THE INNER MAN OF ROMANS 7
AND THE INNER MAN OF 2 CORINTHIANS 4
According to the Bible, we Christians now have two different inner men (Rom. 7:22; 2 Cor. 4:16). In Romans 7:22 Paul said, "For I delight in the law of God according to the inner man." Here Paul was describing a situation that he experienced before he was regenerated. At that time, as a Jew, he delighted in the law of God according to the inner man. This inner man is the soul. This is proven by verse 25, which says, "So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh, the law of sin." The mind in verse 25 is the inner man in verse 22. Then in 2 Corinthians 4:16 Paul said, "Therefore we do not lose heart; but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day." The outer man is our body as its organ with our soul as its life and person. The inner man is our regenerated spirit as its life and person, with our renewed soul as its organ. Thus, in the New Testament, the inner man in Romans 7:22 is different from the inner man in 2 Corinthians 4:16.
THE CREATION OF MAN BEING GOD’S
PRELIMINARY PREPARATION FOR THE DISPENSING
OF HIMSELF ACCORDING TO HIS ECONOMY
God’s creation of man as a three-part vessel was His preliminary preparation for man to receive the Triune God into his being. The Triune God’s entering into our being is His dispensing of Himself into us. Before His dispensing of Himself into us, He made us with a body and a spirit to bring forth a soul. We were prepared in such a way by God. Thus, we as men are a soul with two organs: the body as the outer organ and the spirit as the inner organ. Our spirit as the inner organ is suitable to receive and contain God. This is God’s preparation for His dispensing of Himself into man according to His divine economy.
IV. AFTER BEING CREATED,
MAN BEING PLACED IN THE GARDEN OF EDEN
After being created, man was placed in the garden of Eden (Gen. 2:8). A garden is a pleasant and beautiful place. In God’s newly created earth, God placed man in a garden.
A. In Front of Two Trees
Man was placed in the garden of Eden in front of two trees (Gen. 2:9). One tree was the tree of life, and the other tree was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The tree of life symbolized God to be taken by man as his life of dependence (v. 16). The tree of the knowledge of good and evil symbolized Satan as the knowledge of independence, issuing in death (v. 17).
(The Central Line of the Divine Revelation, Chapter 6, by Witness Lee)
