In Paul’s letters, Abraham does not appear as a dusty historical figure, nor simply as the father of a nation—but as something far more intimate and eternal: the personification of faith in the unseen. Through Neville Goddard’s spiritual interpretation, Abraham becomes a symbol of our own ability to assume the reality of that which we desire, and to trust in the unseen world of imagination as the only creative reality.
Paul’s use of Abraham is not doctrinal—it is deeply psychological. He brings Abraham into the conversation to show how this inner faculty of faith is older than law, more powerful than effort, and foundational to spiritual transformation.
Abraham Was Counted Righteous by His Belief
“What, then, may we say that Abraham, our father, as to the flesh, has got?
For if Abraham got righteousness by works, he has reason for pride; but not before God.
For what does the Writings say? And Abraham had faith in God, and it was put to his account as righteousness.”
— Romans 4:1–3
Here Paul immediately strips away any reliance on religious duty, good behaviour, or outward obedience. Abraham did not earn anything. He believed. And that belief alone was "put to his account."
Neville Goddard would say this is not belief in God as a being, but belief in God as your own wonderful human imagination. Abraham is the inner state of being that says, “It is so,” even when the world says it is not. He does not wait to see evidence before declaring truth—he declares it first and then walks in that assumption.
That is righteousness: the right use of the Law of Consciousness.
Faith Before Circumcision: Inner First, Outer Second
“Is this blessing then given to the circumcision only, or to those who are without circumcision?
For we say that Abraham’s faith was put to his account as righteousness.
How, then, was it put to his account? When he was circumcised, or when he was not? Not when he was circumcised, but when he was not.”
— Romans 4:9–10
Paul’s point is simple yet revolutionary: Abraham’s transformation did not begin with outward signs or rituals. It began while he was uncircumcised—that is, before he had done anything externally recognisable as "holy." The implication for Neville is clear: assumption always precedes manifestation. One does not need to change the outer world to begin the work. The only change that matters is within.
This also destroys the notion that we must “fix ourselves” before imagining better. Abraham’s faith was counted to him while he was still symbolically “imperfect.” That inner conviction—I am what I desire to be—is the beginning of all transformation.
The Seed Is in Itself: A Return to Genesis 1:11
This moment in Paul’s teaching quietly echoes a far older principle embedded in the very beginning of the Bible:
“And God said, Let grass come up on the earth, and plants producing seed, and fruit-trees giving fruit, in which is their seed, for producing more of their sort on the earth: and it was so.”
— Genesis 1:11
Neville often pointed to this verse as a cornerstone of spiritual law: the seed is in itself. Everything contains within it the power to reproduce its kind, and that power begins in consciousness. You do not need an external seed or source. Your assumption is the seed. Your faith contains its own fruit.
Abraham becomes the first spiritual demonstration of Genesis 1:11: he carries within himself the feeling of fulfilment, and from that, everything is produced. When Paul says Abraham was justified by belief alone, he is saying—Abraham's inner state contained the seed of everything that would follow.
Calling the Unseen as Seen
“(As it is said, I have made you a father of a number of nations) before him in whom he had faith, that is, God,
who gives life to the dead, and makes things which are not as if they were.”
— Romans 4:17
Here lies one of the clearest endorsements of Neville’s entire teaching. “God... makes things which are not as if they were.” This is the act of imagining your desire already fulfilled—living from the end.
Neville would say: assume you are already what you long to be, and persist in that state until it becomes external fact. Abraham’s faith in God was not just confidence—it was embodiment. He felt the truth of the unseen and lived as though it were so.
This is not mere hope. This is creative certainty.
Those Who Imagine Are Abraham’s Children
“Even as Abraham had faith in God, and it was put to his account as righteousness.
Be certain, then, that those who are of faith, the same are sons of Abraham.”
— Galatians 3:6–7
Paul makes no room here for physical descent or religious conformity. You are a child of Abraham not by bloodline, but by belief. In Neville’s symbolic reading, that means: you are Abraham when you believe your imaginal act is the real creative force.
Faith is not agreeing with an idea—it is feeling the truth of it. It is what Neville calls the “subjective appropriation” of a desire. Paul says that everyone who lives this way—believing in the unseen, embodying it—is born of Abraham. This is your spiritual heritage.
The Gospel Was Preached to Abraham
“And the holy Writings, seeing before the event that God would make the Gentiles righteous by faith,
gave the good news before the time to Abraham, saying, In you will all the nations have a blessing.”
— Galatians 3:8
This is not about theology—it is about inner laws. The “good news” to Abraham was not that he would found a religion, but that the law of assumption would apply to all nations, all people, all levels of awareness. Every person who uses imagination to live as though their desire were true will be blessed.
“Blessing,” in Neville’s language, means manifested fulfilment. The news is not that you must qualify—but that the door has always been open to anyone who will believe from within.
The Seed Is the Imaginative Christ in You
“Now to Abraham were the words of the agreement said, and to his seed.
He does not say, And to seeds, as of more than one; but, And to your seed, which is Christ.”
— Galatians 3:16
Paul makes a startling claim here. The seed is not a group. It is not a nation. It is not even a historical figure. It is Christ. For Neville, Christ is your imagination, and this verse is a coded affirmation that your own awareness of being is the inheritor of divine promise.
Just as each tree in Genesis 1:11 carries seed within its fruit, the Christ-seed is planted by assumption and faith. It is the hidden power within you—the unseen reality already present.
Abraham Looked for the Invisible City
“By faith Abraham went out when he was given the order to go to a place which he was to have for his heritage, and went out without knowledge of where he was going.
By faith he went to the land of God’s undertaking, living in tents...
for he was looking for the strong town, whose builder and maker is God.”
— Hebrews 11:8–10
Neville teaches that the “promised land” is always a state of consciousness. Abraham leaves the familiar not geographically, but spiritually. He moves out of his present state and into a new assumption. He lives in tents—temporary forms—because he knows the true structure is inward.
The “strong town” he seeks is the sustained feeling of the wish fulfilled. That city has foundations because it is built in consciousness, not in clay.
Even Isaac Could Be Given Up and Regained
“By faith Abraham made an offering of Isaac, when he was tested:
and he with whom the agreement had been made gave up as an offering the only son of his body,
In the belief that God was able to give him back even from the dead…”
— Hebrews 11:17–19
Neville’s reading of this is powerful: Isaac is the external form of your desire, and Abraham is the willingness to sacrifice that form when called to return to the inner act of faith. He does not cling to the image of the thing. He returns always to the source—awareness itself.
This is the mystery of resurrection: when you give up the outer form and return to the feeling of “I AM,” the thing is given back to you in fuller expression. Nothing imagined with conviction is ever truly lost.
The Message of Paul: The Seed Is in You
Genesis 1:11 revealed it first: “the seed is in itself.” Paul’s Abraham lives this truth. He embodies the principle that assumption is the origin of all form—that faith is the inner seed from which all blessings spring.
Paul’s writings about Abraham are not dusty theology; they are active instructions. Abraham represents the first awakened believer in the creative power of assumption. His righteousness was not his behaviour, but his conviction that the unseen is more real than the seen.
According to Neville, when Paul speaks of Abraham, he is really speaking of you—the inner man or woman who dares to imagine something greater and persist in it. The true child of Abraham is not the religious or the moralist, but the dreamer. The one who knows:
“Assumption, if persisted in, will harden into fact.”
And perhaps Paul would say it this way:
“Walk in the steps of that faith which our father Abraham had.”
— Romans 4:12
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