Neville Goddard on Romans 13:5-7 - Mystical Bible Interpretation

Read Romans 13 in context

Scripture Focus

5Wherefore ye must needs be subject, not only for wrath, but also for conscience sake.

6For for this cause pay ye tribute also: for they are God's ministers, attending continually upon this very thing.

7Render therefore to all their dues: tribute to whom tribute is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honour to whom honour.

Romans 13:5-7

Biblical Context

We are called to submit to authorities not only out of fear but from conscience, and to render dues to those who serve as God's ministers, honoring the order they maintain.

Neville's Inner Vision

Romans 13:5-7 proclaims a law that applies to the inner world as surely as the outer. In my practice I do not see the 'state' as a distant tyrant, but as a pattern of order I have drawn into my own consciousness. The ministers are the energy of initiative, structure, and discipline within my I AM—those forms that keep my life in tune when I imagine myself living in a coherent, harmonious state. To be subject is to consent to that order inside me, not to fear an outside punishment. When I acknowledge that wrath is but a signal of misalignment, I revise by assuming I already inhabit the right condition. The dues I render—tax, respect, honor—are the inner correspondences I give to the role these ministers play in my dream. As I do, the external world begins to reflect the inner governance I have chosen: concord, reliability, and trust in the natural law of my consciousness. The key is to feel and imagine yourself as already in right relationship with the order you are imagining.

Practice This Now

Imaginative act: Close your eyes, affirm: I am subject to the inner order of harmony I have chosen. Revise any fear by imagining the inner ministers governing my life for my highest good, and feel grateful as though this order already governs.