Inner Man

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Mountain View, California · Mar 14, 1906

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 32, No. 11.

1782.—Inner Man.

Is there not an immortal soul inside a man? What does Paul mean by expressions "in me," "my flesh," "the inward man"? Rom. 7:18, 22; 2 Cor. 4:16.

Paul tells us in the seventh chapter of Romans that there was in him a desire to do what was right. The inner man, tho bound in slavery to the sin that was in him, approved the right, approved God's law, but had no power to do God's law. When he saw Christ and yielded to Him, he found power from on high to fulfil the righteousness which is in the law. The inner man then became dominant. The flesh with all its lusts he called the outward man. But there is absolutely nothing given to show that that inner man is a separate entity, or that the outward man is such. If there were such an inner man, and such an inner man were immortal, why does not the apostle say so? It takes very few words. On the other hand, he tells us that God "only hath immortality," and that it is only put on by faithful continuance in well-doing, that man will receive it only when the Lord Jesus Christ comes the second time. Rom. 2:7; 1 Cor. 15:51-54. The desperate need of evidence to prove the immortality of the soul is indicated by catching at terms like this to bolster it up. "God only hath immortality." 1 Tim. 6:16.