Inner Discipline and Salvation

Neville's Inner Vision

To me, the words 'absent in body, present in spirit' imply your I AM gazing through every scene of your life. The 'offender' in the text is a stubborn habit you have entertained as real in your inner theater. The 'gathered together' and the power of our Lord Jesus Christ signal the exact moment you unite attention with the creative principle you call God. Delivering such an one unto Satan means permitting the old pattern to run its course so its destruction exposes the lie of it, while your higher self—the spirit—remains intact and ready to resurrect a truer state. The aim is not punishment but salvation: the spirit is saved by waking to what you actually are. In other words, judgment is a revision of inner state, a renunciation of limitation, so that the flesh (outward circumstance) loses its grip and the inner reality of Christ within you emerges. When you consciously assume this new state, you enact holiness, sever separations in consciousness, and step into the Lord's day as your immediate experience.