As we Know the Lord More, the New Man is Renewed and Christ’s Image is Expressed

We were reconciled to God in the Body of Christ, and we have put on the new man who is being renewed daily; as we seek to know the Lord more and more, we are renewed and the new man comes into being practically.

Paul wrote to Timothy in 1 Tim. 3:15 concerning how to conduct himself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God. As the Lord delays His return, we as believers in Christ need to know how to conduct ourselves in the house of God, and we need to seek Him with a pure heart, desiring to be in His presence and loving His appearing.

When Paul spoke to Timothy concerning “how one ought to conduct himself in the house of God” he was mainly referring to how to administrate and arrange matters in the church.

It may seem that Paul was speaking only about himself being delayed, but if we have the spiritual sight, we will realize that he’s actually referring to the Lord being delayed.

Before the Lord comes back, we must know how to administrate the church, how to conduct ourselves in the church. For this, we need to love His appearing, His second coming, and realize we are here to bring Him back.

If we want to clearly know what the church is and what God wants us to do in the church – so that we may know how we ought to conduct ourselves in the church – we need to understand the matters presented in Eph. 2:13-16, Col. 3:10-11, and 1 Cor. 12:12-13.

In the first portion we have seen that, as Christ was dying on the cross, He was creating the one new man; while He was dying, He was producing His masterpiece, the church as the Body of Christ.

Through His death on the cross Christ reconciled us in one body to God, having slain the enmity between the Jews and the Gentiles, and He created the one new man.

Now in the one new man there is NO room for Greek, Jew, circumcision, uncircumcision, barbarian, British, Romanian, Chinese, Polish, American, etc – in the new man there’s no room for any culture, any race, or any status, for here Christ is all and in all!

Christ is all the members of the new man and He is in all the members of the new man. He has become us so that we may become Him and thus corporately express Him.

If we want to know how we ought to conduct ourselves in the church, the house of God, we need to know the church as the one new man.

We were Reconciled to God and we were Saved in the Body of Christ for the One New Man

Through His death on the cross Christ reconciled both – the Jews and the Gentiles – in one Body to God, having slain the enmity by the cross (Eph. 2:16).

Christ broke down the middle wall of partition between the Jews and the Gentiles in the old creation, and He created the two in Himself into one new man. Now there is one Body in this universe, where there’s peace; the members of this Body are both Jews and Gentiles, but these have been created in Christ into one new man.

We as believers in Christ – whether Jews or Gentiles – were reconciled to God through the cross. We were reconciled to God not only for the Body of Christ but also in the Body of Christ. Wow, what a revelation we see here!

God didn’t just reconcile us to Himself through the death of Christ, but He reconciled us in one Body, the Body of Christ – He reconciled us to one another in the Body!

If we want to know how we ought to conduct ourselves in the church as the house of God, we need to realize that we were reconciled to God and we were saved by Christ in the Body of Christ and for the Body of Christ.

As we experience Christ and know Christ in His death and resurrection, we are reconciled to God and we are saved in the Body of Christ for Him to gain a corporate expression.

Before we were saved, we were in Adam – the old man; when we were saved, we came out of Adam, we put off the old man, and we put on Christ, the new man (Col. 3:9-10; Eph. 2:15).

In Christ the Jews and the Gentiles have become one new man; this new man is not an individual but a corporate new man. Christ broke down the middle wall of partition between the Jews and the Gentiles by abolishing the law of the commandments in ordinances – He nailed all the ordinances on the cross (Col. 2:14).

Furthermore, He reconciled us in one Body through the cross, having slain the enmity by it. Christ took us all with Himself on the cross – both the Jews and the Gentiles – and He terminated us there through His death; then, He created us in Himself into one new man, so making peace.

Praise the Lord, now we have peace toward God, peace toward man, and peace with ourselves through the death of Christ on the cross! We were reconciled to God, and we were saved in the Body of Christ for the one new man.

Thank You Lord for reconciling us to God through Your death on the cross. Hallelujah, all the ordinances have been nailed to the cross, and Christ created the Jews and the Gentiles into one new man, so making peace! The middle wall of partition is gone, and we were reconciled to God! Hallelujah, we were saved not only for the Body of Christ but also in the Body of Christ! We are no longer in Adam but we have put off the old man and have put on Christ, the new man! Praise the Lord!

As we Know the Lord more, the New Man will be Renewed More and the Lord’s Image will be Expressed

In Col. 3:10-11 we see that we have put on the new man, which is being renewed unto full knowledge according to the image of Him who created him.

Since Christ is the constituent of the new man, we – who are the new man – are one with Christ; this is actually the most basic and crucial point in the book of Colossians.

Col. 3:9-10 doesn’t charge us to put off the old man and put on the new man, but they refer to an accomplished fact; based on Eph. 2:15 and these verses, Christ already created the new man, and we have put off the old man and put on the new man.

And this new man is simply Christ, just as the old man is Adam; we put off the old man, Adam, and we put on the new man, Christ.

However, although we have put on Christ (Gal. 3:27) and Christ is in us (Col. 1:27), the new man has not yet been manifested through us. On the one hand we have put on Christ through baptism, and on the other, we still need to put on the Lord Jesus every day (Rom. 13:14).

To put on Christ is to live by Christ and to live out Christ, thus magnifying Christ. Because the new man was created with us, who belong to the old creation as his constituents, he needs to be renewed; this renewing takes place mainly in our mind, as indicated by the phrase “unto full knowledge” in Col. 3:10.

The new man was created in our spirit and is being renewed in our mind unto full knowledge according to the image of Christ, who is the very expression of God (Col. 4:15; Heb. 1:3).

As we know the Lord more and more, the new man will be renewed more and more, and the image of the Lord will be expressed and manifested more for the bringing forth of the one new man (Phil. 3:8, 10).

We need to know the Lord more and more so that our mind may be renewed unto full knowledge, so that the one new man would come into being.

The first thing that Paul asked the Lord at his conversion was, Who are You, Lord? This question showed that his life was a quest to know Christ. Twenty-six years later, as he was writing to the Philippians, he said, “to know Him…”. Paul was not satisfied that he fully knew Christ, but he sought to know Him.

We need to treasure the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus our Lord, seeking to have the revelation of the excellency and super-eminence of Christ. On behalf of such a knowledge we should count all things as refuse, loss, dung, filth, and rubbish, so that we may know the Lord more and more!

Christ is our prize; we want to gain Him win Him, and know the Lord more and more! We do not have sufficient knowledge of Christ; from the day of our salvation, we are being renewed unto full knowledge.

The more we believe, the more knowledge we receive, the more thorough our knowledge we become, and the fuller our knowledge will be, for we know the Lord more and more.

Col. 3:11 indicates that everything and everyone is on the cross – Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, slave, and free man, all are on the cross. In the new man there’s no natural person but everything and everyone has been terminated.

In the one new man there is only Christ, who is all and in all. If we truly see this light, there will be a great change in our service and work, and we will seek to know the Lord more and more.

It’s one thing to understand and it is another to see the Lord’s light, for light kills the negative things, light exposes us, and light causes us to see.

Lord Jesus, may we truly see the light that in the new man all the natural persons have been terminated and Christ is all and in all! Amen! We want to know You more and more until our mind is renewed unto full knowledge, so that the one new man would come into being! Amen, Lord, grant us to know You more today. We treasure the excellency of the knowledge of Jesus Christ, our Lord, and we want to be renewed in our mind unto full knowledge according to the image of Christ, who is the very expression of God!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message given by Ed Marks for this week, and portions from, How to Administrate the Church, ch. 8 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Taking Christ as our Person and Living Him in and for the Church Life (2018 spring ITERO), week 8, How One Ought to Conduct Himself in the Church in Order to Bring Forth the One New Man.
• Hymns on this topic:
  # We were once far off but have become near / In the blood of the dear Son. / In His flesh abolished all the ordinances, / Thus creating two as one. [Eph. 2:13, 15] (Scripture song)
  # 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)
  # When all Thy members self forsake, / Thy glorious Body, Lord, is known; / When of Thy Person we partake, / The one new man is shown. / The church life is the one new man / In every local church expressed; / Thy Body is a corporate man, / One Person manifest. (Hymns #1220)