“This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church.” — Ephesians 5:32
Ephesians 5 has long been a focal point in debates about the roles of men and women in relationships. With phrases like “Wives, submit to your husbands” and “Husbands, love your wives,” it’s easy to see why traditional interpretations have led to rigid and often harmful views of gender roles.
Paul specifically calls it a mystery, so what if these scriptures were never about gender dynamics at all? What if Paul wasn’t speaking of human marriage, but revealing a profound spiritual structure—the inner mechanics of creation and transformation?
Through the symbolic understanding found in Neville Goddard’s teachings, this chapter becomes a map of inner alchemy. The “husband” and “wife” are not people—they are states of being. The passage is not social commentary but a metaphysical mystery, rooted in Genesis and revealed through the union of awareness and imagination.
Literal vs Symbolic Interpretation
To interpret Ephesians 5 properly, we must distinguish between literal and symbolic readings of scripture.
Literal Interpretation
Taken literally, these verses appear to reinforce outdated hierarchies: men as heads, women as subordinates. But this view misses the spiritual depth of Paul’s message and confines its meaning to external obedience rather than inward transformation.
Symbolic Interpretation
Symbolically, the Bible is not a record of events but a psychological document. As Neville Goddard taught, every character and relationship is a symbolic representation of conscious states. Through this lens, Ephesians 5 becomes a revelation about how manifestation happens—how assumption unites with belief to bring forth creation.
The Foundational Verse: Genesis 2:24
“Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.” — Genesis 2:24
This is not just the origin of earthly marriage. It is the pattern for inner union—the mechanics behind every manifestation.
In this spiritual structure:
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The husband represents assumption—the conscious decision to occupy a new state of being.
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The wife represents the new state—the “ask, believe, receive” that forms in imagination and feeling.
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The father and mother are the old causes: inherited patterns, memories, and social conditioning.
To leave father and mother is to detach from your past identity. To cleave to your wife is to unite with a new assumption. And to become one flesh is to embody the state as your new self—no longer trying to become it, but being it.
This is the sacred union that results in creation.
The Mystery of Submission: Surrendering Old Belief
“Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord... Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything.” — Ephesians 5:22–24
Submission, as symbolically understood, is not obedience to another person—it is alignment with divine awareness. The “wife” (the new state) submits not by force, but by accepting the authority of the assumption. It yields itself to be made real by the creative power of I AM.
This is the act of letting go of resistance—surrendering fear, doubt, and contradiction in order to receive fully. When your imagined state (the wife) aligns in faith with your assumption (the husband), the result is manifestation.
To “submit to the Lord” is to yield to the truth of your desired state, trusting that it is already yours.
The Husband’s Role: Devotion to the New State
“Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it.” — Ephesians 5:25
The “husband” as assumption must not dominate, but love—meaning, it must fully give itself to the state it chooses. To love your wife is to remain faithful to your assumption. It is to nurture and dwell in it consistently, as something cherished and alive.
This is the energy of Christ giving himself for the church—not a passive worship, but an active fusion. The awareness (Christ) gives itself to the imagination (church) completely, and a new creation is born.
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son…” — John 3:16
Love is the act of giving consciousness to the unseen. When you love your assumption, you give it life.
The Church: The Newly Named Elohim
“This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church.” — Ephesians 5:32
Paul openly declares that he speaks of a mystery—not human marriage, but a spiritual joining.
In this joining, the church is not a building or a group. It is the new inner congregation—the newly named Elohim. It represents the judges and rulers now operating within the awakened self. These inner faculties—faith, feeling, imagination, assumption—convene in what you could call the marriage of the soul: the once-chaotic forces of thought and emotion brought into perfect union through divine love.
This is how the kingdom of God is realised within you. The Christ (awareness) marries the church (assumption), and together they reign.
The Sacred Union: Becoming One Flesh
“For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh.” — Ephesians 5:30–31
This union is not symbolic of partnership between two people, but of the fusion of consciousness and imagination. The husband (assumption) joins to the wife (new state), and together they become one being—a state that is felt, embodied, and lived.
“Let us make man in our image, after our likeness…” — Genesis 1:26
This “likeness” is not flesh but form—an inner likeness that takes outer shape. When you cleave to your assumption and it becomes one with you, creation must follow.
Conclusion: The Return of Power
Ephesians 5, when read through the lens of spiritual symbolism, reveals a hidden architecture of manifestation. It is not about subjugation or hierarchy, but about unity, surrender, and creation. Submission becomes alignment. Love becomes embodiment. Marriage becomes manifestation.
“You are both male and female in your spiritual being. When your assumption and your awareness are joined, you become God in expression.” — Neville Goddard
This is the return of the Elohim—not as distant gods, but as the inner faculties now ruling from within. Through the mystery of Christ and the church, through the leaving and cleaving of Genesis 2:24, we reclaim the authority to create and to judge rightly.
This is the sacred marriage. This is the way.
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