485. That a different church is here meant by “Seth” from that which was described above (425), may be seen at n. 435. That churches of different doctrine were called by the same name, is evident from those which in the foregoing chapter (verses 17-18) were called “Enoch” and “Lamech” while here other churches are in like manner called “Enoch” and “Lamech” (verses 21, 30).

435. That the “man” and his “wife” here mean the new church signified above by Adah and Zillah no one could know or infer from the literal sense, because the “man and his wife” had previously signified the Most Ancient Church and its posterity; but it is very evident from the internal sense, as well as from the fact that immediately afterwards, in the following chapter (Verses 1-4), the man and his wife, and their begetting Seth, are again mentioned, but in entirely different words, and in this case there is signified the first posterity of the Most Ancient Church. If nothing else were signified in the passage before us, there would be no need to say the same thing here: in like manner as in the first chapter the creation of man, and of the fruits of the earth, and of the beasts, is treated of, and then in the second chapter they are treated of again, for the reason, as has been said, that in the first chapter it is the creation of the spiritual man that is treated of, whereas in the second chapter the subject is the creation of the celestial man. Whenever there is such a repetition in the mention of one and the same person or thing, it is always with a difference of signification, but what it is that is signified cannot possibly be known except from the internal sense. Here, the connection itself confirms the signification that has been given, and there is the additional consideration that man [homo] and wife are general terms which signify the parent church that is in question.