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OUTWARD MAN*
Part of a person outwardly observed. Used in contrast to “inner man,” the term is not to be confused with other terms, both biblical and extrabiblical, such as “old man and new man,” “natural man and spiritual man,” “body and soul.” Near Eastern, and particularly Semitic, thinking dealt in wholes instead of dichotomies, so the inner and outward man were viewed as parts of a whole rather than as irreconcilable opposites.
Although the phrase appears only in 2 Corinthians 4:16, similar terms, such as “outward appearance,” are found elsewhere in Scripture (1 Sm 16:7; Mt 23:27-28; 2 Cor 10:7). From the biblical perspective, appearance should correspond to that which is inside a person. The Talmud says, “A scribe whose inner man does not correspond to the outer is no scribe.”