CHRIST IS ALL AND IN ALL FOR THE CHURCH AS THE NEW MAN
Message Five
Christ is All and in All for the Church as the New Man
Scripture Reading: Eph. 2:14-16; Col. 1:18; 2:17; 3:4, 10-11; 1 Cor. 12:12; Rev. 22:17a
I. The new man was created in Christ as the divine element—v. 15: (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 2, “The God-Men,” ch. 1)
A. Christ is the Creator of the one new man. (Life-study of Ephesians, msg. 24)
B. Christ is the sphere in which and the means by which the one new man was created. (Life-study of Ephesians, msg. 24)
C. Christ is the element of the new man, making God’s divine nature one entity with humanity. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, msg. 336)
D. The essence of the old man was sinful, but in Christ there is a wonderful essence in which the one new man has been created. (Life-study of Ephesians, msg. 24)
II. The new man was created through the death of Christ on the cross—vv. 15-16: (CWWL, 1971, vol. 4, “Enjoying the Riches of Christ for the Building Up of the Church as the Body of Christ,” ch. 1)
A. The new man was created by Christ with two kinds of materials—the redeemed created man (including the Jews and the Gentiles) and the divine element; on the cross Christ put these materials together to produce a new man. (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 2, “The God-Men,” ch. 1)
B. First our natural man was crucified with Christ, and then through the crossing out of the old man, Christ imparted the divine element into us, causing us to become a new entity—Rom. 6:6; 2 Cor. 5:17: (The Conclusion of the New Testament, msg. 336)
1. In His crucifixion Christ terminated us in His flesh; then in resurrection He put us in Himself to create us into the one new man with His divine essence. (Life-study of Ephesians, msg. 24)
2. Only in and by the divine essence can we be created into the one new man. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, msg. 131)
III. The new man is for the Body of Christ—Eph. 2:16; 4:12-16: (CWWL, 1961-1962, vol. 4, “The Mystery of God and the Mystery of Christ,” ch. 9)
A. The one new man created through the creating death of Christ equals the Body formed in Christ’s resurrection and ascension; hence, the one new man and the Body are synonymous terms and may be used interchangeably—2:15-16; Col. 2:19; 3:10-11. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, msg. 217)
B. The Body of Christ is the one new man for the accomplishment of God’s eternal purpose—1:9, 11; 3:9; Rom. 8:29; 2 Tim. 1:9; Eph. 2:15-16; 4:22-24. (CWWL, 1977, vol. 3, “The One New Man,” ch. 1)
IV. God’s intention in His economy is that Christ be everything; in the eyes of God nothing counts except Christ—Matt. 17:5; Col. 1:18; 2:2, 17; 3:4, 10-11: (Life-study of Colossians, msg. 1)
A. God’s intention is to make Christ His Son the center of His economy and also to make Him everything to the believers—1:18; 2:17. (Life-study of 1 Corinthians, msg. 4)
B. The Lord is seeking to recover the all-inclusive Christ as the life-giving Spirit, who imparts Himself into the believers as their life and their everything and makes them His living Body, the one new man—1 Cor. 15:45b; 2 Tim. 4:22a; Rom. 12:4-5; Eph. 2:15. (Life-study of 1 Corinthians, msg. 20)
V. The new man has the believers as its constituents, who are Christ and in whom is Christ—Col. 3:10-11: (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 2, “The God-Men,” ch. 1)
A. The believers are all one with Christ to be the parts, the components, of the corporate one new man—Gal. 2:20; Phil. 1:19-21a: (CWWL, 1971, vol. 3, “Enjoying the All-Inclusive Christ as the Life-Giving Spirit for the Fulfillment of God’s Eternal Purpose,” ch. 7)
1. Since the believers have the divine element, they become a new entity; the totality of this new entity is the new man. (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 2, “The God-Men,” ch. 1)
2. The believers as the constituents of the new man are the mingling of God and man, having two lives, human and divine, living together as one life. (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 2, “The God-Men,” ch. 1)
B. In the new man, we are Christ, and Christ is in us—Col. 3:11; Phil. 1:19-21a: (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 2, “The God-Men,” ch. 1)
1. The new man is Christ in all the saints, permeating us and replacing us until all natural distinctions have been removed and everyone is constituted with Christ. (Life-study of Colossians, msg. 52)
2. The all-inclusive Christ must be wrought into us organically until He replaces our natural being with Himself—Eph. 3:17a; Gal. 4:19. (Life-study of Colossians, msg. 52)
3. When we take Christ as our life and person and live together with Him, we shall have the sense deep within that we are one with Christ and that Christ is us; however, simultaneously we shall also sense that Christ is in us. (The Conclusion of the New Testament,msg.166)
C. In the new man Christ is all and in all—Col. 3:10-11: (Life-study of Colossians, msg. 28)
1. In the new man Christ is all; in fact, Christ is the new man, His Body—1 Cor. 12:12. (Life-study of Colossians, msg. 28)
2. In the new man Christ is the centrality and universality: (Life-study of Colossians, msg. 28)
a. There is no natural person in the one new man, and there is no possibility, no room, for any natural person—Col. 3:11. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, msg. 199)
b. Although many different kinds of people make up the one new man, all are part of Christ. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, msg. 196)
c. In the one new man there is only one person—the all-inclusive Christ—2:17; 3:4, 11. (Life-study of Colossians, msg. 28)
d. The one new man is just Christ—Christ spreading and Christ enlarged. (CWWL, 1970, vol. 3, “The Church Life in Spirit and Truthfulness,” ch. 7)
3. Because Christ is all the members of the new man, there is no room in the new man for any race, nationality, culture, or social status—v. 11. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, msg. 166)
VI. The new man is the corporate Christ—1 Cor. 12:12: (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 2, “The God-Men,” ch. 1)
A. Christ Himself is an individual Christ, but the church as the new man is the corporate Christ, Christ enlarged and spread: (The Conclusion of the New Testament, msg. 430)
1. The four Gospels reveal a wonderful person—the individual Christ, who is allinclusive, having many aspects—Matt. 1:16; 16:16. (Life-study of Romans, msg. 1)
2. Acts shows us the spreading, the increase, and the enlargement of this wonderful person becoming the corporate Christ. (Life-study of Romans, msg. 1)
3. The Epistles explain to us how the individual Christ can become the corporate Christ—Gal. 2:20; 2 Cor. 3:18. (Life-study of Romans, msg. 1)
4. Revelation shows us that the ultimate issue of the new man, the corporate man, will be the New Jerusalem in eternity future as God’s full and eternal expression—21:2; 22:17a. (CWWL, 1980, vol. 2, “The Mending Ministry of John,” ch. 16)
B. The corporate Christ is in all the constituents, the members, of the new man: (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 2, “The God-Men,” ch. 1)
1. The new man as the totality of the God-men becomes the corporate Christ. (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 2, “The God-Men,” ch. 1)
2. The God-men constitute the new man, and the new man is the corporate Christ. (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 2, “The God-Men,” ch. 1)
VII. “Brothers and sisters, in the last days of this age, before the Lord will be able to return, we must see the Body and the new man. When we come to the end of the Bible, in Revelation 22, the Spirit and the bride appear. At the end the new man is a bride. The church’s experience in Christ definitely must arrive at this stage. First it is the Body, then it is the new man, and finally it is the bride.” —CWWL 1977, Vol. 3 ‘One Body, One Spirit, and One New Man’ Chapter 5. (CWWL, 1977, vol. 3, “One Body, One Spirit, and One New Man,” ch. 5)