In the one new man there is only one person – Christ – and only this person has the freedom to speak; the Lord Jesus has the absolute freedom to speak, and our natural man has absolutely no freedom to speak. Amen!
In the church as the universal one new man we all – all the genuine believers in Christ – need to take Christ as our person in the matter of our speaking.
When we speak, we need to not only check “what would Jesus speak or do” but rather, take Christ as our person.
On one hand Christ has come into us as life, and we have the divine life to supply us, nourish us, strengthen us, spread in us, and saturate us inwardly to make us the Body of Christ.
On the other hand, Christ has come into us as a person; we didn’t just receive the life of Christ but Christ Himself, and Christ the Person is in us.
Now Christ the person wants to make His home in our heart (Eph. 3:16-17) and live in us, and He wants to be the person living in us, moving in us, being expressed through us, and speaking in us.
Do we allow Christ as the person to be expressed through us? Do we take Christ as our person, or do we still live in ourselves and by ourselves? And in particular in the matter of our speaking, is it still us who speaks or is it Christ in us who speaks?
He has come into us with His life, nature, mind, and person, and He wants to saturate us and permeate us inwardly with Himself so that He in us may live the Christian life and the church life.
But do we allow Him to live in us and speak in us and through us? Do we have the mind of Christ? Do we speak the same thing, even as there’s only one person in the one new man that speaks the one thing with the one mouth?
Oh Lord Jesus….we all have to admit that, both in our personal life and in the church life it is still us who lives and speaks, and we treasure our freedom of speech. We treasure being the one who speaks, we want to say our own things, and our opinions and feelings are dear to us.
We need to realize that, for us to be the one new man, we have to take Christ as our person in the matter of speaking, for in the one new man there’s only one person with one mouth to speak the same thing.
This doesn’t mean that we are like robots doing what He tells us to do and speaking what He wants us to speak; this means that we are so intimately related to Him and so organically joined to Him that what He speaks is what we speak, and our speaking reflects His speaking, so that He speaks in us and we speak Him for the one new man.
We all Speak the Same Thing with One Accord and with One Mouth by Taking Christ as Person
In Rom. 15:6 we see that with one accord we speak with one mouth; this means that, even though we are many and we all are speaking, we all speak the same thing (1 Cor. 1:10).
The church is the one new man with only one person – Christ, and this person controls our speaking; thus, whatever He speaks is surely “the same thing”.
Physically speaking, there’s a wonderful yet mysterious connection between our brain and our mouth, and our brain – directed by our person – determines how our mouth will move, how our chin, lips, and tongue will move, so that we can speak.
Our thoughts are something complex, but they express our person; in our body there’s one person, and this person controls our speaking, so that with one mouth we speak one thing.
In the Body of Christ it is the Head who controls the movement of the Body; when the Body doesn’t listen to the control or directions of the Head, there’s spasms and epilepsy, for there’s no control of the muscles, and the body operates on its own.
What about our speaking? What about our words, opinions, and decisions? Is it Christ as the person who controls our speaking, or is it us who speak?
To take Christ as our person means that He controls every word – He directs our speech, and He is the One who speaks in us.
In this light we all need to repent before the Lord because so much of our speaking – especially with our spouse at home, in common situations – it is not Christ who speaks but it is still us who speak.
Our self takes over by default so many times and speaks, and Christ’s person is pushed aside; at that moment we become a contradiction, for Christ is our real person, yet it is still us who decides things and speaks.
When we are about to speak, we need to resolve this basic matter: in the matter of speaking, am I the person, or is Christ the person? Many times when we are about to speak, we need to check within and ask ourselves, Is it I who wants to speak, or is it the Lord?
Is the Lord the Person or am I the person who speaks? If I am the person speaking, there will be a problem, but if the Lord is the person, there will be no problem.
May we not repeat the pitiful history in Christianity where every preacher wants to speak his own think, and they consider it is a shame to speak what others have spoken.
So this one speaks one thing, and the other speaks something else. On the other hand, may we not seek to be outwardly conformed to the new man and blindly follow others to speak what they speak, so that we may show everyone that we have one mouth and speak the same thing. Oh Lord Jesus!
May we realize that there’s the one new man, and this new man has only one person; the one new man speaks with one mouth and says the same thing, as we all take Christ as our person.
So in our coordination in the church life, in all the things we need to consider, we need to take Christ as our person, for the work in the church is His work, and the church is His.
If in our speaking we do not take ourselves as the person but allow Christ to be the person, then there will be one mouth, and everyone will speak the same thing.
Lord Jesus, we refuse to take ourselves as the person and we allow Christ to be the person in our being so that we may speak the same thing with one mouth for the one new man! May there always be an checking within when we are about to speak so that it is no longer us who speak but us taking Christ as our person for Him to speak what He wants to speak. Oh Lord, what about our concepts, our words, our opinions, and our decisions! We come to You; we want to live in the organic union with You, and we take You as our person in the matter of our speaking for the one new man!
In the One New Man only Christ has the Absolute Freedom to Speak, for He is the Person
In the church as the one new man there is only one person, which is Christ, and only this person has the absolute freedom to speak; the Lord Jesus has the absolute freedom to speak, and our natural man has absolutely NO freedom to speak (Matt. 17:5).
People today fight for their freedom of speech, and especially with the rise of social media platforms, everyone wants to express themselves and find those who are of the same mind.
In the USA there’s the freedom of speech, which is enshrined in the constitution. However, in the church as the one new man there’s no freedom to speak; we cannot speak our own thing – we need to take Christ as our person in the matter of our speaking.
In the one new man my natural man and your natural man has no freedom to speak; only Christ has the absolute freedom to speak, for He is the one person in the one new man.
This is much more limiting and restricting than being members one of another, for what limits us the most is the matter of speaking. If we can’t say this or that, if we can’t say what we like and feel, then we’re very much restricted; if we can say whatever we want, we are free.
However, in the church as the one new man, our natural man has no freedom of speech, for the person of the new man is not our natural man but Christ.
In the one new man there’s only one person – Christ, and He has the absolute freedom to speak; we have absolutely no freedom to speak.
We need to learn to deny the self and put our natural man aside, not allowing our natural man to speak, for only Christ is the One who should speak. But how can the entire church can have only one mouth and speak the one thing? How can millions of members speak the same thing?
Humanly speaking this is impossible, for there are many minds, many mouths, and many speakings.
But when we take Christ as our person, when we allow Christ to be the person for the one new man, He as the person has the absolute freedom to speak, and He will speak in us.
However, there are no “speech policemen” among us, and God is not striking down those who don’t speak what He speaks. Rather, in this age of grace we all free to enjoy the Lord, and we willingly take Him as our person for the one new man.
When we take Christ as our person and we’re about to say something, something within us “pinches us” and “bothers us” not to say this or that thing, or even not to say anything.
This is the Lord as the person in us being the One who has the absolute freedom to speak. We should simply say, Amen, Lord….thank You, Lord…to His inner “pinching” and “bothering”.
If the Lord would not inwardly bother so many brothers and sisters in this way, when we come together we would all quarrel. If we all take Christ as our person and as our life, spontaneously we all will speak the same thing, and the new man will be here in reality and practicality.
No one “holds a gun to our head” to speak the same thing, and we are not “brainwashed” to think the same way and speak the same thing. Rather, we all enjoy the Lord, take Him as our life and person, and give Him the absolute freedom to speak; we say, Speak, Lord!
Also, we get into the word of God and the ministry that properly interprets the word, and we are getting constituted with the things of God’s economy, so that when we speak we speak only God’s economy, Christ and the church.
Lord Jesus, You are the unique person in the church as the one new man, and You have the absolute freedom to speak! Amen, Lord, we treasure Your speaking; we want to have Your speaking and be filled with Your speaking. We take You as our person, Lord, in our speaking, and we want to hear Jesus only and let only Jesus speak in us and through us. May we all the saints in all the local churches take Christ as our person and as our life so that spontaneously we may speak the same thing and the one new man would be here in reality and practicality!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by bro. Minoru Chen for this week, and portions from, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1977, vol. 3, “One Body, One Spirit, and One New Man,” ch. 5, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The One New Man Fulfilling God’s Purpose in Creating Man (2019 fall ITERO), week 9, Practicing the Church Life, Speaking the Same Thing, and Doing the One Work in the Consciousness of the One New Man.
- Hymns on this topic:
– Oh, Christ in all His glory put on humanity / So He could be my Person, and live instead of me. / A man in life and being, He fully fits my case, / So all His glorious Person can me replace. / O Lord, O Lord, You are the man for me! / I take You as my Person, as my full identity. / O Lord, O Lord, subdue my every part, / And every moment, every place, make home in all my heart. (Hymns #1177)
– Only Christ, our Person, must remain; / From our aims, our goals we must refrain, / Till the church be only Christ Himself / Built up as the one new man, / Thus fulfilling God’s great plan of— / Mingling fully with the human race / To obtain a proper dwelling place, / ’Stablishing His kingdom’s rule and grace; / Over all the earth. (Hymns #1180)
– Oh, purify us, Lord, by speaking in our heart; / Thy living, spoken word this washing will impart. / Increase Thy speaking, Lord, and cleanse our every part. / Oh, purify us, Lord, we pray. / Oh, purify us, Lord, today; / Wash all our natural life away. / Speak now Thy words in us, / And make us glorious. / O Lord, do speak in us today. (Hymns #1135)
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