Neville Goddard on Philemon 1:8-21 - Mystical Bible Interpretation

Read Philemon 1 in context

Scripture Focus

8Wherefore, though I might be much bold in Christ to enjoin thee that which is convenient,

9Yet for love's sake I rather beseech thee, being such an one as Paul the aged, and now also a prisoner of Jesus Christ.

10I beseech thee for my son Onesimus, whom I have begotten in my bonds:

11Which in time past was to thee unprofitable, but now profitable to thee and to me:

12Whom I have sent again: thou therefore receive him, that is, mine own bowels:

13Whom I would have retained with me, that in thy stead he might have ministered unto me in the bonds of the gospel:

14But without thy mind would I do nothing; that thy benefit should not be as it were of necessity, but willingly.

15For perhaps he therefore departed for a season, that thou shouldest receive him for ever;

16Not now as a servant, but above a servant, a brother beloved, specially to me, but how much more unto thee, both in the flesh, and in the Lord?

17If thou count me therefore a partner, receive him as myself.

18If he hath wronged thee, or oweth thee ought, put that on mine account;

19I Paul have written it with mine own hand, I will repay it: albeit I do not say to thee how thou owest unto me even thine own self besides.

20Yea, brother, let me have joy of thee in the Lord: refresh my bowels in the Lord.

21Having confidence in thy obedience I wrote unto thee, knowing that thou wilt also do more than I say.

Philemon 1:8-21

Biblical Context

Paul appeals to Philemon to welcome Onesimus back not as a servant but as a beloved brother, offering to repay any debt and restore their bond. The passage presents reconciliation as a voluntary, grace-filled redefinition that begins in consciousness before it manifests outwardly.

Neville's Inner Vision

Imagine Philemon 1:8-21 as a blueprint for the mind you inhabit. Paul represents the elder self of your consciousness, the I AM that can speak with tenderness yet authority, prompting a return to harmony. Onesimus stands for a movement within you that wandered from awareness and now seeks to be set upon the gospel path of service. To receive him not as a servant but as a brother beloved is to awaken to a new relation between your outer pressures and your inner throne. Not now as a servant but above a servant models a revision of your sense of worth, so a former condition becomes kinship in the Lord. When you count Paul as a partner you affirm your higher self and the history of limitation as collaborators in your good. The act of willingly forgiving and absorbing debt is the inner act of letting consciousness pay itself forward in grace. In this scene the ultimate reality is that you have already received your own freedom through the Lord.

Practice This Now

Practice by assuming that you have already reconciled with someone you formerly judged. Close your eyes, feel the grace of this new relation, and state I receive you as a brother in the Lord; then dwell in that feeling for a few minutes.