Tuesday, July 17, 2012

The One New Man


I have a question about ‘the new man.’  I believe that the new man is what we become at salvation, as opposed to ‘the old man.’

Ephesians 4:24
And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.

Colossians 3
10And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him:

But I have been looking into it further and I have heard people say that the new man is ‘the one new man’, a new creature by being in Christ.  I can see this in the verses that follow Colossians 3:10

11 Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all.  Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering; …

I see this and think of the new man as being the one new man in Christ, not the new man/regenerated man with the spirit dwelling within.  Could you please clarify this for me?

The Apostle Paul talks of putting on the new man, having put off the old man, in Ephesians and Colossians.

Ephesians 4:22-24
That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; And be renewed in the spirit of your mind;  And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.

What does it mean to put on the new man?  Ephesians and Colossians are sister epistles that give light on one another.

Colossians 3:8-11
But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth.  Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds;  And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him: Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all.

Paul is the only one who talks about the new man.  He is the only one who talks about the church which is his body – the body of Christ.

Colossians 1:24
Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body's sake, which is the church:

He is talking about that one new man.  Basically he is talking about the fact that God has taken both Jew and Gentile into the body.  Racial distinctions, gender, and social status don’t matter today in Christ.

2 Corinthians 5:17
Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

That has to do with the one new man, the new creature in Christ.  So yes, your understanding of that passage is correct.  It is the one new man, the church which is his body.

When we get saved we are changed; we are conformed into the image of his son.

Romans 8:29
For whom he did foreknow [the body of Christ collectively], he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.

The focus is not on us; it is on the one who changes us into himself.

Ephesians 4:15
But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ:

Let’s look at the one new man.

Ephesians 2:14-16
For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us;  Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances;

Why?  Why did he take away the law and abolish it?  Because there was a middle wall of partition between Jew and Gentile.

for to make in himself [Christ is the issue] of twain [of the two: Jew and Gentile] one new man, so making peace;  And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity

So when Paul talks about the one new man, he is not focusing on the individual; he is focusing on the corporate, collective church the body of Christ.

You wrote, “I believe that the new man is what we are after salvation.”  That is true.  Who are we after we are saved?  We are Christ.  It isn’t made completely manifest.  We are justified unto eternal life so we have his life now.  After that, sanctification comes by renewing your mind.

Romans 12:2
And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

We have the mind of Christ available to us in the scriptures, in Paul’s epistles: Romans through Philemon.  It is incumbent upon us to get into the word and get that information into our inner man and allow it to grow in us.

Ephesians 3:16
That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man;

So the focus is not so much on the individual as it is on the corporate body of Christ.  God sees the body as a corporation and he wants to deal with us corporately.  Individually, yes, because individuals make up the body; but the focus, the big picture, is the new creature, the body of Christ, the one new man.

Because you are a member of the one new man, the church the body of Christ, you will become a new man,

Colossians 1:23
If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven;

So does God care about you individually?  Yes he does; but the individual is taken care of by being part of the corporate body of Christ and by what God is doing in Christ.  If you agree by faith, and labor with the work of faith (i.e., getting the word in you), the labor of love (i.e., allowing the word to work out through you in patience of hope trusting the Lord through this present time of suffering), then you will manifest the life of Jesus Christ.

Colossians 1:23
If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven;

1 Thessalonians 1:3
Remembering without ceasing your work of faith, and labour of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God and our Father;

Philemon 1:5
Hearing of thy love and faith, which thou hast toward the Lord Jesus, and toward all saints;

That is righteousness.  Paul calls it the breastplate of righteousness.

Ephesians 6:14
Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; [also see Isaiah 59:17.  Interesting!]

He calls it the breastplate of faith and love.

1 Thessalonians 5:8
But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation.

Comparing verse to verse, what is righteousness?  Faith in the Lord Jesus and love toward all the saints.  You trust the Lord Jesus and his word and you serve him and one another.

Galatians 5:13
For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another.

So that is the one new man. 

Yes, it is the individual; but the main focus is on the collective body of Christ.  The one new man—the body of Christ—and the regenerated man are actually one and the same.  When we are regenerated by the Spirit of God we are being conformed into the image of Christ.

Titus 3:5
Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;

Christ is the issue!


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