Wesley Corpus

The ‘inward man’ in Scripture means one thing, the ‘new man’ another. The former means the mind opposed to the body: ‘Though our outward man,’ our body, ‘perish, yet the inward man,’ the mind or soul, ‘is renewed day by day’ (2 Cor. iv. 16). The latter means universal holiness: ‘Put off the old man, which is corrupt; and put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness’ (Eph. iv. 22, 24). But neither does the one nor the other ever mean ‘this angelic spirit and body.’ You yourself know better what the new birth is. You describe it better, though still with amazing queerness of language, where you say, -- ‘Man hath the light and water of an outward nature to quench the wrath of his own life, and the light and meekness of Christ, as a seed born in him, to bring forth anew the image of God.’ But it is not strange that you speak so confusedly and darkly as you generally do of the new birth, seeing you seem to have no conception of that faith whereby we are born again. This abundantly appears from your frank declaration, ‘We are neither saved by faith nor by works’ (Part II. p. 36). Flatly contrary to the declaration of St. Paul, ‘By grace we are saved through faith.’ To put the matter out of dispute, you declare that you mean by faith ‘a desire to be one with Christ’ (Part I. p. 50). Again: ‘The desire of turning to God is the coming of Christ into the soul. This faith will save thee.’ (Page 76.) So in your judgment saving faith is ‘a desire of coming to God or of being one with Christ.’ I know the contrary from experience. I had this desire many years before I even knew what saving faith was.