Neville Goddard on Matthew 18:8-9 - Mystical Bible Interpretation

Read Matthew 18 in context

Scripture Focus

8Wherefore if thy hand or thy foot offend thee, cut them off, and cast them from thee: it is better for thee to enter into life halt or maimed, rather than having two hands or two feet to be cast into everlasting fire.

9And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: it is better for thee to enter into life with one eye, rather than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire.

Matthew 18:8-9

Biblical Context

Plainly, the verses urge a radical disassociation from anything in consciousness that offends life; it's about purifying inner states, not literal severing. The goal is to enter life, or wholeness, by releasing attachments and mental patterns that trigger downfall.

Neville's Inner Vision

Behold the scene not as a command to mutilate the body, but as a symbol of inner decision. The hand, foot, and eye stand for habits of thinking and feeling that offend the life you are—your I AM, your awareness. To 'cut them off' is to withdraw belief from anything that would label you as separate from life. To enter into life is to dwell in the one Life, the universal consciousness you embody. The 'everlasting fire' becomes the purifying horizon of imagination, where stale images melt under the sunlight of your true identity. When you suppose yourself bound by lack, fear, or limitation, you become two-eyed and two-handed; yet you can decide in consciousness to be whole and undivided. The one who awakens to life chooses to revise the inner script, not the external world, and feels it real that he already abides in life, not in death. Your inner scene, once amended, will redraw the outer scenes to match.

Practice This Now

Imaginative act: In a quiet moment, assume the state of life—feel the wholeness as real; silently declare, 'I AM life, I cut away all belief that would offend it,' and let that feeling of oneness flood your consciousness.