10169. From these considerations it is evident that love which is indeed conjugial is a union of two people on inner levels, on the levels of thought and will, and so on those of truth and good since truth belongs to thought and good to the will. One in whom that love is present loves what the other thinks and what the other wills, and so also loves to think in the same way and to will the same things as the other does, consequently to be united to the other and become so to speak one human being. This is what is meant by the Lord's words in Matthew,

And the two will become one flesh; therefore they are no longer two, but one flesh. Matthew 19:4-6; Genesis 2:23-24.

A company might have executives setting policy and strategy, engineers designing products, managers handling personnel and others handling various functions. They all do different things -- but if they're doing them with a shared underlying purpose, the company -- and the individuals in it -- will likely be successful. The Lord wants all human society to function in a similar way. We have different skills and individual loves, but if we all share a mutual love -- a love of serving others -- then society will function as one, will be a reflection of heaven and will be a good receptacle for the Lord's love. This can also happen within each of us, as we unify our talents and ideas around a central love. And in an abstract sense, it illustrates how a wide collection of varying ideas can be unified around a shared good intention. That is the kind of love pictured when “one” is used in the Bible, either as a specific number or in the sense of several people or objects “being one.” In more casual references -- when used to identify a specific person or object -- the meaning is relatively literal, and is connected to that person or object.