We need to see a vision of the church as the Body of Christ and the one new man, and we need to take Christ as our life and person.
There is one Body and one new man, and the church as the Body of Christ is the one new man to accomplish His purpose; as the Body, the church has Christ as its life, and as the new man, the church has Christ as its person.
Christ’s incarnation and God-man living fulfilled God’s intention in His creation of man; both His incarnation and His wonderful living on earth fulfilled what God desired to have in man. In His living, the Lord Jesus achieved the greatest thing in the universe – He expressed God in humanity.
The greatest thing in the universe is not the creation of the universe but this God-man who expressed God in His humanity – this is the new creation!
And on the cross Christ created a new man, composed of all the believers in Christ; as members of the one new man, we need to be renewed in the spirit of our mind and put on the new man, which was created according to God in righteousness and holiness of the reality (Eph. 4:23-24).
The church as revealed in Ephesians has many aspects, but the highest aspect of the church is the one new man, for it is the new man that accomplishes God’s eternal purpose.
Paul introduces the matter of the one new man in Eph. 2, where he tells us that Christ created the new man on the cross, and then he repeats this matter in ch. 4, where he wants to bring us into the experience of the one new man.
In Eph. 2 we have the creation of the new man, and in ch. 4 is the bringing forth of the new man in experience in our living as believers.
And in ch. 4 he also speaks of good and practical things to take care of in our church life, such as being tender-hearted to one another, not stealing, having our speech proper, forgiving one another, being angry and yet not letting the sun go down on our anger.
All these are linked to the new man and are part of our living the one new man.
The living of the new man is the reality which is in Jesus, which is the actual condition of the life of Jesus as recorded in the four Gospels; this is the God-man living, the beautiful, attractive, and aromatic living of Christ as the first God-man.
Such a living became our mold, and it needs to be reproduced in us, in our daily living; when we all live like the Lord Jesus by having Him live in us, then on earth there is the living of the one new man, which fulfills the purpose of God in creating man.
When the God-man living of Jesus is reproduced in us in our practical daily living, we have not only the intrinsic reality but also the organic manifestation, the organic expression of the one new man. Amen, may we be brought into this reality in our daily life!
Before the Lord is able to Return, we must see the Vision of the Body and the one new man
What the Lord’s recovery is depends on what we are today; in the church life in the Lord’s recovery we must realise that we all have to see the vision of what God is doing and live according to this vision.
It may be that a good number of saints are in the church life enjoying the Lord, but they do not have a complete understanding of what the Lord’s recovery is.
May the Lord shine on us and grant us His mercy that we may not be held back by our old theology or by our old understanding of what the Lord’s recovery is.
We may think that the Lord’s recovery is for the Lord to recover us back to the divine revelation in His word so that He may gain the church as the Body of Christ for Him to be expressed on earth – and this is absolutely true, according to the divine revelation in the word.
But the Lord wants to go on; He wants to bring us up-to-date with Him, and we should learn to be fresh and new with Him, not being held back by our old theology, our previous understanding, and by our old concepts.
Before the Lord is able to return, we must be able to see the vision of the church as the Body of Christ and the one new man.
The Lord has put us among His people, and we need to learn to open our whole being to Him and let Him shine in us and show us the Body and the one new man, so that we may be brought on with Him and realise His desire to gain the church as the one new man.
May we be humbled before the Lord and ask Him in all humility that He may show us what His recovery really is, so that we may live a life according to the fresh vision from the Lord, the up-to-date vision from God concerning the Lord’s recovery.
If we pray this, we will realise more and more that what is on the Lord’s heart is the one new man. In these last days, toward the closing of this age, before the Lord will be able to return, we must see the vision of the one Body and the one new man (1 Cor. 12:12; Eph. 4:4; 2:15-16; 4:24).
The Bible tells us that there is only one new man; there is no such thing as many new men but just one new man. The one new man is not an individual but a corporate new man, and this corporate new man is the aggregate of all the God-men.
When all the God-men are put together, we have the one new man (Eph. 4:24; Col. 3:10), and this is the new mankind. Adam is the head of the old mankind, and all his descendants are one with him to be the old man.
But praise the Lord, we the believers in Christ are all one with Christ to be the one new man! Amen, may we see the vision of the Body and the one new man so that we may cooperate with the Lord for Him to gain the church as the one new man!
Lord Jesus, have mercy on us and show us a vision of the Lord’s recovery. Show us what Your recovery really is, so that we may be up-to-date with You and live according to the divine vision. May we realize how much You desire to gain the one new man, and may we see that the goal of the Lord’s recovery is to bring forth the new man. Amen, Lord Jesus, may in the last days of this age we all see a vision of the one Body and the one new man, so that we may cooperate with You for the bringing forth and practical expression of the one new man!
Taking Christ as our Life and Person for the Church as the Body and the New Man
The book of Ephesians reveals many aspects of the church, such as the assembly, the household of God, the kingdom of God, the Body of Christ, and the one new man.
We need to realise that the highest aspect of the church as revealed in Ephesians is the church as the one new man, for the church – the Body of Christ – is the one new man to accomplish God’s eternal purpose (Eph. 1:9, 11; 3:9; Rom. 8:29; 2 Tim. 1:9; Eph. 2:15-16; 4:22-24).
However, merely adding “the church is the one new man” to our vocabulary as we meet together doesn’t mean that we are in the reality of the new man.
The first aspect of the church is the assembly, the ekklesia, the gathering of the called-out ones. It is easy to understand that the church is the assembly, but it is also easy that this assembly would be like the United Nations, an assembly of debaters and opposers.
Just as in the United Nations there are different countries represented and all are for “global peace”, each of them hold on to something and compete with others. Oh Lord Jesus, may our gatherings not be like this!
We need to advance from seeing the church as the assembly to realising it is the household of God, and there’s a relationship in life between one another and with the Lord.
However, even in a household there may be some arguments, people may not like one another…so we need to advance and realise that the church is the Body of Christ, a matter of life, a deeper relationship in life with Christ and with all the saints.
When we realise we’re in the Body and we may not like a fellow member, we need to deny ourselves, for that’s where the Lord placed us in the Body, and there’s nothing we can do about that.
Still more, however, we need to realise that the church is the one new man.
The emphasis on the church being the Body of Christ is on life, whereas the emphasis on the church being the one new man is on the person.
For us to be the church as the Body of Christ, we need to take Christ as our life; for us to be the one new man, we need to take Christ as our person.
For example, when we speak of our human body we speak of the human life, the many members of the body, and the health of the body; the more healthy our body is, the more life we have.
The body may have life, but the body can’t decide where to go and what to do – it is the person that lives in the body that decides. When the body, however, moves without the person, it is what we call a spasm, an involuntary move, a move without the order of the head.
What the Lord wants is not a “spastic Body” but the one new man, the church as the new man taking Christ as its person. Christ is our person; He is the decision-maker, and all our activities and service – whether personal or corporate – should come out of Christ, the person of the one new man.
The Bible reveals that the one new man is a corporate, universal man (Eph. 2:15; 4:24; Col. 3:10-11).
We, the believers in Christ, are all one with Christ to be the one new man; we all are parts, components, members of the corporate one new man. The one new man is a corporate God-man, the aggregate of all the God-men; when we put all the God-men together, we have the one new man.
Both the life and the person of the church is Christ; Christ is our life for us to be the Body of Christ, and Christ is our person for us to be the one new man.
As the Body of Christ, we take Christ as our life and live by Him and because of Him; as the one new man, we take Christ as our person and allow Him to live in us, do things in us, and work in us.
Lord Jesus, we take You as our life and person so that we may be the church as the Body of Christ and the one new man. Hallelujah, Christ is our life for the Body of Christ to come into existence and be expressed! Praise the Lord, Christ is our person for the one new man to be brought forth and manifested on earth! Amen, Lord, we take You as our life and person so that we may live because of You and allow You to work in us and through us as our person. Dear Lord Jesus, gain the one new man that You desire for the fulfillment of Your purpose!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by bro. Ricky Acosta for this week, and portions from, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1977, vol. 3, “One Body, One Spirit, and One New Man,” chs. 5-8, 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 3, The Creation and Bringing Forth of the One New Man.
- Hymns on this topic:
– The Church is Christ’s own Body, / The Father’s dwelling-place, / The gathering of the called ones, / God blended with man’s race; / Elect before creation, / Redeemed by Calv’ry’s death, / Her character and standing / Of heaven, not of earth. (Hymns #824)
– Praise the Lord, we’re in the Lord’s recovery— / Home at last, here in the church. / Praise the Lord, we’re in the new creation— / One new man, the end of our search. / With the saints, builded, coordinated; / No more I, forever “we.” / We are one in the Son, standing here till He comes; / Yes, nothing can stop our God till He’s done! (Hymns #1256)
– Lord, bring forth the one new man; / Grant this vision now to us. / Gain in us Thy heart’s desire— / Thine expression glorious. (Song on, Lord, Bring Forth the One New Man)
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