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.

1152. Verses 3-4 And the sons of Gomer Ashkenaz, and Riphath, and Togarmah. And the sons of Javan: Elishah, and Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim.

'The sons of Gomer' also means those who possessed external worship, but an external worship derived from that which existed with the nation 'Gomer'. 'Ashkenaz, Riphath, and Togarmah' were just so many nations with whom such worship existed, and who also mean just so many types of matters of doctrine which were forms of ritual, derived from the external worship existing with 'Gomer'. 'The sons of Javan' means others again with whom there existed external worship derived from the worship existing with the nation 'Javan'. 'Elishah, Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim' were just so many nations with whom such worship existed, and who also mean just so many types of matters of doctrine which were forms of ritual, derived from the external worship existing with 'Javan'.