The inner man
There are three Bible passages regarding the inward or inner man.
For I delight in the law of God after the inward man Romans 7,22
For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. 2Cor 4,16
That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; Eph 3:16
What is this inward man? Who is the Inner Man? Is it the spirit of man within him?
The burden of the word of the LORD for Israel, saith the LORD, which stretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth the foundation of the earth, and formeth the spirit of man within him. Zechariah 12, 1
What is the inward man?
Since the word of God is exactly in its terms, therefore this term "inner man" must be explained exactly. We walk in the novelty of life. The old "we" is now in a new life? Where or who is this, what has become new? Is the new life the inner man? Is the rebirth in us the new? Was the inner man always there or did it first come to life with the novelty of life? Or is the inner man my inner life, my mind, is it my person, the individual person? And when everything has become new, where do my negative thoughts come from that I still have? Is the inner man completely holy, because the Christ lives in the heart? If we are saints, then our life with Jesus is still imperfect. Jesus is perfect. Is this inner man our daily life with Jesus? IOur daily life is not perfect. Is that inner man our daily life?
Rescued people have fellowship with God because they have access to the sanctuary. That the access to the sanctuary is open, that is pictorially illustrated at the crucifixion of Jesus: in the tearing of the curtain in the temple, the view into the holy of holies has been opened.
Faith is obedience and trust - where that does not exist there is no faith. There is also a fruitless belief; Paul is talking about it. Faith is confidence, faith is the living hope of Christ. Hebr 10 19 Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus. Because this hope is not in vain. The term boldness (with freedom and confidence) means a joyful coming to Jesus. There are no obstacles in the way. A service for the Lord is only possible in freedom. God only proves himself in freedom. Where there is no freedom is sin. The access to the Lord is free and we have this free courage to go to the Lord Jesus in the sanctuary. For we do not live consciously in sin and have purified ourselves from every conscious sin. So there is a joy in the Lord. This joy can be very big and less big, but a "base noise" is always present. That's the joy to be a saved person. Is this the inner man?
"That is why we are not despaired; no, even if our outward man is wiped out, yet our inner man receives new strength day by day. "
The question is still in the room: what now is the inner man?
The answers are numerous: the soul? our mind? our spirit? our thoughts? our longing? our better self? the rebirth ( I'm born again)?
Since the word of God is exact in its terms, therefore, this term "inner man" must be explained exactly. We walk in the novelty of life. Let's start with the clarification by delimitation:
What is not the inner person?
The inner man is not the old person
The old man is „Flesh“. It is to be kept in death.
The old man belongs to the fallen creation.
The old man has to die bodily.
The inner man is not the new man either
The new man is the New Creation in us.
The new man, that is the seed that does not spoil.
This seed is not by faith in us but by the creation of God.
The new man was born through a birth
The new man lives forever.
the inner man is strengthened day by day
because the Christ lives in your hearts through faith.
Thus, the inner man has his connection to the faith.
Not to the old creation and not to the new creation.
And we have to realize that we have 2 natures in us.
The inner man is a combination of our actual faith
and the influences of both natures.
How do we stand before God in relation to faith? The faith that comes from the Word of God; how much we have, that's our belief. He gives you according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with power by his Spirit in the inner man; the inner man is strengthened by the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit. It should be noted that the Holy Spirit is God ("I send you the Holy Spirit") and that the Spirit of God, as described in the Old Testament, is also sacred. But there is a difference, and that is that the Holy Spirit (if we have him) in us also remains beyond death, while the Spirit of God can be taken again (as was the case with King Saul).
Ps 31,6 In your hand I command my spirit. Ps 51 12 Create (God's creative work) to me, God, a pure heart, and renew within me (within me) a firm spirit! 11 Do not drive me out of your presence / and do not take your Holy Spirit from me! In another translation Verse 13 Do not throw me from your face, and do not take the Spirit of your holiness from me! It does not say, do not take the Holy Spirit from me.
These scriptures make it clear that man has a spirit (in your hands I command my spirit) that the believer of the Old Testament had the spirit of holiness and that he knows that this spirit of God is a firm spirit. Now the communion with this spirit of God can be interrupted. When sin intervenes that has not been purged. And now one also understands what the gift of the Holy Spirit means in full: forgiveness of all sins. So God sees us and he has given us such a position. The Holy Spirit will never leave us. He is with us forever.
What the Spirit of God can do, the faithful already knew in the Old Testament:
2 Kings 2:16
And they said to him, Look, there are fifty able men among your servants. Let them go and seek your Lord, if not the Spirit of the LORD carried him away and threw him on one of the mountains or in one of the valleys! He said, Do not send!
The Holy Spirit in us
The old man in us
The new human in us
The spirit of God in man
What is the inner man?
In the inner man are 3 connected -
The inner man is the man of faith
that's me and Jesus.
A world human can not have an "inner man".
The inner man arises only through the relationship with Jesus.
He gives you according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with power by his Spirit in the inner man;
Our human mind is not the inner man. Our human spirit has been renewed because it was damaged, darkened, obstructed, a repressor of truth, a blind, unknowable mind (not spirit connected to life). The renewal of the Spirit is the gift of the Holy Spirit, who witnesses to our spirit and enlightens it.
The following of Jesus is the change of the born again. The change in the faith. Here we have to distinguish the position and the following; the position God has given, is always the perfect state. The folloeing of Jesus in our daily life is the imperfect.
But life with Jesus in faith always reflects the two natures: the old man and the new man. This combination is the inner man.
The inner man now lives in the connection to these two areas. The rebirth in us is sealed by God. The devil can not touch this area. The old man is the place where the devil still attacks. Faith works in both natures: it overcomes the old flesh, it works the obedience in connection with the new man. The faith of the inner man needs to be strengthened day by day because he becomes tired. Sleep renews the human body. The faith that comes from the Word of God strengthens the inner man.
Through the Holy Spirit comes a strengthening of the inner man. The inner man needs the necessary strengthening. Or did we think we were giants of faith or faith heroes because we were born again?
Does the old person (the flesh) have to believe? YES. Because before we are saved, we have to believe that Jesus is the Christ. This belief unfolds in the old man, in the flesh. Before we are saved, we must believe that Jesus is the Christ. The Church can help you with this faith. But she must consistently preach the word of God that we have to deliver our lives to Christ. The man who is lost must make a handover of his life. Otherwise, God can not give a new birth to us out from water (Word of God) and Spirit (Holy Spirit). We are born again of the living and abiding Word of God. The Word of God is the beginning of every rebirth. But even if a man is born again, the following of Jesus is not alone in the new creation, but in both creations ..... we have two natures in which we have to serve Christ. For we have a new life that shows us the new man in his glory, and we have the old man in us, whom we subject him to the will of God through DEATH. This connection of both is the internal man. A person who is still lost has no inner man. He can not have it. For the inner man arises only through the presupposition that the new life, the new creation, is present in it. The man who lives in the novelty of life has an inner man.
This inner man lives before God and stands in relation to God through his faith and hears the voice of the Holy Spirit (that is the connection that God holds to the inner man)