The concept of a "church" in the Writings is both complex and beautifully organic, linked with teachings on the nature of the Lord and the resulting nature of mankind.

The Writings say that the Lord, in His essence - His actual substance - is perfect, infinite love, a love that powered creation, that is the ultimate source of reality, and that sustains reality constantly. That love is expressed in form as perfect, infinite wisdom, which gave form to creation and gives form to reality.

Deep stuff! You can read more about that elsewhere, but what matters here is that all of creation, from the smallest elements to the whole of the universe, reflects that same structure. It's present in nature itself, powered by the heat (love) and light (wisdom) of the sun. It's present in the essential forms of life, with plants (which are rooted; which change little; which are unfeeling; which are powered by light) representing elements of wisdom and animals (warm, feeling, mobile, ever-changing, powered by heat) representing forms of love. It's present in the near-universal division into male (wisdom) and female (love) aspects of plants and animals alike.

That structure is also in each of us. In common language we might call these our hearts and our minds - what we want and what we think. The Writings commonly talk of them as good (love; what we want in our hearts) and truth (wisdom; what we know in our minds) or as will (heart) and understanding (mind). Not only do these elements define us, they are also key to our spiritual fates. We can use them to accept the Lord's love, come into the good of life and ultimately go to heaven. We can also use them to reject the Lord's love and trot off to hell.

And there are further layers. The Writings say that all human societies are in human form, with functions analogous to the human body. This is true from small groups like families to large companies to entire nations and ultimately to both the entire human race in this world and the entirety of heaven in the next.

Among the most important human societies are, naturally, churches. Since the concept of a "church" is based on the human form, though, churches as referred to in the Writings can take many forms. At one end of the scale, any one person who has true ideas of right and wrong and lives by them is a church himself or herself. At the other end of the scale, all those in the whole world who believe in love of the neighbor – and act from that belief – collectively make up one church.

Many other varieties lie between those two extremes, but most references to "church" in the Writings mean the community of those who have the Word, know the Lord, and follow His commandments. These people have access to the best possible truth and deepest possible understanding about the nature of the Lord and what He wants from us.

Such a church plays a vital role: The Lord works through it to get ideas about being good into people's minds and the desire to be good into the inner recesses of their hearts, reaching far beyond that church itself to touch everyone in the world. In fact, the Writings say there is in essence a marriage between the Lord and the church, with the church in the role of the bride and wife, producing true ideas and good desires the way a wife produces children.

To protect this function, the Lord has made sure that throughout history (and a good bit of prehistory) there has always been a church filling this role.

The first of these was the Most Ancient Church, represented by Adam; it was inspired by love of the Lord. The second was the Ancient Church, represented by Noah; it was inspired by love of the neighbor and knowledge of the Lord. The third was the Israelitish Church, which had no interior love of good but preserved ideas of the Lord. The fourth was the primitive Christian church, which had a new, more direct understanding based on the Lord's teachings. The fifth, according to the Writings, is to be based on the deeper understanding offered through the Writings and their explanations of the Bible.

There is much more that could be said, but we'll just emphasize one other point:

We as individuals are who we are based on what we love, not what we know. We will go to heaven or to hell based on what we love, not what we know. Knowing, thinking and seeking truth are important things, but their purpose is to shape, guide and serve our loves; love is ultimately what matters. The Writings make it abundantly and repeatedly clear that it is the same with churches: They are ultimately based on love, not knowledge, on their determination to serve the neighbor, not their external forms of worship. And if churches share that common purpose of serving the neighbor then they are in essence one, with doctrinal variations being of little consequence.

(References: Apocalypse Revealed 533; Arcana Coelestia 407, 768, 1799 [3-4], 2048, 2853 [2-3], 2910, 2982, 3310, 3773, 3963 [2], 4292, 4672, 4723, 5826 [2-3], 6637, 6648, 8152, 9256 [4-5], 9276 [2]; Conjugial Love 116; Heaven and Hell 57; The Word 8; The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Sacred Scripture 99, 104)

768. 'Noah' means what belonged to that Church, and 'Shem, Ham, and Japheth' what belonged to the Churches that derived from it. This is clear from the fact that here they are not called simply 'his sons', as they were previously in verse 7, but that their names are added as well. When their names are mentioned in this way they mean the member of the Church. The member of the Church is not only the Church itself, but also everything belonging to it. It is a general term embracing whatever belongs to the Church, as stated already in reference to the Most Ancient Church which was called Man, and likewise in reference to the others mentioned by name. 'Noah' therefore and 'Shem, Ham, and Japheth' mean whatever belongs in its entirety to the Church and to the Churches deriving from it.

[2] Such is the style and manner of expression used in the Word. For example, when Judah is mentioned in the Prophets it means in most cases the celestial Church or whatever belongs to that Church. When Israel is mentioned it means in most cases the spiritual Church or whatever belongs to that Church. And when it is Jacob it means the external Church. For with every member of the Church there exist the internal aspect of the Church and the external. The internal is where the true Church is to be found, while the external is what derives from it, which is Jacob.

[3] It is different when they are not mentioned by name, for the reason that in that case they relate to the Lord's kingdom in a representative fashion. The Lord is the only Man, and is the All of His kingdom. And because the Church is the Lord's kingdom on earth, the Lord alone is the All of the Church. The All of the Church is love or charity, and therefore 'man', or what amounts to the same, someone who is mentioned by name means love or charity, that is, the All of the Church. 'Wife' in that case means quite simply the Church that comes from it, as is also the case here. The character of the Churches meant by 'Shem, Ham, and Japheth' however will in the Lord's Divine mercy be discussed later on.

3309. 'And Esau was a man skilled in hunting' means the good of life that has its origin in sensory truths and factual truths. This is clear from the representation of 'Esau' as the good of life, dealt with above, and from the meaning of 'a man skilled in hunting' as those who have the affection for truth, dealt with in what follows - for 'a skilled man' has reference to the affection for truth, that is, to those who have that affection for truth, whereas 'hunting' means truths themselves, though truths which belong to the natural man and in which goods have their origin. Now because the truths of the natural man are called factual, 3293, and factual truths are primarily of two kinds or two degrees - sensory and factual proper - 'hunting' here means both of these. Sensory truths occur with children, factual with those same children when they are growing up, for factual truths cannot exist with anyone before he has received sensory truths because the ideas that make up factual truths are acquired from sensory truths. Then, from those factual truths, other truths even more interior can be learned and grasped, which are called matters of doctrine, meant by 'a man of the field', dealt with below in the next paragraph.

[2] The reason why 'hunting' means the sensory truths and factual truths that are taught to those in whom the good of life is present and who have the affection for those truths is that the word 'hunting' in a broad sense refers to creatures caught through hunting, such as rams, he-goats, she-goats, and the like, by which are meant spiritual goods, see 2180, 2830; and also because the weapons used in hunting, which were the quiver, the bow, and darts, mean matters of doctrine upholding what is true, 2685, 2686, 2709. These are the things meant by 'hunting', as may be seen from what Isaac his father told Esau, in Chapter 27 below,

Take now your weapons, your quiver and your bow, and go out to the field and hunt venison for me, and make me savoury food such as I love. Genesis 27:3-4; and, in the same chapter, from what he told Jacob, who was posing as Esau,

Bring it to me that I may eat from my son's venison, so that my soul may bless you. Genesis 27:25.

These quotations show what 'hunting' or 'venison' means.

[3] Consequently 'hunting' is teaching [what is true] or else inducing a belief in what is false, and in both senses, that is to say, acting from an affection for truth or from an affection for falsity. Acting from an affection for truth is described in Jeremiah,

I will bring them back over their land which I gave to their fathers. Behold, I am sending to many fishermen, and they will fish them; and after that I will send to many hunters and they will hunt them from upon every mountain, and from upon every hill, and from the holes in the rocks. Jeremiah 16:15-16.

'Fishermen' stands for those whose teaching is drawn from sensory truths, 40, 991, 'hunters' those whose teaching is drawn from factual truths, and also from matters of doctrine. 'Upon every mountain, and upon every hill' stands for teaching people who are stirred by the affection for good and by the affection for truth - 'mountain' and 'hill' carrying such meanings, see 795, 796, 1430. 'Hunting in the field', as in Genesis 27:3, implies the same. Inducing others to believe what is false and doing so from the affection for falsity is described in Ezekiel,

Behold, I am against your little pillows with which you there hunt the souls to make them fly away, and I will tear them from on your arms, and I will let the souls go that you hunt, souls to fly away; and I will tear off your veils and deliver My people out of your hand, and they will be no more in your hand to be hunted. Ezekiel 13:18-21.

For the meaning of 'hunting' in this sense, see 1178, though nets are normally associated with this type of hunting.