Message Four

The Renewing, the Perfecting, and
the Living of the New Man

Scripture Reading: Eph. 4:13, 15, 20-32; Rom. 12:2; Col. 3:10-11

1. Christ created the one new man on the cross, but the believers need to partake of this creation by putting off the old man and putting on the new man through renewing—Eph. 2:15-16; 4:22-24:
   1. Because the new man was created with us who belong to the old creation, he needs to be renewed; this renewing takes place mainly in our mind—Col. 3:10; Eph. 4:23.
   2. When the new creation took place in our spirit at the time of regeneration, the Holy Spirit with the divine life was added into our being—2 Cor. 5:17; Gal. 6:15; John 3:6:
      1. This addition of the Spirit and the divine life produced a new being, a new man—Eph. 2:15; 4:24.
      2. The regeneration of our spirit was actually the creation of the new man; therefore, in our spirit the new man has already been created.
   3. Although our spirit has been regenerated, our soul with its faculties of mind, will, and emotion remains in the old creation and still needs to be renewed—Rom. 12:2; Eph. 4:23:
      1. Newness is God; thus, to become new is to become God—2 Cor. 5:17.
      2. The renewing Spirit imparts the divine essence of the new man into our being to make us a new creation—Titus 3:5.
   4. When the life-giving Spirit, who is mingled with our regenerated human spirit, spreads into our mind, this mingled spirit becomes the spirit of our mind; it is by this mingled spirit that our mind is renewed—1 Cor. 6:17; Eph. 4:23:
      1. By the spirit of the mind, we are renewed to fulfill in experience what was accomplished in the putting off of the old man and the putting on of the new man—vv. 22, 24.
      2. To be renewed in the spirit of our mind is inward and intrinsic; this renewing revolutionizes our logic, philosophy, thought, concept, and psychology—Rom. 12:2.
      3. In order for the one new man to come into full existence, we must experience a thorough renewal of our mind, which has been built up according to our nationality and culture.
      4. When our mind has been renewed, the one new man will come into existence in a practical way, and Christ will be all and in all—Col. 3:10-11.
2. Ephesians 4 is a chapter that speaks of the perfecting of the new man through the growth of life:
   1. The new man created by Christ must be perfected in order to function.
   2. In Ephesians 2:15 we see the creation of the new man organically; in 4:13-16 we see the perfecting of the new man in relation to his function.
   3. The organically perfect new man needs to be perfected through the growth of life in order to function in a proper way—vv. 13, 15, 24:
      1. It is through the growth in life that the new man comes into function.
      2. The more the new man grows through receiving the proper nourishment, the more he will function normally.
      3. The growth into Christ in verse 15 equals the putting on of the new man in verse 24; the more we grow into Christ, the more we put on the new man.
   4. If we would be perfected for the practical existence of the one new man, we need to be constituted with Christ—3:17a.
   5. In order for the new man to grow, we need to experience the crucified, resurrected, ascended, and descending Christ so that the all-inclusive Christ is wrought into us to be our everything; then the organically perfect new man will become perfect functionally.
3. The living of the new man should be exactly the same as the living of Jesus; the way Jesus lived on earth is the way the new man should live today— 4:20-21:
   1. When we are renewed in the spirit of our mind to execute the fact of having put off the old man and having put on the new man, we live a life that corresponds to the life of Jesus, a life according to the reality that is in Jesus:
      1. Jesus lived a life in which He did everything in God, with God, and for God; God was in His living, and He was one with God.
      2. For us to live a life according to the reality that is in Jesus means that we learn Christ and are taught in Him to live a life of reality, a life in the shining of light and in the expression of God—vv. 20-21; Matt. 11:29.
      3. The life of the new man must be that of the reality in Jesus; as a corporate person, the new man should live a life as Jesus did, a life of reality expressing God and causing God to be realized by man.
      4. Our standard of living must be according to the reality in Jesus, the reality lived out by Jesus when He was on earth; hence, the life of Jesus should be our life today in the church.
   2. The church life is the daily living of the new man in the new nature and in the new manner of life—Eph. 4:24:
      1. The new man is the practical church life, which is Christ as the life-giving Spirit mingled with our spirit in a corporate way:
         1. To put on the church life as the new man is to put on a corporate entity produced by the mingling of the divine Spirit with our human spirit.
         2. In this marvelous corporate entity, there is only Christ Himself as the all-inclusive, life-giving Spirit mingled with our spirit—Col. 3:10-11.
      2. Ephesians 4:17-32 was written in relation to the corporate living of the one new man; the new man must become our daily living in the divine life.
      3. The church life is the daily life of the corporate new man with a new nature and a new manner; everything related to the new man is new.
      4. If we walk according to the spirit of our mind, we will live the corporate life of the new man, living a community life in which everything is new.
      5. Living according to the spirit of the mind is the key to the daily living of the corporate new man.