Neville Goddard on 1 Corinthians 5:1-5 - Mystical Bible Interpretation

Read 1 Corinthians 5 in context

Scripture Focus

1It is reported commonly that there is fornication among you, and such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles, that one should have his father's wife.

2And ye are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he that hath done this deed might be taken away from among you.

3For I verily, as absent in body, but present in spirit, have judged already, as though I were present, concerning him that hath so done this deed,

4In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when ye are gathered together, and my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ,

5To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.

1 Corinthians 5:1-5

Biblical Context

The passage reports a case of fornication among the Corinthians, rebukes their pride, and speaks of delivering the offender to Satan so that the spirit may be saved.

Neville's Inner Vision

Notice how Paul names a condition of the mind rather than simply an act. The Corinthians’ 'fornication' is not merely a deed but a misalignment of your inner sense of I AM with a chosen belief. The 'father’s wife' hints at an attachment you have allowed to reside in your consciousness, a thought-form masquerading as belonging to you. To be 'puffed up' is to deny mourning the gap between your divine nature and this belief; such denial keeps the belt of your consciousness from tightening into truth. The judgment happens not in a courtroom but within, where I, the awareness you call Christ, state the order of your inner house. 'Deliver unto Satan' is simply the natural consequence of clinging to a lower identification—the flesh fails to sustain a false self, so its labor falls away, exposing the higher self. Still, the aim is salvation of the spirit, a waking to the one life—the Lord Jesus in you. When you gather in consciousness, let the power be your I AM, and allow the mistaken form to dissolve, so that the spirit may live.

Practice This Now

Imaginative_act: Close your eyes, assume the I AM is governing your inner scene, and revise the situation as already aligned with divine order; feel the truth of restoration in your chest as if it already exists.