Neville Goddard on 1 Corinthians 5:9-11 - Mystical Bible Interpretation

Read 1 Corinthians 5 in context

Scripture Focus

9I wrote unto you in an epistle not to company with fornicators:

10Yet not altogether with the fornicators of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or with idolaters; for then must ye needs go out of the world.

11But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one no not to eat.

1 Corinthians 5:9-11

Biblical Context

Paul urges believers not to keep company with those who openly sin within the church, while recognizing that they still live among worldly people. The passage emphasizes holy boundaries, accountability, and a community that safeguards the soul.

Neville's Inner Vision

To read this text through the I AM is to see that Paul is not commanding punishment but inviting a shift in consciousness. The 'fornicator' and the 'idolater' are symbols of states you tolerate within your mind—habits and beliefs that pretend you are defined by appetite or lack. When Paul says not to keep company with such a one, he points to your inner ability to withdraw identification from that image. The line about going out of the world is a reminder that if you insist on feeding the world of appearances, you will be forced to live among its folly; but in truth you remain inside the evergreen garden of I AM, where no state of sin can touch you. Not to eat is not to nourish the belief that you are the sum of another's behavior or of the outer scene. Your true fellowship is with the I AM, the immutable self, and your body, actions, and relationships align to reflect that inner state. The boundary you keep is a boundary of consciousness, not a border of geography.

Practice This Now

Imaginative act: Sit quietly and assume, I AM one with all in God. Allow this unity to dissolve any image of separation, reinforcing that no external action can define me.