THE INNER MAN AND THE OUTER MAN

THE INNER MAN AND THE OUTER MAN


...[The] material man, who is also called the outer man, has food and drink related to his nature, specifically corporeal and earthly.

And in a similar way, the spiritual man, who is called the inner man, also has his own food, that living bread which came down from heaven (cf. Jn. 6:33, 41). And his drink is from the water which Jesus promised when He said, "Whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst" (Jn. 4:14).

And so through everything a similarity of designations is applied according to each of the men [inner and outer]; but the special properties of each of them are distinguished from one another and kept separate.

Corruptible things are granted to the corruptible man, but incorruptible things are set forth for the incorruptible man.

Because of this it happens that certain of the simpler Christians, since they do not know how to distinguish and to keep separate what in the divine Scripture must be allotted to the inner man and what to the outer man, misled by the similarities in the designations, have turned themselves to certain foolish stories and vain fictions, so that even after the resurrection they believe that corporeal food must be used and drink taken not only from that true Vine which lives forever, but also from vines and fruits of wood (cf. Jn. 15:1).



ORIGEN
Early 3rd Century
"Commentary of the Song of Songs"
P 222, Origen: An Exhortation to Martyrdom, Prayer and Selected Works
The Classics of Western Spirituality Library Series, Paulist Press, New York 1979