1024. The symbolism of with you as a spiritual person who has been reborn is established by a plethora of earlier statements to the effect that Noah and his sons symbolize a spiritual church that took the place of the earliest, heavenly church [§§597-598, 605, 726, 765, 788:1, 851]. Since they symbolize a church, they symbolize every member of that church and so a spiritual person who has been reborn.

2861. It happened after these words symbolizes the end of events centering on people within the church. This can be seen from the symbolism of words as events. In the original language, events are called words, so "after these words" means after these events had been brought to a close.

So far, from verse 13 to this one, the story has had to do with the salvation of spiritual people by the Lord's divine humanity-specifically, of people within the church who have goodness. They are the ones who are capable of being truly spiritual, because they have the Word and therefore know religious truth. Doctrinal truth, united to the goodness in our lives, makes us spiritual. That is the source of all spirituality.

Because people outside the church do not have the Word, they do not learn religious truth, as long as they live in this world. Even if they devote themselves to doing good out of love for their neighbor, they are not truly spiritual until they have been taught religious truth. Most non-Christian nations cannot be taught in this world, so in the Lord's providence and mercy, those individuals who have lived lives of mutual kindness and obedience receive instruction in the other world. Then they readily accept religious truth and become spiritual. (For this as the condition and destiny of non-Christians in the other world, see §§2589-2604.)

[2] Since the message so far has had to do with people within the church saved by the Lord's divine humanity, from here to the end of the chapter it has to do with people outside the church who are saved. They are symbolized by the children born to Abraham's brother Nahor by Nahor's wife Milcah and his concubine Reumah. This also follows in order. Anyone who does not know the Word's inner meaning would imagine that this is simply a genealogy for the house of Terah, introduced because of Rebekah, who became Isaac's wife, and because of Bethuel, whose two granddaughters, Leah and Rachel, became Jacob's wives. However, as has been said and shown time and again, all names in the Word have symbolic meaning (§§1224, 1264, 1876, 1888), and if they did not, the Word would not be divine but worldly. From this too it can be seen that the verses that follow form a series dealing with the Lord's spiritual church, but specifically that church as it exists among non-Christians. The image used is Abraham's brother Nahor, and the purpose is to symbolize people whose goodness makes them part of the fellowship, as it says below in §2863.