“And when Jesus beheld him, he said, Thou art Simon the son of Jona: thou shalt be called Cephas, which is by interpretation, A stone.” – John 1:42 (KJV)
This moment may appear simple on the surface — Jesus renaming a man. But when we understand the Bible as Neville Goddard did — as a psychological document rather than a historical account — this single verse opens into a powerful sequence of inner transformation.
Simon means “he who hears.” He is the faculty within us that listens, receives, and contemplates. The son of Jona, meaning “dove,” hints at the spiritual or subconscious dimension from which this hearing emerges. But Jesus — the symbol of awakened imagination — looks at Simon and calls him by his potential, not his present state.
“Thou shalt be called Cephas.”
Cephas (Peter) means “a stone.” It is not passive hearing anymore — it is something fixed, something stable, something certain.
In Neville’s teachings, this is the moment we move from passively hearing truth to living it as a firm assumption. You’ve heard the teaching — that imagination creates reality — and now you accept it deeply, to the point where it becomes a rock within you. This is not just about knowledge; it is about identity.
Cephas in Paul’s Letters: The Stabilised State
What’s particularly interesting is that Paul often refers to Cephas — not using the Greek "Peter" but retaining the Aramaic “Cephas,” meaning stone. This is psychologically symbolic, and when we read it through Neville Goddard’s framework, it makes perfect sense.
Paul’s letters are deeply psychological. He isn’t merely commenting on personalities or church politics — he’s outlining the dynamics of consciousness. So when he mentions Cephas, it’s not incidental. It’s a nod to a state of mind that has become fixed — a stabilised assumption. Paul is referencing, again and again, the power of something inwardly solidified.
Let’s explore what these mentions symbolise when viewed through the Law of Assumption:
🪨 1 Corinthians 1:12 — “I am of Cephas…”
“Every one of you saith, I am of Paul… I of Cephas…”
Here, Paul critiques those dividing themselves by allegiance to personalities. But symbolically, this shows how we often fragment our own consciousness, aligning parts of our identity with outer authorities — intellect (Paul), eloquence (Apollos), or even stable assumption (Cephas).
Neville would remind us:
“You are not of Cephas — Cephas is of you. These are your states. You are the operant power.”
🪨 1 Corinthians 3:22 — “All are yours.”
“Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas… all are yours.”
This is a profound affirmation that every state of consciousness is available to you. The teacher, the reasoning mind, and the stabilised assumption — all are tools of the I AM. You are not to be subject to them, but to operate them consciously. Cephas is yours to assume whenever you choose to stand firmly in your desire fulfilled.
🪨 1 Corinthians 9:5 — “As Cephas…”
“Have we not power to lead about a sister, a wife… as Cephas?”
Symbolically, this could speak to the union of conscious and subconscious. Neville often referred to the subconscious as feminine — receptive, nurturing. Cephas walking with his “wife” reflects the inner marriage, the agreement between the assumption and its felt realness. You can live in the world in complete harmony with your inner conviction.
🪨 Galatians 1:18 — “To see Cephas”
“After three years I went up to Jerusalem to see Cephas…”
Three years — a number of completion. Jerusalem — the city of peace, symbolic of manifested desire. Paul going to Cephas is the symbolic return to a stabilised assumption after a process of growth. You no longer just believe intellectually; the state has become a stone — unwavering and firm within.
🪨 Galatians 2:9 — “Pillars”
“James, Cephas, and John… who seemed to be pillars…”
Here Paul names the inner pillars of spiritual structure:
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James — symbolic of order and discipline of thought,
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John — the beloved, representing emotion and feeling,
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Cephas — the stabilised assumption, the immovable foundation.
Together, they uphold the inner temple of manifestation. Without a firm assumption (Cephas), nothing stands.
🪨 Galatians 2:11 — “I withstood Cephas…”
“But when Cephas was come to Antioch, I withstood him to the face…”
Even a stabilised assumption (Cephas) can falter. Paul (symbolising rational awareness) calls him out — perhaps when the inner conviction has wavered. Neville would call this a moment of double-mindedness — when your assumption says one thing, but your behaviour or mood contradicts it.
“You must assume the feeling of the wish fulfilled and persist in it.”
To waver is to delay manifestation.
The Dove in the Cleft of the Rock
This deep relationship between the dove (Jona) and the rock (Cephas) appears again in the poetic and mystical language of the Song of Solomon 2:14 NKJV:
“O my dove, that art in the clefts of the rock, in the secret places of the stairs, let me see thy countenance, let me hear thy voice; for sweet is thy voice, and thy countenance is comely.”
Here, the dove — a recurring symbol of the subconscious mind, peace, and hidden creative power — is found within the clefts of the rock, just as Simon (hearing) is the son of Jona (dove) and becomes the rock (Cephas). The “secret places of the stairs” represent those inner transitions of consciousness, the invisible shifts between states.
This verse poetically illustrates the very mechanics of the Law of Assumption:
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The subconscious (dove) resides in the assumed state (rock).
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The voice and countenance longed for are the manifestations we wish to see and hear in the world.
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The call is for the unseen assumption to make itself visible — the stone to speak, the dove to emerge.
Neville taught that your assumption, once impressed upon the subconscious, works in secret, just like the dove in the cleft. But eventually, the voice is heard. The face appears. The desire becomes fact.
Simon Becomes Cephas in You
The Bible’s brilliance is that every character is a state, every name a symbolic doorway. Simon becoming Cephas is not just a disciple’s name change — it is the inner journey of every person who hears the truth of imagination and begins to live it.
Cephas represents the point where you no longer question your desire. You don’t negotiate with the facts. You don’t wait for proof. You stand, internally and unshakably, on the rock of “It is done.”
As Neville said:
“Assume the feeling of the wish fulfilled. Persist in your assumption. And your assumption, though false, if persisted in, will harden into fact.
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