In this message we come to the creation of the one new man (Eph. 2:14-15). This matter is extremely crucial in the New Testament, but it has been neglected by most Christians.
When Christ died on the cross, not only did He deal with sins, the old man, Satan, and the world; He also dealt with the ordinances. On the cross Christ abolished in His flesh the law of the commandments in ordinances. Therefore, by His death on the cross, Christ dealt with five categories of things: sins, the old man, Satan, the world, and the ordinances. It seems that very few Christians today talk about Christ’s dealing with the ordinances, and I doubt that any books have been written on this subject. Most Christians think that all our problems concern sins, the old man, Satan, and the world. Many think that we are all right as long as these four things are dealt with. But not all the problems are solved and we cannot be all right until the ordinances have been dealt with. The ordinances, the different ways of living and worshipping, had to be abolished by Christ on the cross so that He could create in Himself the one new man.
We have heard repeatedly that on the cross Christ accomplished redemption, destroyed the Devil, judged the world, and crucified the self. But perhaps you have never heard that Christ’s death on the cross was also for the creation of the one new man. In order to create the one new man, it was necessary for Christ to abolish the ordinances. By abolishing in His flesh the separating ordinances and by creating the Jewish and Gentile believers into one new man, Christ has made peace among all believers. The Jews and Gentiles were separated to the uttermost by the ordinances. But both peoples were created in Christ with the divine essence into one new entity, which is a corporate man, the church. Because no other Christians speak about the abolishing of the ordinances and the creating of the new man, we are very burdened to give a word concerning these things.
Most believers recognize that the church is the ecclesia, the gathering or assembling of God’s called people. The Brethren emphasized this aspect of the church and even translated the Greek word ecclesia into “assembly,” which is an accurate rendering. This, however, is an even less than elementary understanding of the church. A somewhat more advanced concept of the church is that the church is God’s household or family. An even higher understanding of the church is to see that the church is the Body of Christ. The highest understanding of the church is that the church is the one new man. These four concepts of the church are like four levels in the educational system: kindergarten, elementary, high school, and college. We need to advance from the kindergarten level of the church, that of the assembly, to the college level, that of the one new man.
The relationship among Christians in an assembly, a gathering, is not very close. It is much closer and more intimate among those in the family, the household. However, we are not only members of God’s family, but also members of the Body of Christ, where the relationship among the members is still closer. Those in the assembly and the members of a family may be separated from one another, but the members of the Body cannot be separated from the Body unless they are amputated. Wherever the Body goes, the members must go also; they have no choice. However, in the one new man the fellowship is even more intimate than in the Body. The new man is corporate and universal. There are many believers, but there is only one new man in the universe. All the believers are components of this one corporate and universal new man. May the Lord show us more light concerning the new man! We must admit that as yet we have not seen very much of this aspect of the church. The aspect of the church as the new man is a new discovery opened up in recent years. I believe that in the days to come the Lord will reveal more concerning the one new man.
The family is more intimate than the assembly, the Body is much higher than the family, and the new man is higher than the Body. Thus, with the new man we come to the highest aspect of the church. Although Christian teachers have spoken a great deal about the assembly, the family, and the Body, hardly any have touched the matter of the one new man. This lack is evident in the deplorable translation of Ephesians 4:22 and 24 in the New American Standard Bible. Instead of using the word “man” in these two verses, this version says in verse 22 to “lay aside the old self” and in verse 24 to “put on the new self.” What a serious mistake this is in translation! The Revised Standard Version is also greatly in error by adopting the renderings, “put off your old nature” and “put on the new nature.” These errors came in because the translators responsible for them did not have the proper concept or knowledge. W. E. Vine, however, had some understanding of this matter. In his Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words, he says that the new man in 4:24 is the church because it is the very new man mentioned in 2:15. Because the new man is created of two peoples, the Jewish and Gentile believers, it must be a corporate entity.
The Lord has no way to accomplish His purpose until He has this new man on earth. The situation among today’s Christians is far short of God’s goal. Although there is much talk about the Body, not many have a proper understanding of the Body. Furthermore, Christians rarely even speak of the one new man. How crucial it is that this aspect of the church be fully recovered!
In order to see the one new man, we need to have a proper understanding of the old man. Before exhorting us to put on the new man, Paul tells us to put off the old man (4:22). After creating heaven and earth, God created man, not merely as an individual, but as a collective entity. Genesis 1:26 speaks of man both in the singular and in the plural: “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion....” This reveals that God’s intention has always been to have one collective man. The corporate man created by God was damaged through the fall, and there is now the need for God to have a new man. In order to produce this new man, Christ had to deal not only with sin, the fallen nature of the old man, Satan, and the world, but as we have pointed out, He also had to abolish the ordinances. What most frustrates God from gaining the new man is ordinances. When Christ was crucified on the cross, our sins, our old man, Satan, and the world were not the only things crucified; all the ordinances were crucified also. The crucifixion of the ordinances was not for forgiveness, holiness, victory over Satan, or the imparting of life; rather, it was absolutely for the creation of the one new man.
We are familiar with such verses as John 1:1 and 3:16, but we are not familiar with Ephesians 2:15. This verse says, “Having abolished in His flesh the law of the commandments in ordinances, that He might create the two in Himself into one new man, making peace.” When Christ’s flesh was nailed to the cross, He abolished the law of the commandments in ordinances so that He might create the two, the Jews and Gentiles, in Himself into one new man. When verse 15 is read along with verse 16, we see clearly that Christ abolished the ordinances through the cross and slew the enmity by the cross, not for the purpose of accomplishing redemption or of imparting life, but for creating the Jews and the Gentiles into one new man.
When Christ was nailed to the cross in the flesh, the entire old creation was involved, for all of creation was related to His flesh. According to Hebrews 10, Christ’s flesh was typified by the veil in the temple on which were embroidered cherubim, signifying the living creatures. Therefore, when Christ was nailed to the cross, the entire creation was nailed there with Him. Furthermore, when the veil in the temple was rent, the cherubim were rent also. This signifies that when the flesh of Christ was crucified on the cross, all the creatures were crucified. This is the biblical understanding of the crucifixion.
If you ask an unbelieving Jew who it was that was crucified on the cross, he will answer, “The man Jesus of Nazareth.” If you asked this question of a new believer, he would probably say that his Savior, Jesus Christ, died there. A more advanced Christian would reply that both he and the Savior were crucified on the cross. An even more advanced Christian would respond that the Savior, he himself, and the Devil were all crucified on the cross. Other Christians, those even further advanced than these, would say that on the cross the Savior, the self, the Devil, and the world were crucified. If we went on to inquire of a mature and enlightened Christian concerning who died on the cross, he would say that the Savior, the self, Satan, the world, and all the creatures were crucified there. If this question is addressed to us, we should include in our answer not only the five items already mentioned, but also the ordinances. Christ’s death terminated all of the old creation; every negative thing in the universe was terminated.
Christ abolished in His flesh the law of commandments in ordinances; but He did not create the new man in His flesh. No, in the flesh He terminated the negative things so that He might create the two, the Jews and the Gentiles, into one new man in Himself. The negative things were terminated in Christ’s flesh, whereas the new man, which, of course, is positive, was germinated in Christ Himself. We need to pay careful attention to two phrases in verse 15: “in His flesh” and “in Himself.” If I were to ask you where you are today, you should say, “Firstly, I was in Christ’s flesh; now I am in Christ Himself. In His flesh I was terminated on the cross, but in Christ Himself I was created as part of the one new man.”
Christ did not stop with the termination of the negative things. As we have pointed out again and again, death is the threshold of resurrection; it ushers us into resurrection. Although Christ in the flesh was crucified on the cross, this death brought Him into resurrection. In resurrection He is no longer in the flesh; rather, He is the wonderful Spirit. It was in His flesh that we, the old man, were terminated, but it is in the wonderful Spirit that we have been created into the one new man. When our old man and our old nature were crucified, the ordinances related to our fallen nature were slain. Then in Christ’s resurrection and in His wonderful Spirit, we were created into one new man. It does not seem reasonable to say that we were crucified before we were born. Nevertheless, it is a marvelous fact that we were terminated in the flesh of Christ on the cross. Moreover, before we were born, we were also created in the wonderful Spirit to be the one new man.
The phrase “in Himself” is very significant. It indicates that Christ was not only the Creator of the one new man, the church, but also the sphere in which and the essence with which the one new man was created. He is the very element of the new man. After we were terminated, in Him we received the new essence. Christ Himself became this new element to us. Nothing of our old man was good for the creation of the new man, for our former essence was sinful. But in Him there is a wonderful essence, in which the one new man has been created.
Christ created the one new man, the church, with God’s nature wrought into humanity. This divine work was something new. In the old creation God did not work His nature into any of His creatures, not even into man. In the creation of the one new man, however, God’s nature has been wrought into man to make His divine nature one entity with humanity.
The demons and evil angels know that the one new man has been created in the divine essence. This fact terrifies them. For this reason, the demonic powers would try to keep Christians from seeing the fact of the creation of the one new man. Hence, we must fight the battle for this truth. We need to pray for a clear and sober mind to perceive that not only have we been terminated on the cross, but that by means of this termination we have been transferred into Christ. In Christ, with His divine essence, we have been created into the one new man.
It is essential to believe that before we were born we were created into the one new man and that a new essence has been wrought into our being. If you believe that Christ died on the cross to take away your sins, then you must also believe that through His death you have been put into Him and that in Him you have been created, with His divine essence, into the new man. Have you ever heard before that in His crucifixion Christ terminated you in His flesh and then in His resurrection put you into Himself in order to create you, with the divine essence, into the new man? This concept is beyond our natural understanding. Nevertheless, according to the Word, it is a fact. If we read 2:15 carefully and with prayer, the light will come in. We shall see that we and all the creatures, signified by the cherubim on the veil, were crucified in the flesh of Christ on the cross. Since death ushers us into resurrection, in His resurrection Christ put us into Himself. Then with His divine essence He created us in Himself into the one new man.
Ephesians 2:15 does not say, “That He might create the two into one new man.” Do not ignore the phrase “in Himself.” Apart from being in Him, we could not have been created into the new man, because in ourselves we do not have the divine essence which is the element of the new man. Only in the divine essence and with the divine essence were we created into the new man. It is possible to have this essence only in Christ. In fact, Christ Himself is this essence, this element. Hence, in Himself Christ created the two into one new man. We all need to be profoundly impressed with the fact that we, the believers, have been created into one new man in Christ.
As those who have been saved and regenerated, we now must put off the old man and put on the new man. Although the new man has already been created, we still need to put him on. Hardly any Christians know how to put off the old man, much less how to put on the new man. Most Christians think that to put off the old man is to put off the old nature or the old self and that to put on the new man is to put on the new nature. Those who hold this concept are utterly mistaken. Since the new man in 2:15 is a corporate man, the new man in 4:24 must also be corporate. According to 4:24, we need to put on the very new man that has already been created in Christ.
The way to put on the new man is found in 4:23: “Be renewed in the spirit of your mind.” This word indicates that to be renewed in the spirit of our mind is to put on the new man. Now we must see what it means to be renewed in the spirit of our mind. Admittedly, this is a strange expression. If I had been the writer of this Epistle, I would have said “the mind of the spirit” instead of “the spirit of the mind.” To me, that would have been more logical. Nevertheless, Paul spoke here of the spirit of the mind.
The phrase “in spirit” is found in every chapter of Ephesians, except chapter one. Do you realize what is in our spirit? You may say that the Lord Jesus and the Spirit of God are in our spirit. This, of course, is correct. But now we need to see that the new man is also in our spirit. God’s habitation, His dwelling place, is in our spirit (2:22). In type, the ancient city of Jerusalem was God’s dwelling place, but today God’s dwelling place is in our spirit. Our regenerated spirit is today’s Jerusalem. You may think that there is no comparison between the city of Jerusalem and our spirit. Jerusalem was a large city, and our spirit is very small. But if you know the Bible, you will realize that our spirit today is much larger than Jerusalem. Our spirit is universally spacious. The problem is that we are too individualistic and think only of our individual spirit. But when the Bible speaks of “your spirit,” it includes the spirits of all the saints.
For too long our mind has been preoccupied by natural concepts, religious thoughts, and traditional teachings. In considering the matter of our spirit, we need to drop all this and see that our spirit is universally spacious. We know that God dwells in the third heaven, but He also dwells in our spirit. This makes our spirit today’s Jerusalem. Hallelujah for that wonderful entity in the universe called our spirit! The Spirit witnesses with our spirit (Rom. 8:16). The words “our spirit” include Paul’s spirit, Martin Luther’s spirit, John Wesley’s spirit, Brother Nee’s spirit, your spirit, and my spirit. How spacious our spirit is! The Bible reveals that God is the God of our spirit (Num. 16:22; Heb. 12:9). Where is God today? In our spirit. Where is God’s dwelling place today? In our spirit. Where is the one new man? Also in our spirit.
The way to put on the new man is for our spirit (which is mingled with the Spirit), in which are found God, God’s dwelling place, and the new man, to become the spirit of our mind. Our mind dominates and directs our whole being. For the spirit to become the spirit of our mind means that the spirit directs, controls, dominates, and possesses our mind. Instead of our mind being the mind of our spirit, our spirit should be the spirit of our mind. If the mind is the mind of our spirit, it means that our mind dominates, controls, and directs our spirit. But if our spirit is the spirit of our mind, it means that our spirit dominates, controls, and directs our mind. When the spirit directs our mind, it governs our whole being. When this is the case, our being is under the control of our spirit, in which are found God, the dwelling place of God, and the new man. It is in this spirit of our mind that we are renewed. By means of this spirit we put on the new man.
How much we put on the new man depends on how much our spirit directs our being. When our spirit dominates and directs us, there is no ground for opinions or ordinances. There is no room for our way, because our whole being is dominated, controlled, governed, and directed by our spirit.
Putting on the new man does not take place once for all. On the contrary, it is a lifelong matter, a gradual process that goes on throughout our Christian life. We have pointed out again and again that the new man has been created in Christ and with Christ. In 2:15, the Greek word rendered “in” has an instrumental significance; it also means “with.” Thus, in Himself actually means with Himself. The new man has already been created with Christ as the divine essence. When we were regenerated, this new man was put into our spirit. Now day by day we need to put on this new man by permitting the spirit to control our being and renew our mind. Every time part of our being is renewed, we put on a little more of the new man. Hence, the more we are renewed through the spirit controlling our mind, the more of the new man we put on. Eventually, this process of putting on the new man will be completed.
In the one new man there are none of the national and cultural distinctions between the peoples. Here there is neither Jew nor Gentile, bondman nor freeman, cultured nor uncultured (Col. 3:10-11). Likewise, there is no American, nor British, nor Japanese, nor Chinese, nor German, nor French. In this new man Christ is all because He is the very essence with which the new man is created. Hence, the new man is just Christ.
Because the new man has been created in Christ and with Christ according to God, the new man bears the image of God. In contrast to Genesis 1:26, which says that man was made in the image of God, Ephesians 4:24 says that the new man is created directly according to God. Eventually, the new man will bear the image of God in holiness and righteousness of the reality. By being renewed in the governing spirit of our mind, we put on this new man that has been created in Christ Jesus.
