Cooperating with the Triune God to Put Off the Old Man and Put On the New Man

As believers in Christ, we need to cooperate with the Triune God to put off the old man, which was terminated on the cross by Christ, and put on the new man, which was created through Christ’s death and resurrection.

We have seen that there’s an urgent need to see the church as the one new man, and this week we want to be before the Lord and have a deeper, stronger, and even divine aspiration that the one new man would practically exist among us.

The new man was created by Christ in Himself on the cross, and we aspire that among us in the Lord’s recovery it will be brought into a practical existence.

The divine truth of the one new man has been in the Bible for two thousand years, and when Paul mentioned the one new man, he hoped and aspired that the one new man would be brought into practical existence during his time.

We need to be renewed in the spirit of our mind for the practical existence of the one new man. For the practical existence of the one new man, we all need to put off the old man, as regards to the old manner of life, and put on the new man by being renewed in the spirit of our mind.

The one new man was created according to God in righteousness and holiness of the reality (see Eph. 4:22-24). We should not be fashioned according to this age but be transformed by the renewing of the mind, so that we may know what the will of God is, that which is good and well pleasing and perfect (Rom. 12:2).

The will of God is nothing else but the living out of the one new man in a practical way.

Two thousand years ago the apostle Paul had such an aspiration that the new man would be brought into practical existence in his age. What about us – do we have such a longing and aspiration that the one new man would be brought into practical existence among us in this age today?

We should no longer hinder the Lord in this age by allowing this truth to remain in the Bible without being fulfilled.

We must pray that the Lord would gain us that we would not only see the vision of the one new man but even more, in our church life and Christian life, the one new man would be brought into practical existence.

We shouldn’t underestimate God’s longing for the one new man but join ourselves to Him through prayer saying,

Lord Jesus, here we are, gain us. Gain us that we would not only see the vision of the one new man but even more, that the one new man would be brought into practical existence in our Christian life and church life. Lord, it is Your desire and yearning to gain the one new man. Give us such an aspiration for the one new man to be brought into existence practically that we would cooperate with You by putting off the old man and putting on the new man day by day.

Everything the Lord is Doing in the Present Age is to Usher in the Practical Existence of the One New Man

The Lord Jesus prophesied in Matt. 16:18 that He will build His church. What He has prophesied, He will also fulfill; even though we may not see it today with our eyes yet, yet the Lord will fulfill what He prophesied and promised.

We need to realize, however, that without the practical existence of the one new man, the building up of the church may be “vain talk”. The building up of the church depends upon the existence of the one new man.

When the one new man comes into existence practically, the builded church is here. The Lord will get what He is after, regardless of what we see today on earth and especially in Christianity, with the situation of division and degradation.

Today because of the internet, the Lord can blend all the saints together, and the communication and fellowship can be improved and hastened.

On the negative side, the enemy uses the development of technology to spread his evil things to all the parts of the world and to all men, but the Lord uses everything for the bringing in of the practical existence of the one new man.

Everything that the Lord is doing in the present age is to usher in the practical existence of the one new man; this is the Lord’s move on earth today (Eph. 2:15; 4:24; Col. 3:10-11).

In the age of the apostle Paul, for example, he had to make four journeys, travel thousands of miles on earth or the sea, and visit place after place; then, he wrote epistle after epistle for no other purpose but to blend the saints and the churches into one.

There was such a deep longing in the apostle Paul to bring the one new man into practical existence; he longed that the man created by Christ on the cross would be brought into practical existence in all the local churches.

In this age we are deeply convinced that all that the Lord is doing is for the practical existence of the one new man. His plan, His way, is not to “mend” or “improve” the old man; He is totally disappointed with the old man.

He wants us to put off the old man so that the new man would practically come into existence. What the world can give people is improvement through education, culture, and even religion; all these are attempts to do some “mending” or “improving work” on the old man.

Yet the will of God is to altogether replace the old creation with the new creation. He would NOT improve the old creation: He wants us to put off the old man and put on the new man, so that the new creation might be brought forth.

We need to drop our natural and religious concepts and be renewed in the spirit of our mind; our mind must be saturated, permeated, possessed, and taken over by our mingled spirit.

When this happens, we put off the old man, we put on the new man, and our concepts will be fully revolutionised, and there won’t be any ordinances among us; rather, the new man will come into existence practically.

Lord Jesus, cause us to realize that everything You are doing in this present age is to usher in the practical existence of the one new man. Amen, Lord, build up Your church and gain the one new man practically in all the local churches on earth today! We want to put off the old man and put on the new man that we may cooperate with Your gaining of the one new man. May our mingled spirit spread into, saturate, permeate, possess, and take over our mind, so that we may no longer be natural or religious in our thinking, but we would be the one new man in reality!

Cooperating with the Triune God to Put Off the Old Man and Put On the New Man

Today in our experience as believers in Christ we should cooperate with the Triune God to put off the old man – which was already terminated on the cross – and put on the new man – which was created through Christ’s death and resurrection (see Eph. 2:15; 4:22, 24).

The Bible clearly points out that there’s a great contrast between the old man and the new man. But what about us, in our experience, do we sense there’s such a sharp contrast?

God doesn’t want the old creation to remain side-by-side with the new creation – He wants that we all put off the old man (which He terminated on the cross) and put on the new man (which was created in Christ on the cross).

Therefore, regarding our former manner of life, we must put off the old man. We need to be willing to put off the old man, because we know that our old man has been crucified with Christ (see Rom. 6:6).

Most Christians know the cross in its dealing with the problem of sin; actually, the cross didn’t just deal with sin but with the sinner itself, the old man.

What is our evaluation of the old man? Do we still have some hope with the old man? Do we still try to improve ourselves, our old man, to live the church life?

In the church life we need to realize that our old man has been crucified with Christ; our old man has been terminated, and all the living issuing from the old man has also been terminated. If we do not put off the old man, then we cannot have the living of the new man.

In baptism we put off the old man; our old man was crucified with Christ and was buried in baptism (see Rom. 6:4, 6). The real meaning of baptism is that we were buried with Christ into His death. Baptism is a burial.

Yes, baptism is a washing away of our sins, but it also testifies that our old man has been crucified with Christ, and therefore we need to bury it with Him. Baptism testifies to the fact that our old man is indeed dead.

When someone is dead, we don’t keep him on display; we bury hum. Our old man died with Christ on the cross, and through baptism we admit and acknowledge that we have been crucified with Christ, and our old man has died with Him.

When we rise up from the waters of baptism we are washed away from our sins and our person is also washed away; both the sins and the sinner are washed away. We need to live in the reality of our baptism as we put off the old man and put on the new man.

The former manner of life – the living of the old man – was a walk in the vanity of the mind (Eph. 4:22, 17). We should no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the vanity of the mind.

Many times, even though we were saved, we still live or walk in the way of the Gentiles, in the vanity of our mind. No matter what the Gentiles do, it is empty and vanity.

We need to put off the old man. The former manner of life includes everything related to us, especially the community life of the old man.

We go to school, we get a joy and work, we get married and establish a family, we raise up our children, etc – all these are a form of the community life. Before we were saved, this community life was one that was without God.

We may have been serious and diligent in seeking the goals of our human life, but all our efforts and seeking were vain because we didn’t have God in us. To put off regarding the former manner of life, the old man, is to put off our old way of living.

Our old man is being corrupted according to the lusts of the deceit; the deceit refers to the deceiver, Satan, from whom come the lusts of the corrupted old man. God’s judgement is on the old man, who is full of deceit; as called ones of God, we need to put off the old man and put on the new man.

Our culture, our language, our ways of living, our habits, all should no longer exist in the church life as the practical expression of the one new man. We need to put off the old man and put on the new man, which was created according to God in righteousness and holiness of the reality.

There’s a contrast between the old man – which is corrupted according to the lust of the deceit – and the new man, which is was created according to God in reality. In the one new man there’s righteousness and holiness of the reality, which reality is God Himself.

Our old man was terminated on the cross and buried through baptism, and now we need to cooperate with the Triune God to put off the old man and put on the new man!

Lord Jesus, we want to cooperate with You to put off the old man and put on the new man for the practical existence of the one new man. Thank You, Lord, our old man has been crucified with Christ, and through baptism we acknowledge that our old man has been buried and should no longer affect us. We put off the old man with its walk in the vanity of the mind and we put on the new man, the church life. We put off the old man which is being corrupted according to the lusts of the deceit, and we 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: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message given by the brothers for this week, and portions from, The Conclusion of the New Testament, msg. 341 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Goal of the Lord’s Recovery – to Bring Forth the One New Man (2018 ICSC), week 2, Being Renewed in the Spirit of the Mind for the Practical Existence of the One New Man.
• Hymns on this topic:
  # My old man has been crucified with Him, / With all its foul corruption deep within; / And buried too its nature serpentine, / Completely finished—this great fact is mine, / I hold it fast. (Hymns #1179)
  # Already dead! And buried too! / With the old man I am through! / Already dead! And buried too! / With the old man I am through! / No longer I!  No longer I! / Christ in me I’ll testify! (Hymns #938)
  # Thus we must put off the old man / That we may put on the new; / Thus, renewed in mind and spirit, / We will bear God’s image true. (Hymns #823)