Swedenborg Arcana Caelestia Vol. I (1750)

47. That these words contain the mysteries of regeneration can also be seen from the fact that in the previous verse it is said that the earth produced a living soul, the beast, and the wild beast of the earth; while in the following verse, it is mentioned in a different order, that God made the wild beast of the earth, and then the beast. For first, man produces [these things] as if from himself, and afterwards, before he becomes celestial, he realizes the order is different; regeneration begins from the external man and proceeds to the internal, which is why the order is reversed here, and external things precede.

48. From these things, it is now clear that the fifth state is when man speaks from faith, which belongs to the understanding, and thereby confirms himself in truth and good; and what he then produces are living things called the "fish of the sea" and the "birds of the heavens." And the sixth state is when, from faith (which is of the understanding) and from love (which is of the will), he speaks truths and does good; what he then produces are called the "living soul" and the "beast." Because he then begins to act not only from faith but also from love, he becomes a "spiritual man," who is called the "image," of which we now speak.

49. Verse 26: And God said, "Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the bird of the heavens, and over the beast, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth." In the most ancient church, with whom the Lord spoke mouth-to-mouth, the Lord appeared as a Man—about which much could be related, but it is not yet time. Therefore, they called no one "Man" except Him, and those things that were His. They did not even call themselves "men," except for those things they perceived they had from the Lord, such as every good of love and every truth of faith; these they called "man's," because they were the Lord's. Hence, in the prophets, in the supreme sense, the Lord is understood by "Man" and "Son of Man," and in the internal sense, wisdom and intelligence. Consequently, everyone who is regenerated is also called "man," as in Jeremiah: "I saw the earth, and behold, it was void and empty; and I looked to the heavens, and there was no light. I saw, and behold, there was no man; and all the birds of the heavens had fled," 4:23, 25. In Isaiah, where in the internal sense "man" signifies the regenerated person, and in the supreme sense, the Lord Himself, as one: "Thus said Jehovah, the Holy One of Israel, and his Maker: I have made the earth, and created man upon it; My hands have stretched out the heavens, and I have commanded all their host," 45:11, 12, 13. The Lord was therefore seen as a Man by the prophets, as by Ezekiel: "Above the expanse was as the appearance of a sapphire stone, the likeness of a throne; and upon the likeness of the throne, a likeness as the appearance of a man upon it above," 1:26. And He was seen by Daniel, and called the Son of Man, or...