Image without dust; eyes of the inner man

Origen went on: And God said, Let us make a human being according to our image and according to our likeness, and let them rule, and the rest. And God made the human being — not taking dust from the earth as in the case of the second, but according to the image of God he made him.

And that the 'according to the image of God' is known as immaterial, better than every bodily subsistence, not by Moses only but also by the apostle, his wording shows when he says: Having put off the old man with his deeds and having put on the new, the one being renewed unto knowledge according to the image of the one who created him.

There are, then, two men in each of us. How is it said, The soul of all flesh is blood? The problem is great. As, then, the outer man is named with the same name as the inner, so also his members, so that one may say that every member of the outer man is also named according to the inner man.

The outer man has eyes, and the inner is said to have eyes: Lighten my eyes, lest I sleep unto death. He is not speaking about these eyes, nor about perceptible sleep, nor about the common death. The commandment of the Lord is bright, lighting the eyes. It is not that by keeping the Lord's commandments we become sharper-sighted according to the body, but that by keeping the divine commandments we become sharper-sighted according to the mind. The eyes of the inner man see through more than ours: Uncover my eyes, and I will consider the wonders of your law.