Neville Goddard on Acts 22:3-5 - Mystical Bible Interpretation

Read Acts 22 in context

Scripture Focus

3I am verily a man which am a Jew, born in Tarsus, a city in Cilicia, yet brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, and taught according to the perfect manner of the law of the fathers, and was zealous toward God, as ye all are this day.

4And I persecuted this way unto the death, binding and delivering into prisons both men and women.

5As also the high priest doth bear me witness, and all the estate of the elders: from whom also I received letters unto the brethren, and went to Damascus, to bring them which were there bound unto Jerusalem, for to be punished.

Acts 22:3-5

Biblical Context

Paul describes his background as a Jew born in Tarsus, raised in Jerusalem, educated under Gamaliel, and zealous for the law, then recounts persecuting followers of Jesus and delivering them to authorities in Damascus.

Neville's Inner Vision

Acts 22:3–5 is read not as a past history but as a window into a state of consciousness. The speaker declares, 'I am verily a man ...', not to parade credentials, but to fix attention on the I AM behind every role. The labels—Jew, Cilician by birth, pupil of Gamaliel, zealous for the law—are inner identities—the habits of mind that feel like reality. The zeal to persecute reveals an inner movement away from truth, a mental pursuit of a finished image rather than living reality. The high priest and the letters to Damascus symbolize how the mind outfits itself with external signs when it confuses identity with action. Neville would invite you to notice that the 'I' beneath these forms is awareness and that it can revise any scene. By assuming a new state—where the law becomes inner wisdom and obedience aligns with truth—you awaken a mission to witness the inner kingdom and to allow the past to yield to a higher self.

Practice This Now

Close your eyes and declare, 'I am the I AM, rewriting this life now,' and feel it real. Revise the scene in your imagination: the zeal that once chased others becomes a settled devotion to truth, and the old story dissolves.