The difference between flesh and spirit, the inner and the outer man.

The Seventy-third Letter.

The difference between flesh and spirit, the inner and the outer man.

In the grace of the Lord, beloved friend and brother!

Your letters, sent to me before and since, have been pleasant to me. Many things have hindered me from answering them sooner; especially the increasing mortal illness of my brother takes much of my time. Meanwhile I have often answered your writing in spirit, and laid your state before Him who alone can heal and hallow, and who gladly wills to become inwardly near and common to us all.

You desire some instruction about the expressions in my last, on the difference between flesh and spirit, or the inner and outer man, where I said, among other things, and still say: "You flutter too much about in your thoughts, and the inner man has too much fellowship with them. The door is open; the inner goes out, and the outer comes in, and so forth." Only it seems to me that nothing is simpler or easier to find than this difference — though there are depths in it too, known only by experience.

You find, through divine mercy, in yourself a general longing and a deep hidden hunger after God — yea, an inward and, in its measure, sincere desire to be delivered from all corruption and to be wholly God's own: sometimes you mark this more clearly, sometimes darkly and confusedly. This, now, is the spirit and the inner man. You find, along with it, a hidden dissuasion and aversion from all that is displeasing to God, and an inward drawing and inclination to God and to the good; that too is the inner man — the spirit touched by God's Spirit.

Now you have yet another man in you, who has a quite other will, inclinations, thoughts, and so forth — namely the flesh, or the outer and old man. This, now, is the whole part that wills the evil; it is the whole man that has its lust and life through the senses, in eating, drinking, seeing, hearing, and other sensual and fleshly delights; the realm of fleshly reason, of fancy; the fluttering thoughts; self-love, and the whole ground of resistance against God, and so forth. In so far as it goes straight upon the evil, one calls it the old man; but in so far as it works naturally, one calls it the outer man.

But be that as it may, we must become strangers — yea, enemies — to the outer and old man, and hold with the inner; in this we must seek to dwell and walk withdrawn, and let it hang on God alone, like a child born of Him at its mother's breast. So will the outer man ever decrease, but the inner be strengthened and renewed from day to day (2 Corinthians 4:16). In more advanced souls a very essential separation of these two parts takes place; in others it goes often very confusedly, one through the other — sometimes from unfaithfulness, when one does the will of the flesh; sometimes from ignorance, when one takes too much to heart what goes on in the outer part. One wants, by way of activity, to ward off and drive away the thoughts in the head, the lusts of the senses, and whatever else stirs of evil, and often only grows worse. Then one becomes disheartened and sad, and judges oneself only by the outer part, whereas it is in truth a burden to the inner man and against his will. The best is that one withdraw with one's inner will, softly and unnoticed, abide by God in the heart, and seek to forget and let fall all else as much as possible. By such a not-noticing and turning-in, one often overcomes the greatest temptations — even if one had to suffer them, and could not become rightly still. This, then, is the conclusion: the inner man, the spirit or mind, must be master, and the outer the servant; he lays on him his needful work, but does not make himself familiar with him — rather he abides by God as a child of eternity, and seeks to await His drawing and presence in secret. If the enemy, if the corrupt part, will rage and rave, the spirit takes no notice of it, and only says an honest No, and stays quiet. Well for him who is active in and through the reason and senses only at need, and keeps himself a stranger to the world, the creature, and his outer part, so that his noble mind may remain undisguised and undivided, given over to God in all His leadings and workings! Time, dear brother, will make everything clearer to you.

The doubting deliberations with you — whether it has ever been right with you? whether it be not all imagination and deceit, and so forth? — these too belong still to the outer man, and come because you still stand too much in the reason. There is not much to be done there, save only, the moment doubt comes, to give oneself over inwardly and thoughtfully to God, as sincerely as one can; thereby one abides, and forgets the deliberations. We must think more upon God than upon ourselves. What we are not yet, that we will yet become through God. Always wanting to see how and where one is? — that gives only confusion and loss of time. Onward, of good cheer! Ever more fully and inwardly into forgetting, self-emptying, and surrender to God; our inner Guide will surely know whither.

You will now keep good order in the use of your time, which I once more recommend. The hours devoted to work must not be spent in idleness, distracting reading, too much going out, or otherwise in vain. The work that is done for the Lord in a still manner is a service of God. Nor must the hours for withdrawal be left off without solid cause, or always put off. The more your inner man becomes devout and detached under the work, the less will the fancies disturb at the time of withdrawal. Yet you must have a little patience with yourself; your lively, roving fancy and temperament must be gradually brought into order. One seeks to slip away, unnoticed, from the fancies as from all the rest, by a soft, undisguised look of love toward God, whom one believes present within oneself: if one must nonetheless still feel the fluttering, disturbing powers, then one must suffer it with resignation; patience too is a virtue. For the rest, you must become more innocent, and not look too much at what you inwardly do, have, or receive; let the childlike eye look on God in all! ——

I greet N. heartily, as also your wife, whom the Lord bless, and make right faithful and childlike! Greet also your N. N. God form us together after His heart! The little letter from your wife was dear to me; if she finds herself inclined, I would gladly have one again, to see how it goes with her, though I do not always answer. I offer you up to the Lord in prayer, though it be done in weakness. Remember me too before God! Let your whole self be eternally devoted to the Most-Loveworthy, who bless your soul!

Your

Mülheim, 5 December 1734.

fellow-brother.

German

Der 73te Brief.

Unterscheid zwischen Fleisch und Geist, dem inneren und äußeren Menschen.

In der Gnade des HErrn geliebter Freund und Bruder!

Deine vor und nach an mich abgelassene Briefe sind mir angenehm gewesen. Mancherlei hat mich gehindert, daß ich selbige nicht eher hab beantworten können; besonders nimmt mir die zunehmende tödtliche Krankheit meines Bruders viel Zeit weg.

— Opening lines of the original German. The complete transcription of all 605 letters appears in the forthcoming Encounter Press critical edition; Brief 1 is shown in full as a sample.

German text: public domain (1773–75 first edition / 1845 Gesammelte Schriften).