«　WEEK 5　DAY 3　»

　　2 Cor. 4:16 Therefore we do not lose heart; but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day.

　　Matt. 16:24 Then Jesus said to His disciples, If anyone wants to come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me.

　　The outer man is our body and our soul, with the body as its organ and the soul as its life and person. The inner man is our regenerated spirit with our renewed soul. The regenerated spirit is its life and person, and the renewed soul is its organ. The life of the soul must be denied (Matt. 16:24-25), but the functions of the soul, the mind, will, and emotion, must be renewed and uplifted by being subdued (2 Cor. 10:4-5) to be used by the spirit, the person of the inner man.

　　The Greek word rendered “decaying” also means “being consumed, being wasted away, being worn out.” By the continued killing, the working of death, our outer man, that is, our material body with its animating soul (1 Cor. 15:44), is being consumed and worn out. (Life-study of 2 Corinthians, p. 98)

　　In the church life we are experiencing the renewing of the mind and the uplifting of the mind. As our mind is subdued by the Lord, it is renewed. Then it can be used by our spirit, which is the person of the inner man. The outer man is being consumed. It is being worn out and put to death. But the inner man is being renewed day by day. Being consumed implies decreasing, and being renewed implies increasing. Thus, our outer man is decreasing, and our inner man is increasing. Outwardly my body is getting older, but my inner man is getting younger and newer.

　　The inner man is renewed by being nourished with the fresh supply of resurrection life. As our mortal body, our outer man, is being consumed by the killing work of death, our inner man, that is, our regenerated spirit with the inward parts of our being (Jer. 31:33; Heb. 8:10; Rom. 7:22, 25), is being metabolically renewed day by day with the supply of resurrection life.

　　Being renewed is similar to being constituted…. In order for us to be renewed, some element must be added to us. This renewing element is the treasure hidden within us (2 Cor. 4:7). However,… it is not adequate simply to have the treasure within. There is also the need for the killing, the destroying, the consuming, the grinding. For this reason, inwardly we have the treasure, and outwardly we have the environment.

　　It is impossible for us to escape God’s hand….You may still use your cleverness to escape the breaking and the grinding. No one is able to deal with you. However, those who try the hardest to escape the breaking eventually suffer the most. It is our destiny to be consumed.

　　The Lord sovereignly uses our environment to consume us. Do not think that it is because you are wrong that you need to be consumed. Actually, it is because you are right that you need to be consumed…. Paul was very right. This was the reason he needed a great deal of consuming. This does not mean, however, that you should purposely try to do something wrong. If you are wrong, you may be punished. You may wonder what you should do, since you will be consumed if you are right and punished if you are wrong. The answer is that you should not do anything.

　　The more we experience the consuming, the putting to death, of the outer man, the more our inner man is renewed. Our regenerated spirit with our renewed mind, emotion, and will needs to be resurrected, developed, enlarged, and refreshed. Therefore, as the outer man is being consumed, the inner man is being resurrected, renewed, and developed. (Life-study of 2 Corinthians, pp. 99-101, 307-308)

　　Further Reading: Life-study of 2 Corinthians, msgs. 11, 34-37; CWWL, 1963, vol. 1, “The Believer’s Experience of Transformation,” ch. 4