The Bible

 

Genesis 1:27

Study

       

27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

Commentary

 

Fruit

  
Apples at the farm market

We tend to think of "fruit" in two ways in natural language. One is as food that grows on trees and vines, sweet and delicious, and able to be eaten without harming the plant in any way. Another is as the things we produce, what our work yields for the betterment of the world. These are obviously connected: we are like trees, producing things that "feed" the world in some way, just as the tree produces fruit that feeds us. It makes sense, then, that the idea of fruit in the Bible is bound closely to the idea of goodness. Fruits that are eaten represent the desire for good and the energy to do what is good; fruit that is produced is the actual good that we go into the world and do.

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #1014

Study this Passage

  
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1014. Verse 7 And you, be fruitful and multiply; swarm over the earth and multiply in it.

'Be fruitful and multiply' here, as previously, means increases in good and truth in the interior man, 'being fruitful' having reference to goods, and 'multiplying' to truths. 'Swarm over the earth and multiply in it' means increases in good and truth in the external man, which man is 'the earth' - 'swarming' having reference to goods, 'multiplying' to truths.

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Society for the permission to use this translation.