In Colossians 3:11 Paul says not only that in the new man there is no room for any natural person but that in the new man “Christ is all and in all.” In the new man there is room only for Christ. He is all the members of the new man, and He is in all the members. He is everything in the new man. This means that 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 these members. 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. For us to experience the reality of Christ being all the members of the new man, we need to take Christ as our life and person and live Him, not ourselves. If Christ is the living of all the saints, all the members of the new man, then in reality only He will be in the new man. When all the saints, whatever their nationality may be, live Christ, then in a real and practical way Christ will be all the members of the new man.
In 3:11 Paul also says that Christ is in all. On the one hand, Christ is all the members of the new man; on the other hand, He is in all the members. It is very significant that Paul said both that Christ is all and that He is in all. If Paul did not say that Christ is in all, only that He is all, we may think that in the new man Christ is needed and that we are not needed. We should not think that, because Christ is all the members in the new man, we are nothing and are not needed. On the one hand, Paul does say that in the new man there is no place for the natural person because Christ is all the members. Nevertheless, he also says that Christ is in all the members. The fact that Christ is in all the members of the new man indicates that the members continue to exist.
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. Therefore, 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 exist as those who are indwelt by Christ. This is what it means to say that in the new man Christ is everyone and that He is also in everyone. It is crucial for us to see that in the new man Christ is everyone and in everyone. In the new man there is nothing but Christ.
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