2 Corinthians 4:16

2 CORINTHIANS 4:16

The former of the two is thus expressed: “for which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.” From this verse itself, I shew that the inward and the outward man are not in this passage taken for the new and the old man; but that the inward man is to be understood as that which is incorporeal and inhabiting, so denominated from the interior of man, that is, his mind or soul; and that the outward man is here taken for that which is corporeal and inhibited, so denominated from the body, the exterior part of man. This I shew, First. Because, if the outward and the inward man were to be taken for the old and the new man, then this disjunctive mode of speech could not attain in this verse. For these two could not then be distinguished in this following manner from each other: “Though our old man perish, yet the new man is renewed day by day;” for [as there stated] they are necessarily cohering, and mutually consequent on each other; because whatever is taken away from the old man, is so much added to the new. The absurdity of such a distinction will be still more manifest, if the same thing be thus proposed: “Though our old man be crucified, destroyed and buried, yet the new man rises again, is quickened or vivified, and is renewed still more and more.” And, “Though we lay aside our former oldness, yet we make greater and still greater proficiency in newness of life.” Let any one that pleases render himself ridiculous by employing the following language: “Though this youth unlearns and lays aside his ignorance, yet he daily makes a greater proficiency in the knowledge of necessary things.” Secondly. The solace which the apostle produces, in opposition to those oppressions and distresses to which holy people are liable, while they remain in this world, consists in the following words: “The inward man is renewed day by day;” and not in these, “though our outward man perish.” This is shown by the mode of speech adopted by the apostle, indicating that this very “perishing of the outward man,” which is effected through oppressions and distresses, is that against which the consolation, comprehended in the following words, is produced by the apostle. The afflicted person says, “But our outward man is perishing.” The apostle replies to him, “Do not grieve on this account; for our inward man is renewed day by day, in the renewal of which consists our salvation. For we must not have regard to external and visible blessings, which conduce to the life of the outward man; because they are liable to perish. But we must highly estimate and regard internal and invisible things, which appertain to the life of the inward man; because these are eternal, and will never perish.” But if, by this word, “the outward man” were to be understood “the old man,” then the apostle must have produced this in the place of consolation, in the following manner: “Do not lament that you are liable to many afflictions and oppressions, for those are the very things by which your old man perishes, and by which the inward man is the more renewed.” But that the perishing of the outward man, and that of the old man, are not the same, is evident from this circumstance, that the former of these is against the very nature of man and the good of natural life, but that the latter is against depraved nature, and is contrary to the life of sin in man. Thirdly. From the word “renewed,” it is apparent that “the inward man” is the subject of renovation or renewal, and of the act of the Holy Spirit. I confess indeed, that it may be correctly said, “The new man is daily renewed more and more,” both because it is needful that this newness, which has been produced in a man by the act of the regenerating Spirit, should increase and be augmented day by day, and because the remains of the old man ought by degrees to be taken away and weakened yet more and more. But even in this case the subject is the inward man, that is called new from the newness which now begins to be effected in him by the regenerating Spirit; for the subject of increasing and progressive renovation, and that of commencing renovation, are the same. But the subject of incipient or commencing renovation is not the new man, (for he is not called new before the act of renovation, and prior to the quality impressed by that act,) but it is the inward man. Therefore, though the new man be said to be renewed, (a phrase which I am not aware that the Scriptures employ,) yet the subject is the inward man, which subject may receive the appellation of the new man from the quality impressed. As we say that a white man becomes whiter every day, whiteness being communicated to a white man not as he is white, but as he is a man who has still some dark shades remaining, and who has not yet attained to that degree of whiteness which he desires. ConsonantIy with this view, the Scriptures themselves use these words: “Be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness,” (Ephesians 4:23,24.) In this passage the subject of renovation is called “the spirit of our mind,” that is, the inward man, or the mind; and “the new man,” in the same passage, is not the subject itself, but