Elohim: GOD

In the opening chapters of Genesis, God is introduced by the name Elohim — a title both mysterious and profound. According to Strong’s Concordance (H430), Elohim is a plural noun meaning “gods,” “rulers,” “judges,” “divine ones,” “angels,” and “mighty powers.” Despite being plural in form, it often governs singular verbs and adjectives, pointing to a unified force expressing through a diversity of functions.

In Neville Goddard’s teachings, this rich plurality finds its psychological meaning in the human imagination. The name Elohim, far from referring to a distant deity, symbolises the manifold aspects of your own consciousness — the judges within, the assumed authorities, the divine principles, and the mighty powers that shape your reality through belief and feeling. It is important to understand this concept because, upon it, rests the mystery of the Bible.

The Many Within the One

Neville taught that the Bible is not literal history but a psychological revelation. Every name in Scripture is symbolic, and Elohim is no exception. Its plural form reflects the many forces active within one individual consciousness — your thoughts, feelings, assumptions, and self-concepts.

“Elohim creates by imagining. And you are that Elohim. Your world is your self-pushed out.”
— Neville Goddard

In this light, the references to “judges” or “rulers” in Elohim point to your inner dominions — the dominant assumptions that render judgments about life and self. Whatever state you inwardly accept as true becomes the judge of your experience. If you assume you are unloved, life reflects that. If you persist in the conviction that you are chosen, provided for, free — then your world reshapes itself to obey your assumption.

This is not metaphor. This is the Law of Assumption in action.

Creation as Inner Judgment and Decree

Genesis 1 tells us:

“In the beginning God (Elohim) created the heaven and the earth.”

Neville saw this not as a historical event but as the beginning of awareness — the first stirrings of imagination recognising its creative role. The “heaven” represents your inner world (mind), and the “earth” your outer experience (manifestation). What begins as assumption becomes reality.

Each time Elohim “said” something — Let there be light… Let the dry land appear… — a new inner decree was being made. The “judges” within you pass verdict on what is real, and the outer world obeys.

So when Genesis says “Let us make man in our image” (Gen. 1:26), Neville points out that the “us” refers to the plurality of imaginative faculties — the many inner voices, moods, and assumptions that collectively shape identity. “Man” is not a clay figure, but your own self-concept forged through imagination.

Elohim and Exodus 3:14: “I AM THAT I AM”

Neville often connected Elohim - God with the name revealed to Moses:

“I AM THAT I AM.” (Exodus 3:14)

This is the heart of it all. The creative force of Elohim is none other than the I AM in you. Not the ego, but the deep awareness of being. Whatever you affix to “I AM” is what you become. I AM poor, I AM overlooked, I AM successful, I AM wanted — these are the proclamations of Elohim in the mind.

Your awareness of being is God. Your assumptions are divine acts of creation. Every time you feel something as true, you have judged and ruled as Elohim. You do not need to beg a power outside yourself; you are that power in seed form, and assumption is the germination.

The Inner Powers at Work

When Strong’s Concordance lists Elohim as “mighty ones” or “divine ones,” Neville’s interpretation brings this into psychological clarity: these mighty ones are not angelic beings in the clouds, but states of consciousness available within you. Each state — such as faith, fear, love, or despair — is a mighty power. Whichever you dwell in becomes the god that rules your world.

“States are permanent, but we are not. We pass through them. We must learn to enter the state that corresponds to our desire.”
— Neville Goddard

Thus, Elohim encompasses not just one state, but the full spectrum of possible assumptions. It is the total creative potential latent within imagination. And it is through the Law of Assumption — feeling a thing to be true until it hardens into fact — that Elohim manifests form.

The Twelve Tribes and the Twelve Disciples: The Refined Powers of Elohim

As the Bible narrative unfolds, the many aspects of Elohim become named and refined through symbolic figures. The twelve sons of Jacob (Israel) represent the twelve tribes — twelve distinct faculties within human consciousness. Each son, with his unique nature and prophetic blessing, symbolises a particular psychological quality or inner tendency that, together, form the collective spiritual body of Israel.

In the New Testament, this symbolic twelve reappears as the twelve disciples of Jesus. These are not just historical companions, but personifications of the same inner powers now consciously directed. Neville emphasised that each disciple stands for a specific quality of mind necessary to fully express the “I AM”ness: for example, Peter as faith, John as praise, Thomas as doubt (to be overcome), and Judas as the revealer and recogniser.

Where the twelve tribes represent the raw, instinctive forces of human nature, the twelve disciples represent these same faculties transmuted and obedient to the higher self — the Christ within. The tribes are the raw powers; the disciples are the refined powers, integrated and harmonised under divine direction.

Together, they illustrate the inner journey from scattered, unconscious multiplicity to united, conscious mastery. They show how Elohim, as the judges and rulers within, evolves from being many unruly voices into a choir of willing servants to your divine assumption.

When you understand the twelve tribes and the twelve disciples as stages of your own consciousness, you see that Scripture is not a record of ancient people, but a psychological map of your own transformation. The secret of the 144,000 comes from here too.

To Know Elohim is to Know Yourself

The significance of Elohim is not religious but deeply personal. It invites responsibility. No longer can we look to outer causes or cast blame. The judges and rulers are within. And the power that creates reality is not foreign, but felt every time you say “I AM”

So when Scripture begins with Elohim, it begins with you. Not as you think you are, but as you could assume yourself to be. Elohim is imagination, judgment, and assumption working together as one: the plural name of God signifying the infinite creative powers of the individual.

Final Word

The name Elohim holds multitudes — judges, rulers, powers, the divine — and Neville Goddard’s insight is that all these are already at work within you. The Law of Assumption is the law by which Elohim functions: by assuming the feeling of the wish fulfilled, you participate in divine creation.

So begin not with effort but with awareness. With the silent “I AM.” For when you know that Elohim is your own imagination in action, you will speak your world into being.

The Way

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