Genesis: Chapter 3.

Here’s an informal summary of Swedenborg’s deep, spiritual meaning of Genesis Chapter 3, the famous “Fall of Man,” from Arcana Coelestia:

The Real Story of The Fall: A Shift in Consciousness.

For Swedenborg, Genesis 3 isn’t a historical drama about a talking snake, an apple, and two people who ruined it for everyone. It’s a symbolic account of the total spiritual decline of the Most Ancient Church (the celestial people from Chapter 2), and how a person loses their pure, innocent connection with God. The whole chapter describes a catastrophic, but gradual, change in how people thought and lived—a spiritual illness that passed down to all subsequent generations.

The Serpent’s Trick: Relying on Senses (Verses 1–6).

The key players aren’t literal individuals; they represent aspects of the human mind: The Serpent (Nachash): This doesn’t mean a snake. In the internal sense, the “Serpent” is the Sensuous Principle—the lowest, most external part of the natural mind. It’s the part that deals only with sense knowledge (what you can see, hear, taste, touch, and feel) and uses that as the basis for all truth. It’s cunning because it can twist facts and use appearances to reason against genuine spiritual truth. The Woman (Eve): Represents the Affection for Truth or the External Will. She’s the first one to be tempted because the desire to know and explore (even if it’s external knowledge) is what first opens the door to self-reliance.

The Man (Adam): Represents Perception/Understanding or the Internal Will. He’s meant to be guided by the Lord’s pure love.

The Temptation.

The Serpent whispers to the Woman, saying, “Did God really say…?” This is the moment when the mind begins to question Divine Truth based on external, sensory evidence. The Woman listens to the Serpent: The Affection for Truth (Eve) starts listening to the Sensuous Principle (Serpent). She begins to trust her own sight and feelings more than the inner guidance she used to have. She eats the fruit: Eating from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil means they chose to determine good and evil for themselves using their own independent reason and knowledge, rather than simply perceiving it through love from the Lord (the way they did in Chapter 2). They swap celestial love (which is perfect) for natural knowledge (which is flawed and self-serving). She gives it to her Man: The external desire to know (Eve) drags the Internal Understanding (Adam) along with it. The inner mind, which should have ruled, consents to the corruption of the external mind. This is the real “Fall”: the spiritual order is reversed. The lowest part of the mind (the senses) now dominates the highest part (love and perception).

Shame and Hiding (Verses 7–13).

When “the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked,” it’s not about being physically exposed; it’s spiritual revelation. Eyes Opened: They realize they are in a state of evil and falsity—they have lost their innocence. Before, they were “clothed” in innocence and love from the Lord. Now that love is gone, and they feel exposed and shameful. Sewing Fig-Leaves: Fig-leaves symbolize external, moral appearances and self-justification. They are trying to cover up their evil intentions with rules, ceremonies, and rationalizations that look good on the outside but are dead on the inside.

Hiding from God.

“Hearing the voice of Jehovah God” means they still had a small, remaining bit of Conscience or Perception. They hid because they had turned away from the Lord. Hiding is the spiritual act of turning love (which is the Lord’s presence) into fear and shame. The Blame Game: Adam blames Eve (“the woman You gave me”), and Eve blames the Serpent. Spiritually, the Intellect blames the Will/Affection, and the Will blames the Senses. It’s the mind refusing to take responsibility for its own corruption.

The Consequences and Curse (Verses 14–21).

The “curses” are not punishments God actively inflicts, but the inevitable consequences of the human race separating itself from the Divine Order. Curse on the Serpent (Senses): “Upon your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat.” This means the Sensuous Principle (the Serpent) is utterly degraded. It now seeks only the lowest things—the “dust” being the most external and dead things of the world. It’s crawling because it can’t look up to heaven anymore. Curse on the Woman (Affection for Truth): She will have “pain in childbearing.” This means the struggle to produce new spiritual truths and goods (spiritual children) will become difficult and painful, requiring labor and sorrow.

Curse on the Man (Understanding):

The ground is “cursed,” and he will eat bread “in the sweat of your face.” This means their intellectual life and their efforts to cultivate spiritual things will be hard, laborious, and fraught with falsity and evil (thorns and thistles).

The Lord’s Mercy (Coats of Skin):

God clothing them in “coats of skin” is an act of Divine Mercy. Skin (or animal hides) represents the lowest, most external level of the mind. By closing off their internal (celestial) mind and covering them with this external natural shell, the Lord protected them from immediately destroying themselves. They lost their pure perception, but they gained a thick external cover—so they could still live a moral life and eventually be regenerated via an external way (doctrine/faith) instead of the internal way (pure love/perception).

The Exile (Verses 22–24).

“Therefore the Lord God sent him out of the garden of Eden.” Exile from the Garden: Being “driven out” is another act of mercy. It means the Lord closed off their internal spiritual mind. If they had stayed in that high, internal state while being evil, they would have instantly condemned themselves to eternal death. The separation was necessary to preserve a spiritual connection, even if it was a lesser one.

Cherubim and Flaming Sword.

The “Cherubim” represent the protection of the Word’s internal sense. The “flaming sword” is the false principles that they started to use, which keep them forever separate from the pure, internal life of the Garden (celestial love). They cannot go back that way—they must now take the long, hard road of regeneration through faith and charity.

Summary.

Genesis 3 details the moment when humanity shifted from a state of innocence and pure love (where God spoke directly to the heart) to a state of self-reliance, external knowledge, and the corruption of the will. This fall was not a quick event, but a long, tragic process where the lowest desires (the Serpent) took charge of the entire mind (Adam and Eve).

Taken from Arcana Coelestia Volume 1.

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