As believers in Christ who have seen something of God’s eternal purpose and desire to gain the one new man, we need to put off the old man and put on the new man, that is, put on the community life of the one new man.
We need to cooperate with the Triune God to put off the old man, which was terminated already on the cross by Christ, and put on the new man, which was already created through Christ’s death and resurrection.
In His eyes, God has given up completely on the old man. Even though He created man in His image and according to His likeness so that man would be His expression and representation on earth, due to the fall of man, the first man – the old man – has completely failed God, and God has given it up.
We may try to improve or perfect the old man, but God doesn’t want or need the old man anymore. He has created the one new man on the cross in the body of Christ, and now His purpose can be fulfilled only by this new man.
Knowing this, that the old man has been crucified with Christ, we should no longer live in the old man to fulfill his lusts but put off the old man and put on the new man.
If the old man is not terminated today, if we don’t live in the reality of our baptism day by day, then God cannot accomplish His purpose. In baptism we put off the old man, for our baptism was a burial of the old man and a washing away of our sins.
Our old man has been crucified with Christ, and through baptism we bury the old man. We need to put off the old man and our old manner of life, which was a walk in the vanity of the mind.
Even though we may not have done bad things nor were we engaged in evil activities before we were saved, our former manner of life – including everything related to us, especially the community life of the old man – was a walk in the vanity of our mind, and it needs to be put off.
We need to put off the old man and put on the new man, putting on the church life and the living of the one new man. To put off regarding the former manner of life, the old man, is actually to put off our old way of living.
Our old way of living was a living in the vanity of our mind, but what God wants is for us to have the new living, the living of the new man, the church life, the community life of the one new man.
The old man is being corrupted according to the lusts of the deceit, but the new man was created according to God in righteousness and holiness of the reality. The God-created man was changed in nature to become corrupted, and whatever is lived out of the old man is a matter of the deceit.
Many people today have no meaning in their human life and even choose to take their own life because they live in the vanity of their mind, and nothing on earth can satisfy them or give them purpose. Oh Lord Jesus!
May we be those who put on the new man, the new community life of the one new man, the new and living church life, so that we may fulfill God’s purpose and have the one new man in reality today.
We Put on the New Man by Putting on the Community Life of the New Man, the Church Life
There’s a great contrast between the one new man – which was created in Christ according to God in righteousness and holiness of the reality, and the old man, which is being corrupted according to the lusts of the deceit.
The one new man was created according to the reality which is God Himself, but the old man is being corrupted according to the lusts of the deceit. We need to put on the new man, that is, put on the community life of the one new man (Eph. 4:24).
The new man has to become our daily living. What does it mean to put on the new man? It is to have the church life, which is the new life of the new mankind created by Christ in Himself.
The church is God’s new humanity, and we corporately need to put on this new humanity with its new living. We need another humanity, another community life, the corporate God-man living of the corporate God-man, the one new man.
To put off the old man is not only to put off the old nature with its sin and corruption, but also to put off the old way of life, the former way of living. Our former way of living, our old community life, was full of vanity and aimless.
Human nature is inherently social, and to be a human being is to live in society and have some kind of community life.
After being regenerated, we were baptised to testify that our old man is dead and buried, and that our sins were washed away, and now we are daily practicing to put off the old man by putting off the community life of the old man, and put on the new man by putting on the community life of the new man.
In the church life we have the best community life, and as we meet with the saints, we love to linger in the meetings and continue to enjoy the Lord together, just to be with one another in the Lord’s presence.
The Lord’s death dealt with our sin and our old man, and it was the birth of the one man; this is the life we should have today, and this should be our living. To put on the new man is to put on the church life, a corporate entity produced by the mingling of the divine Spirit with the regenerated human spirit (1 Cor. 15:45, 6:17).
Since we are part of the one new man, our living should be the living should be the living of the one new man as the corporate God-man (Eph. 4:17-32). The church life as the reality of the one new man is not just a matter of meetings, and it is not just us getting together to meet.
The church life should be our daily life. In our life and living there should not be any trace of deceit, but we should live in reality, which is God Himself as our life, content, reality, and everything. Such a living is the testimony of the one new man.
Lord Jesus, we want to put off the old man – our old community life in the vanity of our mind, and put on the new man, the new community life of the one new man. Amen, Lord, we put on the one new man, the living of the one new man as the corporate God-man. May the church life be our daily living, and may we put off anything of the old man with its vain manner of life, and put on the new man with its new living – the church life! Amen, Lord, gain such a new community life of the new mankind created in You on the cross!
The New Man was Created in the Righteousness and Holiness of the Reality
The creation of one new man is different from that the old man; the new man was created in Christ on the cross, and Christ Himself is both the essence and the sphere and the Creator of the new man (Eph. 2:15).
Christ Himself is the element with which the one new man was created, and nothing of our old man is qualified or good for the creation of the one new man.
Nothing of our old man is good for the new man; only Christ Himself is the unique element qualified for the one new man. In Christ there’s a wonderful essence, in which the one new man has been created.
This new man – which is the church – is corporate and universal. We all are one in Christ, and in Him we are a great universal corporate one new man; all believers in Christ are components of this corporate and universal new man.
For the practical existence of the one new man we all need to put off the old man and put on the new man, the community life of the new man, the corporate God-man living.
The new man which we put on was created according to God in righteousness and holiness of the reality (Eph. 4:24). Outwardly everything related to the new man is righteous, and inwardly everything related to the new man is holy.
Righteousness signifies God’s deeds; whatever God does is righteous, and whatever the new man does should also be righteous. Holiness signifies God’s being, for whatever God is, is holy; the being of the one new man inwardly is holy, saturated with God.
The righteousness and holiness of the new man are of “the reality”, which is an emphatic way of saying that, just as the old man is being corrupted according to the lust of the deceit, so the new man is in righteousness and holiness of the reality.
This reality was exhibited in the life and living of Jesus; in the life of Jesus righteousness and holiness of reality were always being manifested. Just as God was realized and expressed in the Lord Jesus, so God is realized and expressed in the righteousness and holiness of the reality in the one new man.
For this to take place, the Lord has to spread from our spirit into all the parts of our inner being; He needs to take a further step into our mind and replace the vanity of our mind, and He needs to saturate our inner being with Himself.
Before we were saved, our mind was apart and far away from God, and our thoughts were focused on empty things, because we did not have God in our mind.
Now that we are saved, we have God as the Spirit living in our spirit; this mingled spirit has to spread into our mind, emotion, and will, so that our thinking, loving, and obedience would all be of Christ and in Christ. The Spirit of God has to saturate our inner being, starting from our mind.
Hallelujah, the new man was created in the righteousness and holiness of the reality! Now we as believers in Christ can experience the dispensing of the processed Triune God corporately by putting on the new man, the community life of the new man! Lord, nothing of our natural man is good for the new man, so we give ourselves to You to be reconstituted with You until our living is in righteousness and holiness of the reality – the same kind of life that Jesus lived on earth, in a corporate way!
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, Life-study of Ephesians, msgs. 24-25, 47 (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:
# Now we’re one His purpose to fulfill, / As the one new man of His plan. / Unto Him be glory in the church, / And in Jesus Christ forevermore—Amen! (Hymns #1232)
# By this Person being formed in me, / I’ll a member of His Body be, / No more acting individually, / But with the saints. / More and more our Person He must be; / That our natural personality / Be eliminated thoroughly / Till Christ is all. (Hymns #1180)
# So, Lord, I give my heart to Thee today, / That it may be Thy home in every way, / A place for Thee to come and settle down, / And all Thy grand recovery work to crown / In one new man. (Hymns #1179)
About aGodMan
The phrase “in Himself” in Ephesians 2:15 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. Christ is the very element of the new man. Nothing of our old man was good for the creation of the new man, for our former essence was sinful. But in Christ there is a wonderful essence, in which the one new man has been created. This new man, which is the church, 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.
Outwardly everything related to the new man is righteous, and inwardly everything related to the new man is holy.
In 4:24 righteousness signifies God’s deeds, and holiness signifies His being. Whatever God does is righteous, and whatever God is, is holy. The new man is created according to God in both of these respects.
The righteousness and holiness of the new man are of “the reality.” The article before “reality” in verse 24 is emphatic. As the deceit in verse 22, related to the old man, is the personification of Satan, so reality here, related to the new man, is the personification of God. This reality was exhibited in the life of Jesus, as mentioned in verse 21. In the life of Jesus righteousness and holiness of reality were always being manifested. It was in the righteousness and holiness of this reality, which is God realized and expressed, that the new man was created. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, pp. 1809-1810, 1814, by Witness Lee)