The Church as the New Man is the Corporate Man to Express and Represent God today

God’s intention in His creation of man was to have a corporate man to express and represent God, and even though He didn’t gain this with Adam, He will gain this with the one new man created by Christ on the cross. Amen!

This week in our morning revival, we come to the book of Ephesians, in particular to chapter 2, and we are focusing on, The Creator of the One New Man as the Masterpiece of God.

God created man in His own image so that man would express and represent God with His image and likeness to bring His kingdom. Praise the Lord!

May we realise that God’s intention in His economy is related to every aspect of our daily life, and that even hour by hour we need to enjoy Christ, experience Him, and express Him as the Creator of the one new man as the masterpiece of God.

We need to have a feeling and apprehension of this aspect of the church as the one new man. We may know that the church is the assembly of God, the household of God, and the family of God, or we may know the church being the Body of Christ.

But what about the church as the one new man, the masterpiece of God? We may be quite veiled when it comes to the church as the one new man. Christ is the Creator of the one new man. He created the new man as the masterpiece of God.

God’s purpose can be seen from the very first chapter of the Bible, in Genesis chapter 1. In Genesis 1:26, we see that God wanted to create man in His image and according to His likeness, and He gave them dominion over the fish of the sea and over every living thing. God wants to gain His image and dominion.

How can He gain His image to be expressed and His dominion to be represented? It is by having a corporate man to express Him and represent Him, and this corporate man is the one new man.

However, through the fall, man fell short of the glory of God, and man became divided and scattered; now the enemy has a free way to distract man, usurp man, and hinder man from fulfilling the eternal purpose of God.

But praise the Lord, Christ came and, through the cross, terminated all the problems and everything that was used by Satan to divide and scatter man.

He has broken down the middle wall of partition and made peace through His Body on the tree.

We are now made one in Him, and in and as the one new man, we can express God and represent Him with His authority. The Lord is after gaining this one new man today. He wants to gain the new man in reality on the earth.

God’s Intention in His Creation of Man was to have a Corporate Man to Express Him and Represent Him

The highest created life is the human life. Man was created in the image of God and according to His likeness to be the centre of God’s creation, even to be the head of all creation. Wow!

God created the heavens, the earth, and all things in them, and He then created man out of the dust of the ground; He made man in His image.

We may take for granted the verse in Genesis 1:26, but we need to have a fresh view of the fact that God created man in His own image for His expression and gave man His dominion so that man would represent God to deal with His enemy. God created man in His image so that man would express Him in His image.

God gave man HIs dominion so that man would represent God with His authority. We human beings bear God’s image so that we may express Him.

God gave us His dominion so that we may subdue God’s enemy (Satan), who rebelled against God, to recover the earth (which was usurped by Satan), and to exercise God’s authority over the earth so that God’s kingdom may come in.

In both the Old and the New Testament, we see that God’s intention is the same: He wants to obtain a corporate man to express Him and represent Him. God wants a corporate man who expresses God in His image and represents God with His authority.

He wants His kingdom to come to the earth, His will to be done on earth, and for His glory to be manifested on the earth (Matt. 6:10, 13).

However, the first man, Adam, fell and was deceived by Satan, and God did not get His image and dominion with him. God’s intention that man would express Him and represent Him will be fulfilled with the new man, a corporate man, created by Christ on the cross.

Adam as the first man became the old man (Rom. 6:6), but we as believers in Christ, are the new man, Christ as the Head and the Body being one with the Head, to express and represent God.

The one new man, created by Christ on the cross, is the corporate man in God’s economy who expresses and represents God.

The eternal intention of God to have a corporate man to express and represent God is fulfilled in Christ as the second man and it is fully fulfilled in the overcoming believers who live Christ and express Him!

When we as believers in Christ, overcome by living Christ for His corporate expression (Phil. 1:19-26) and have authority over the enemy, we express and represent God.

The overcoming believers will have authority over the nations and reign as co-kings with Christ in the millennium.

For eternity, God’s intention will be ultimately fulfilled in the New Jerusalem. The holy city will express God’s image, having His glory and bearing His appearance, and will also exercise God’s divine authority to maintain God’s dominion over the entire universe for eternity! Hallelujah!

God’s intention in His creation of man is fulfilled by Christ, the one new man, the overcoming believers, and the New Jerusalem.

Today, in the age of the church, we need to cooperate with the Lord to be part of the corporate person to express and represent God in this age.

We were made one in Christ on the cross, for He destroyed and wiped out anything that separates us, but we need to live in the mingled spirit throughout the day so that we may corporately express and represent God.

We need to see and be impressed with the fact that God’s intention in His creation of man was to have a corporate man to express Him and to represent Him, and we need to cooperate with the Lord for the fulfilment of His intention today.

Thank You, Lord, for creating us in Your image and according to Your likeness so that we may express and represent God! Hallelujah, we human beings are the highest created life as the centre of God’s creation, and we believers have received Christ as our life to be part of the new man! Amen, Lord, we want to live in our spirit today so that we may express You in Your image and represent You with Your authority. Save us from expressing our own image. May we express Your image today. Save us from trying to impose any authority over others; may we be under Your authority so that Your authority may be expressed through us. Amen, Lord Jesus, may we see God’s intention in creating man – to gain a corporate man to express and represent God! We give ourselves to You, dear Lord, to live a life for the fulfilment of Your purpose today! Be expressed through us. Keep us under Your authority today so that Your authority may be manifested through us! Hallelujah, in Christ as the new man, God’s intention in creating man is being fulfilled today!

The Church as the New Man bears God’s Image for His Expression and Fights against God’s Enemy for God’s Kingdom

God’s intention in creating man was for Him to obtain a corporate man to express and represent God. However, the created man, Adam, fell, and now all his descendants are fallen men, for they are enslaved by sin, usurped by the world, and sinful by nature. So Christ came through incarnation.

The wonder of wonders happened: God became a man! The wonderful Jesus came to be incarnated, and in Him, God lived a life in humanity on this earth.

He was crucified, resurrected, ascended, and enthroned, and then He was poured out as the Spirit upon the church to produce the church as the Body of Christ, the continuation of Christ! Amen!

In Acts 2:9-11, we see that the Holy Spirit was outpoured upon many in Jerusalem, and there were at least fifteen nationalities that were touched or represented there.

They were all Jews (v. 5), but under God’s sovereignty, they were not of one language; they were divided and scattered. However, when the church was brought forth, they all were gathered together, and the Spirit was outpoured; the church was produced!

What was divided and scattered in the old man was fully recovered and made one in the new man!

Today, the church as the new man in the new creation, bears God’s image for God’s expression and fights against God’s enemy for God’s kingdom (Col. 3:10-11; Eph. 2:15; 4:24; 6:10-11).

Because the old man fell into oldness and rebellion and division, God created the new man; the new man created by God expresses Him corporately.

Man fell not only once; there were four falls of men, until man fell to the uttermost and became flesh, impossible to express and represent God.

So God came in to call a particular race with Abraham as its head, but even the created race became fallen.

So God came in Himself to be incarnated, through His death on the cross, He tore down the middle wall of partition, abolishing in His flesh the law of the commandments in ordinances, that He might create the two in Himself into one new man, so making peace (Eph. 2:15). Amen!

What was scattered and divided in the old man is now recovered in the new man (Gen. 11:5-9; Acts 2:5-12; Col. 3:10-11). In Genesis 11, we see the epitome of the fall; man was scattered and divided to the uttermost, to the point that they all spoke different languages.

But in Acts 2 we see how the new man came into being practically, and they all spoke the same language, for the church was produced to be the one new man in God’s new creation. If we read Paul’s Epistles, we see the light concerning the one new man.

Eph. 2:13 in particular tells us that in Christ Jesus, we who were once far off have become near in the blood of Christ. To become near is to become near not only to God – but also to the believers!

On one hand, through the cross of Christ, we were reconciled to God and we can come forward to God. On the other hand, we were brought near to one another, to the other believers in Christ.

Christ Himself became our peace; He has made both one and has broken down the middle wall of partition, the enmity.

The new man has been created by Christ on the cross from two peoples: the Jews and the Gentiles.

Now we simply need to put on the new man. Eph. 4:22 says that we should put off, as regards our former manner of life, the old man, which is being corrupted according to the lusts of deceit. Oh Lord!

We need to exercise to put off the old man, that is, put off the divided and scattered man, and put on the new man (v. 24).

We need to put on the new man, which was created according to God in righteousness and holiness of the reality. Amen!

The Lord has already created the new man on the cross, and all separations have been torn down. Now we are the church as the new man in the new creation, and together we bear God’s image for God’s expression, and we fight against God’s enemy for God’s kingdom. Hallelujah!

May this become a vision to us, something that we see, enjoy, remain in, and become. May we put off the old man and put on the new man.

May the Lord gain the one new man as His masterpiece in His economy so that we may express and represent God on the earth today!

Lord Jesus, thank You for dying for us on the cross not only to redeem us but even more, to create the one new man! Hallelujah, on the cross Christ abolished in His flesh the law of the commandments in ordinances so that He might create the two – Jews and Gentiles – in Himself into one new man, so making peace! Praise the Lord, we now have peace in the Body of Christ as the one new man! Amen, Lord, cause us to see that the church as the new man in the new creation bears the image of God for God’s expression and fights against God’s enemy for God’s kingdom! Wow, Lord, thank You for making us one new man, and now we are one with You and one with one another, having no separation between us and God and between us and God’s people! Amen, Lord, we exercise our spirit to put off, as regards our former manner of life, the old man! We exercise to put on the new man, which was created according to God in righteousness and holiness of the reality!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration for this article/sharing comes from the Word of God, the enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by brother Ricky Acosta in the message for this week, and portions from, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1977, vol. 3, “The One New Man,” pp. 476-477, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Experiencing, Enjoying, and Expressing Christ (2) (2024 December Training), week 22 (msg. 10), The Creator of the One New Man as the Masterpiece of God.
• Similar articles on this topic:
  – What is the New Man? More via, The Hearing of Faith.
  – The Sweetness of Taking Christ as our Person for the One New Man, via, Living to Him.
  – World history in the light of God’s purpose, a portion from, The One New Man, Chapter 2.
  – Ephesians (Program #23) – The Two Created Into One New Man, via, Bible study radio.
  – The God of newness and the one new man, article via, Affirmation and Critique.
  – The True Nature of Our Relationship with the Lord Jesus, via, Bibles for America blog.
  – The New Man, a portion from, Lesson Book, Level 5: The Church—The Vision and Building Up of the Church, Chapter 5, by Witness Lee.
  – A New Man Created According to the Image of Christ, via, New Jerusalem blog.
  – Man being God’s expression and representative, a portion from, The Life for the Preaching of the High Gospel, Chapter 1, by Witness Lee.
  – Renewed in the Spirit of Your Mind – What does it mean and how do you experience it? More via, Holding to Truth in Love.
  – The church as the one new man in Ephesians – a corporate person, article by James Fite in, Affirmation and Critique.
  – The church being the corporate Christ, a portion from, Five Emphases in the Lord’s Recovery, Chapter 5, by Witness Lee.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – In the Word of old, we are clearly told, / In His image God created man. / To express His worth, to subdue the earth, / Have dominion and fulfill His plan. / Image, image, / In His image He created man. / Image, image, / For dominion, to fulfill His Plan. (Hymns #1144 stanza 1 and chorus)
  – One new man is the Father’s plan; / He redeemed us from the sons of men. / Every kindred, tribe and tongue, / In Himself He called us to be one. / God’s expression on the earth / Now reveals His glorious worth. / One new man is the Father’s plan; / He redeemed us from the sons of men. / On the cross ordinances slain, / That He might form just one of twain. / Reconciling us to God, / Thus on the serpent’s head He trod. / He breaks down the middle wall / As upon His name we call; / On the cross ordinances slain, / That He might form just one of twain. (Hymns #1230 stanzas 1-2)
  – Fight, saints, for Jesus our Lord! / Take in His life, stand in one accord! / Never fear God’s enemy; / Tread on his head triumphantly! / Pray that the daily church life be strong, / That all the saints in spirit press on, / Fighting as the one new man, / Fulfilling our Lord’s great plan! / (Glory! Hallelujah!) (Hymns #1283)