2088. Here now, I will bless him, make him fruitful, and make him multiply, very greatly means that they will be imbued and gifted with various kinds of religious goodness and the religious truth that comes from it, beyond measure. This can be seen from the symbolism of being blessed, being fruitful, and multiplying. Being blessed means receiving goodness of all kinds as a gift, as shown in the second volume, §§981, 1096, 1420, 1422. Being fruitful symbolizes the kinds of goodness they would receive from their faith, and multiplying symbolizes the truth that would come from it, as also shown in the first two volumes, §§43, 55, 913, 983.
[2] It would take too long to identify and describe heavenly people and spiritual ones here. The task has already been done, as may be seen in such places as §§81, 597, 607, 765, 2069, 2078, and many others. To speak generally, the heavenly are those who love the Lord, while the spiritual are those who feel charity for their neighbor. (For the difference between loving the Lord and having charity for your neighbor, see above at §2023.) Heavenly people are those who love goodness for its own sake, but spiritual people are those who love goodness for the sake of truth.
In the beginning, everyone had a heavenly character, because everyone loved the Lord. As a result, all of them received the power of perception, which enabled them to perceive goodness not from the standpoint of truth but from that of a desire for goodness.
[3] Later on, though, when love for the Lord ceased to be universal, spiritual people took over. They were called spiritual when they loved their neighbor, or in other words, felt charity. Love for their neighbor, or charity, however, was implanted by means of truth. Through it they received the power of conscience, which led them to act not from a desire for goodness but from a desire for truth. Charity in this kind of person looks like a desire for goodness, but it is a desire for truth. Because of the appearance, their charity is still called a form of goodness as well, but the goodness is that of their faith. These are the people the Lord meant in John:
I am the doorway; if any come in through me, they will be saved, and go in and out, and find pasture. I am the good shepherd, and I recognize my own and am recognized by my own. And other sheep I have that are not from this fold; those too I must bring, and they will hear my voice, and there will come to be one flock and one shepherd. (John 10:9, 14, 16)
