435. As regards 'the man and his wife' here being used to mean the new Church which earlier on was meant by 'Adah and Zillah', this nobody can know or deduce from the sense of the letter, for previously 'the man (homo) and his wife' meant the Most Ancient Church and its descendants. The point is clear however from the internal sense, and also from the fact that a little further on, in verses 3-4 of the next chapter, reference is again made, though the wording is entirely different, to the man and his wife begetting Seth. At that point the first generation of the descendants of the Most Ancient Church is meant. Unless something different were meant at this point there would be no need to say the same thing again. A parallel to this exists in Chapter 1, where the subject is the creation of man, and also of the fruits of the earth, and of beasts; followed by Chapter 2, where similar events are described, the reason for the similarity being, as has been stated, that Chapter 1 deals with the creation of the spiritual man, Chapter 2 with the creation of the celestial man. When this kind of repetition of one and the same person or thing occurs, something different is meant on the first occasion from the second. But the exact meaning cannot possibly be known except from the internal sense. The actual train of thought in like manner establishes the meaning here. And there is the added consideration that 'man and wife' is a general expression meaning that Church, which is the subject here and from which the new Church was born.

7035. 'Israel is My son, My firstborn' means that those guided and governed by spiritual truth and good have been adopted. This is clear from the meaning of 'son', when used by Jehovah or the Lord to speak of those who belong to the spiritual Church, as one who has been adopted, dealt with below; from the meaning of 'firstborn' as the faith that is wedded to charity, which the spiritual Church possesses, dealt with in 367, 2475, 3725, 4925, 4926, 4928, 4930; and from the representation of 'Israel' as the spiritual Church, dealt with in 6637. 'Israel is My son, My firstborn' means that those guided and governed by spiritual truth and good - that is, those belonging to the spiritual Church - have been adopted and so recognized as sons because the Lord saved them by His Coming into the world, see 6854, 6914. For this reason also, as well as by virtue of their faith in the Lord, they are called 'the firstborn son'; and they are the ones who are meant by the Lord in John,

And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will hear My voice, and there will be one flock and one Shepherd. John 10:16.