down your house. Our language reflects this, too -- we use concepts like a smoldering hatred or a burning love. So fire signifies a love, either a good love of the neighbor and to the Lord, or, in a bad sense, selfish love of oneself that, if unchecked by conscience, leads to hatred of anyone that opposes it.

In Genesis 15:2, this signifies a state deprived of good and truth and thus no longer representing the church. (Arcana Coelestia 4886[3]) Childless also signifies that there is no internal church. (Arcana Coelestia 1794)