915. Noah and his sons means the people of the ancient church, went out means came into being, and his wife and his sons' wives means the church itself. This meaning is indicated by the story line, which suggests that the ancient church therefore came into existence, since these words are final ones, summing up all that came before.
When the Word describes the church, it uses either the phrase man and wife or the phrase a human and his wife. 1
When it uses man and wife, the man symbolizes an element of the intellect, or something true, while the wife symbolizes an element of the will, or something good. When it uses a human and his wife, the human symbolizes the good that love embraces, or love, while the wife symbolizes the truth that faith espouses, or faith. So the human symbolizes the core quality of the church, while the wife symbolizes the church itself. This comes up over and over in the Word.
Since up to this point the text has been speaking of the formation of a new church upon the death of the earliest church, Noah and his sons here symbolize the people of the ancient church, while his wife and his sons' wives with him symbolize the church itself. For this reason, the order of the phrases here differs from that of verse 16, which says, "Go out, you and your wife, and your sons and your sons' wives with you." This links you with wife, and sons with sons' wives, so that you and sons symbolize truth, while your wife and your sons' wives symbolize good. In the current verse, though, the order is not the same, for the reason (as stated) that he and his sons symbolizes the people of the church while his wife and his sons' wives symbolizes the church itself. The clause is a conclusion to all that came before.
It was not Noah who constituted the ancient church but his sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, as noted before [§§773, 788]. In a sense, there were three churches that formed this ancient church, about which I will say more below, by the Lord's divine mercy. 2
These churches came forward as if born from a single church — the one called Noah. That is why the present verse says Noah and his sons and then his wife and his sons' wives.
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