Ordinarily, when we talk of inward parts, we think of something we would rather have covered up with our outward parts. To think of inward parts as something one might take out and examine separately is a gruesome thought. At the same time, we recognize that our inward parts are critical to all that we are; they are us. We don’t see them as different from who we are, when we have to refer to them or talk about them, we have to use terms that suggest that they are things that belong to us, such as my heart, or my stomach, etc. They become secondary or separate only because our language requires it. We would be unable to describe any of our inward parts if we did not use those terms.
In some cases, our inward parts are referred to as if they had some autonomy or separate intelligence and that they could choose their own separate direction. Sometimes we may even refer to them as a problem child, “My darn heart has been giving me problems lately,” or “My kidneys have developed stones and are causing me a lot of pain.” You have probably heard statements like, “My head tells me one thing but my heart tells me another.”
There is something about the referencing of the inward parts, just as though they represent a more stable part of our anatomy. For example, in the Old Testament, Jeremiah speaking prophetically says, “ But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and (I) will be their God, and they shall be my people.” ( Jeremiah 31:33) The inward parts are apparently a safer or surer place to keep important things and it is obviously rhetorical.
When the Lord wanted to make reference to the Pharisees as a wicked people He also made it clear that they were wicked a lot deeper than just outwardly. “And the Lord said unto them, Now do ye Pharisees make clean the outside of the cup and the platter; but your inward part is full of cravening and wickedness.” (Luke 11:39)
Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchers, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness. (Matthew 23:27)
References to the inward parts or to the inner man doesn’t just come from a biblical reference as we hear phrases such as, “In order to find the courage to do what I did I had to reach way down inside myself.”
I believe what it all comes down to is this, God’s law (the Gospel) is something we shouldn’t just wear on our sleeves or put on like clothing that can be taken off and/or changed at will. We have to make it a part of us just like our inward parts are a part of us that can’t be cast off or changed when ever we get a whim. If we indeed put them in our inward parts than and only than will He be our God and we will be His people. May we be so blessed as to want to be His people! Let us not, too, be whited sepulchers.