Ephesians 3:16,17
it is the quality which the subject ought to induce: This quality is there called “righteousness and true holiness.”
I have said that I am not quite certain whether the Scriptures use this phrase in any passage: I have felt this hesitation on account of Colossians 3:10, in which it seems to be so used; the apostle saying, “and ye have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of Him who created him.” But it will be obvious to every one who consider, the passage with diligence, that these words, “which is renewed,” or ton anakainoumenon must be joined with what preceded, “and ye have put on the new man,” that is, “that which is renewed,” or, “the renewed,” “in knowledge,” etc., so as to be a description of the new man, not some new attribute of this new man. But to this criticism no great importance is attached; and I have said, I do not deny that the new man is renewed more and more.
The same thing is manifest from the rest of this passage. (2 Corinthians 4:16.) For, “the outward man,” (16,) “an earthen vessel,” (7,) “our body,” (10,) “our mortal flesh,” (11,) are all synonymous terms; as are also, “troubled,” “perplexed,” “persecuted,” “bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus,” “delivered unto death,” and “perishing.” This may be rendered very clear to the studious inquirer after the truth, who will compare the preceding and the succeeding verses with the 16th. Ephesians 3:16 EPHESIANS 3:16,17
The latter of the two passages is thus expressed: “That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith.” From these verses, it is plain, that by the inner man is denoted the subject about which the Holy Spirit is occupied in his act and operation; and this operation is here denominated “a corroboration,” or “a being strengthened.” This is also plain from the synonym mentioned in the following verse, “that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith;” for “the heart,” and “the inner man,” are taken from the same thing. In this view of the subject I am supported by the very learned Zanchius, who writes in the following manner upon this passage: “We have asserted, and from 2 Corinthians 4:16, we have demonstrated, that by the term inner man is signified the principal part of man, that is, the mind, which consists of the understanding and the will, and which is usually denoted by the word heart, in which the affections or passions flourish; as, on the contrary, by the term outward man, no other thing can be understood than the corporeal part of man, which grows, possesses senses, locomotion,” etc. And in a subsequent passage, he says, “Therefore, by this particle, in the inner man, the apostle teaches, that as the gift of might or strength, so likewise the other virtues of the Spirit, have not their seat in the vegetative or growing part Of man, but in his mind, heart, spirit,” etc.
(3) Because it is not only held for a certainty by some persons, that “the inward man” is the same with the new and the regenerate man, from which they venture to assert, “that the regenerate alone possess the inward man;” but because this is also urged as an article of belief, let us therefore see what a great portion of the divines of the Christian church here understood by the epithet, “the inward man.”