The Inner Seal of Apostleship

Neville's Inner Vision

Paul’s words are not begging for approval from others; they reveal a state of consciousness. When he asks, 'Am I not an apostle? am I not free?', he points to a condition of being that cannot be taken away by men. The claim, 'have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord?' is not a historical recollection but a present sensing—awareness recognizing itself as the Christ. And when he asks, 'are not ye my work in the Lord?', the meaning shifts from credential to creation: the people who stand in the Lord with him are the proof of his mission within consciousness. The second verse clinches this: even if others judge him, in the Lord those whom he has awakened are the seal of his apostleship. In Neville’s terms, God is the I AM—awareness itself. Your life becomes the 'work in the Lord' whenever you rest in that awareness, and your results—relationships, healings, shifts in circumstance—are the inner echo of that recognition. The Corinthians’ unity is a model for inner harmony: to regard every childlike witness as your own self in the Lord is to affirm that you are, right now, the apostle of your own awakening.