The book of Ephesians reveals that the church is also the new man (Eph. 2:15; 4:24). Very few Christians, even Christian teachers, have seen that the church is the new man. Ephesians 2:15 says, “Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to create in himself of twain one new man, so making peace” (Gk.). Out of two peoples, the Jews and the Gentiles, Christ created a new man. This proves that the new man in Ephesians is not an individual man, but a corporate man. As the Body, the church needs Christ as life; and as the new man, the church needs Christ not only as life, but also as the person. A man is not like a tree; a man needs a person. A tree needs life, but it does not require a person. However, we not only have life; we also have a person.
To have Christ as our person is higher and deeper than having Him as our life. What does it mean to take Christ as your person? We often say that we live by Christ. But in what way do you live by Christ? Is Christ only your life, or is He also your person? Suppose a brother’s wife gives him a difficult time. When such difficulties arise, most Christians would say that they need to trust in Christ and look to Him for help. In addition we may realize that we need to take Christ as life. We know that our life is no help in this situation, for our life easily loses its temper. But the life of Christ overcomes our temper. Therefore, in the midst of the difficulty this brother may say, “Lord, I trust in You. My life loses its temper, but Your life doesn’t.” Such a prayer is good, but it is not adequate. When my wife gives me a difficult time, I do not say, “Lord, I trust in You. Help me, Lord, with Your life.” Although I prayed like this a great deal in the past, I do not pray like this today. Rather, I say, “Lord, You are my person. If You are going to lose Your temper, then I will lose my temper as well. Lord, what will You do with my dear wife?” If the Lord says, “I still love her,” then I would say, “Amen, Lord, I love her too.” In this way I take the Lord as my person. This is not a matter of overcoming my temper by taking the Lord as life. It is absolutely a matter of living by Him as my person. If the Lord tells me that He still loves my wife when she is giving me a difficult time, within I am happy and I can say, “Lord, I am happy because You are happy, for You are my person. Hallelujah!” There is a great difference between taking the Lord as our life and taking Him as our person.
In my ministry I often said in the past, “Lord, strengthen me and give me power and utterance.” Although I still sometimes pray like this, many times I simply say, “Lord, the time for ministry has come. You are my person, Lord. Will You be speaking?” If the Lord says, “Yes, I shall be speaking,” then I say, “Lord, since You are speaking, I shall speak also. But if You don’t speak, I won’t speak either, because You are my person.” In the past I prayed, “O Lord Jesus, please tell me the message You want me to speak.” Before I left the United States to come to Germany, some of the saints asked me what I would be ministering in Stuttgart. I told them that I did not know. And truly I did not know. I did not know even after I had arrived in Stuttgart. I did not even know the night before this conference began. But I did realize that it was not I who would be speaking; it was Christ, who is my person. Thus, that night I had a sound sleep. The next morning I said, “Lord, what are You going to speak on at this conference?” In a few minutes the Lord said, “The kernel of the Bible,” and I said, “Amen, Lord.” From this experience of mine we see that Christ is not only our life, but also our person. We are the new man, and Christ is our person.
It is not a simple matter to take Christ as our person. Ephesians 2:15 says, “Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to create in himself of twain one new man, so making peace.” In order to create the new man, Christ had to die. Most Christian teachers say that Christ died on the cross to deal with our sins, the world, the flesh, and the old man. Although I have read a number of books on the cross, not one of them said that Christ died on the cross not only to deal with sin, self, and the old man, but also to slay the ordinances that the new man might be created. These ordinances separated the Jews from the Gentiles. The Jews keep the Sabbath and do not eat swine, but the Gentiles do not keep the Sabbath and they do eat swine. In order to create one new man, Christ had to slay all the ordinances.
However, Christians today have many new ordinances. Although we may not be conscious of being under ordinances, we actually are under them. For some who were born and raised in Christianity, their concepts have become their ordinances. For example, according to their concept, a Christian service of worship must be quiet. If a Christian with this concept visits a meeting where there is shouting and praising, he will disapprove and withdraw from the Christians in that meeting. His ordinance concerning quietness in the meetings separates him from those Christians who enjoy praising the Lord and shouting.