According to Colossians 3:10 and 11, in the new man Christ is all and in all. He is all the members of the new man, and He is in all the members. He is everything in the new man. He is every part of the new man, and He is in every part. Actually, He is the new man.

The word “all” in verse 11 refers to all the members who make up the new man. Christ is all the members, and He is in all the members. For this reason, in the church there is no room for any nationality. Because Christ is all and in all in the new man and we are parts of the new man, then we are parts of Christ. Each member, each part, of the new man is Christ. No doubt, the new man is the church, Christ’s Body. Although many different kinds of people make up the church, all are parts of Christ.

In Colossians 3:11 Paul says not only that Christ is all but also that He is in all. On the one hand, Christ is all the members; on the other hand, He is in all the members. Therefore, we should not think that because Christ is all the members of the new man, we are not needed. Paul does say that in the new man there is no place for the natural person, because Christ is all the members. Nevertheless, Paul says that Christ is in the members. The fact that Christ is in the members of the new man indicates that the members still exist. When we take Christ as our life and live together with Him, we are one with Him and He is us. Simultaneously, Christ is in us. Hence, it is true to say that Christ is both in us and that He is us. We are parts of the new man with Christ in us. We continue to exist, but we do not exist without Christ; rather, we are indwelt by Christ. For this reason, in the new man Christ is both all the members and is in all the members.

Another verse which indicates that Christ is the intrinsic constituent of the church is 1 Corinthians 12:12. “For even as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of the body being many are one body, so also is Christ.” In Greek Christ here is “the Christ,” referring to the corporate Christ, composed of Christ Himself as the Head and the church as His Body with all the believers as its members. All the believers of Christ are organically united with Him and constituted of His life and element to become His Body, an organism, to express Him. Hence, He is not only the Head but also the Body. As our physical body has many members yet is one, so is this Christ.

The corporate Christ, the Body-Christ, includes not only Christ Himself but also all the believers, who are the members of Christ’s Body, the members of Christ, parts of Christ. According to our natural constitution, we cannot be members of Christ’s Body. Christ Himself is the constituent that makes us parts of Him. Therefore, in order to be parts of Christ as members of His Body, we must have Christ wrought into our being.

Intrinsically speaking, the church is altogether Christ Himself, for He is the constituent, the very being, of the church, whereas we are simply the extrinsic form of the church. As the intrinsic constituent of the church, Christ is not only the Head but also the Body and even every member of the Body and in every member.
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