478. The reason he is called Adam is that the Hebrew word Adam means man. But the fact that Adam was never used as a proper name, only Man, is quite clear from the consideration that both here and earlier he is spoken of in the plural and not in the singular, and that the term refers to both man and woman. The two together are called Man. Anyone may see from these words that both are included, for it is said, 'He called their name Man on the day in which they were created', and similarly in 1:26, 28, 'Let Us make man in Our image, and they will have dominion over the fish of the sea. This shows also that the subject is not about someone who, when created, was the first human being of all, but about the Most Ancient Church.

1532. From the Lord's light in heaven wonderful things appear, too numerous ever to be listed. There is a constant stream of representatives of the Lord and of His kingdom like those mentioned in the Prophets and in the Revelation to John, besides other things that carry a spiritual meaning. Man never can behold those things with the eyes of the body, but the moment anyone's interior sight, which is the sight of his spirit, is opened by the Lord, such things can be rendered visible. The visions of the prophets were nothing else than occasions when the interior sight was opened, as when John saw the golden lampstands, Revelation 1:12-13, and the holy city as pure gold, and its light like a very precious stone, Revelation 21:2, 10-11, and more besides in the Prophets, from which one may know not only that angels live in supreme light but also that more things exist there than anyone can possibly believe.