09/28/14 MAN IS PHYSICAL AND SPIRITUAL

09/28/14 MAN IS PHYSICAL AND SPIRITUAL
The Whole Man has an Outer Man and an Inner Man.

THE OUTER MAN
The outer man is the physical self, the body, the material man formed from the dust of the earth. The body is the "other" consciousness of man; through seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting and feeling. Adam and Eve's outer man (before "the fall") was physically perfect and designed to live forever, but made subject to sin when Adam disobeyed God.

The outer man of all human beings, since the fall, is in a state of death and decay (all of our senses have been ruined) needing the salvation of God, through Christ. Though sin manifests itself through the human body, the human body is not sin nor is it sinful. Sin is a spiritual condition, not a physical condition, however, the physical condition is impaired because of sin. The human body needs the redemptive work of Christ to raise it from the dead. The human body is used to either serve God or sin.

The outer man of Jesus was fully human, therefore weakened and afflicted physically because of the effects of the fall. But, since Jesus was fully human, and since Jesus had an outer man (physical body), and since Jesus was without sin, then we understand that the physical body is not actually sin.

The outer man perishes, that is, it will be laid aside at death. Those who have served Christ, through faith, will receive a new body at the time of the resurrection. Those who have not followed and trusted Christ will be raised for eternal judgment.

THE INNER MAN
The inner man is the spiritual or soul-ish, immaterial self. Man has both inner and outer self. The inner man is both self conscious (soul) and God conscious (spirit). The soul of man is the seat of reason, emotion, desire, conscience and will.

Sin has caused the SOUL of the unsaved man to be dead, separated from the life, which God intended for him. Man is out of touch with his real self. The SPIRIT of the unsaved man is dead because of sin, separated from God and the life that is in Christ Jesus. Sin impacted the whole man, inner and outer. Christ reconciles lost man to God. Christ saves His people from their sins and empowers them to live in holiness, in this present evil world and gives eternal life to those who trust and follow Christ. Christ regenerates the unsaved man and imparts newness of life to him, during our earthly sojourn and into the world to come. At the time of our physical death, our inner man will be re-united with our inner man in the resurrection, thus restoring us to our intended state as a psycho-physical totality.

Sometimes we refer to the inner man as soul and spirit. The soul, or self conscious part of man is sometimes called heart or mind. The seat of affection and understanding is in the human soul. We are called to love God with our whole heart (seat of affection), soul (the entire inner man), mind (sear of understanding), and strength (our entire outer man). Where love leads, the whole man will follow.

2 Corinthians 4:16-18
(16) For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.
(17) For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;
(18) While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.