Neville Goddard on 1 John 4:1-5 - Mystical Bible Interpretation

Read 1 John 4 in context

Scripture Focus

1Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.

2Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God:

3And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.

4Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.

5They are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them.

1 John 4:1-5

Biblical Context

John urges discernment of spirits and warns against false prophets; truth is known by those who confess that Jesus is come in the flesh, and believers have overcome the world because the inner God is greater.

Neville's Inner Vision

Your test is not a battle of facts, but a shift in your state of consciousness. The spirits John warns about are simply attitudes of mind, fleeting beliefs that pretend to be the world speaking through you. The Spirit of God is the inner confession that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh, the realization that your awareness is God in expression. You are of God, little children, and you have overcome them, for the greater power within you outshines every external pull. When you refuse to identify with the outer noise and instead dwell in the I AM, you rewrite the scene. The world speaks in limitation; God speaks in freedom. By affirming the indwelling Christ as your current condition, you align your inner state with divine reality and watch events respond accordingly. The test then becomes not an argument with others, but a revision of your inner assumption so that your life manifests the truth that the Christ is in you, now.

Practice This Now

Imaginative act: close your eyes and assume that I AM is within you; revise the sense of separation by affirming that the Christ within you is come in the flesh and that greater is He who is in you now; feel it as real.