When reading Paul’s words in Galatians, many assume he is discussing salvation in terms of historical theology. But what if he is describing something far more intimate—a mystical transformation of the self? Through the lens of Neville Goddard’s teachings, this passage becomes a powerful statement on the awakening of imagination as the true Christ within.
“Not Justified by the Works of the Law…”
“A man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ…”
— Galatians 2:16
Paul opens with a confession: outward obedience to rules and rituals—the “law”—cannot make us righteous. To Neville, this law represents all external systems: codes of behaviour, moral duties, religious traditions. It is the attempt to reach God from the outside in.
But God, as Neville boldly taught, is not outside at all.
“Imagination is the very gateway of reality.”
— Neville Goddard
We are justified—transformed—not by effort, but by faith in Christ, whom Neville identifies as the awakened imagination, the creative power within each person. Justification, then, is not about being judged righteous by God, but becoming conscious of your oneness with divine creativity.
“Crucified with Christ”
“I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me…”
— Galatians 2:20
To Neville, the crucifixion is not a one-time event on a wooden cross. It is a spiritual fixation—the moment you assume a new identity so fully that the old self dies. You crucify the former you by abandoning old beliefs, limitations, and self-definitions, and nail yourself to the state you now claim to be.
“The crucifixion is the fixation of an idea.”
— Neville Goddard
Paul is describing a rebirth. His old identity, shaped by striving and separation, is dead. He now lives from the state of union with imagination—Christ in him.
“The Life I Now Live… I Live by Faith”
“…The life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God…”
— Galatians 2:20
This is not blind religious belief. It is a radical trust in unseen reality—in the felt experience of the wish fulfilled. Life is now directed by inner vision, not outer appearance. It is no longer governed by effort but by faith in the creative act of assumption.
Neville often emphasised the distinction between appearances and assumptions. Faith, in his teaching, is the act of persistently imagining a new state until it becomes your reality.
You no longer walk according to what the world shows you. You walk according to what you have claimed and embodied in imagination.
“If Righteousness Came Through the Law…”
“If righteousness comes through the law, Christ died in vain.”
— Galatians 2:21
If transformation could come through outward observance alone, there would be no need for the inner rebirth. But Paul understands what Neville echoes: the true Christ is not a historical figure to be worshipped from afar, but the incarnate imagination within.
“Christ in you, the hope of glory”
— Colossians 1:27
When Christ remains outside us—locked in history or doctrine—then he has “died in vain.” But when we awaken to the creative power of our own awareness, his death becomes our resurrection.
Living from the Inner Christ
Galatians 2:15–21, when read symbolically, is the declaration of a man who has stopped striving and has started imagining. Paul has moved from outer religion to inner realisation. He has died to the law and now lives by the faith of Christ—the creative, redemptive power within.
This is not the abandonment of God—it is the rediscovery of God as I AM, the indwelling presence Neville taught was the source of all creation.
“God became as I am, that I may be as He is.”
— Neville Goddard
To live by the faith of Christ is to accept that your inner world creates your outer world. It is to crucify the old self and rise in the likeness of the state you dare to assume. It is no longer you who live—but Christ—the awakened imagination—living through you.
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