Inward Man

INWARD MAN [ISBE]

INWARD MAN - in'-werd: A Pauline term, nearly identical with the "hidden man of the heart" (1 Pet 3:4). The Greek original, 5 ho eso (also esothen) anthropos (Rom 7:22) is lexigraphically defined "the internal man," i.e. "soul," "conscience." It is the immaterial part of man--mind, spirit--in distinction from the "outward man" which "perishes" (2 Cor 4:16 the King James Version). As the seat of spiritual influences it is the sphere in which the Holy Spirit does His renewing and saving work (Eph 3:16). The term "inward man" cannot be used interchangeably with "the new man," for it may still be "corrupt," and subject to "vanity" and "alienated from the life of God." Briefly stated, it is mind, soul, spirit--God's image in man--man's higher nature, intellectual, moral, and spiritual.

Dwight M. Pratt