Neville Goddard on Ephesians 5:22-33 - Mystical Bible Interpretation

Read Ephesians 5 in context

Scripture Focus

22Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord.

23For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body.

24Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing.

25Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;

26That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,

27That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.

28So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself.

29For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church:

30For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones.

31For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh.

32This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church.

33Nevertheless let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself; and the wife see that she reverence her husband.

Ephesians 5:22-33

Biblical Context

Wives are advised to submit to their husbands as to the Lord; husbands are to love their wives as Christ loves the church. The goal is a holy, unified life that mirrors the church's relationship to Christ.

Neville's Inner Vision

In the Neville lens, this scripture reveals an inner arrangement of consciousness. Wives and husbands are inner states—the receptive and the directive energies within you—ordered under the I AM, the awareness that is God in you. When you interpret the husband as the head of the wife, you are really affirming that the ruling energy of your mind governs the self you know as wife and the world it creates. Christ is the head of the church, and so your higher self governs your lower self, guiding the body of your life toward wholeness. The self-sacrifice and cleansing by the word describe the cleansing power of a renewed belief spoken into the heart until you see yourself as spotless and holy. The clause that they shall become one flesh is the felt union of your inner knowing and your outward experience, not a separation. This is a mystery only insofar as you forget you are the I AM; when you center in that awareness, unity, holiness, and compassionate love naturally unfold in your life.

Practice This Now

Assume you are already united with your beloved or inner counterpart; feel the unity and rest in the I AM as the governing reality. State I AM one with you in love and holiness and let that feeling carry you for a few minutes.