In Colossians 3:10 and 11 Paul says, “And having put on the new man, which is being renewed unto full knowledge according to the image of Him who created him; where there cannot be Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, slave, freeman, but Christ is all and in all.” Here we see not only that there is no natural person in the new man but that there is no possibility, no room, for any natural person. In the new man there is room only for Christ. He is all the members of the new man and in all the members. He is everything in the new man. Actually, He is the new man, His Body (1 Cor. 12:13).
In writing these words, Paul may have said to himself, “I should not have spoken with the brothers in Jerusalem about Jews and Gentiles. I did not go to the Gentiles—I went to God’s chosen people. All those who have been saved through my ministry are God’s people. He chose them before the foundation of the world. There certainly was nothing wrong in going to them. In the new man there is no Jew and no Greek, only Christ.” In Colossians 3:10 and 11 Paul is clear, thorough, and absolute. This clearness, thoroughness, and absoluteness may have been the result of Paul’s two years in custody in Caesarea.
Whereas Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians were written during Paul’s first imprisonment in Rome, Hebrews was written after he had been released from that imprisonment. In Hebrews Paul advanced even further. Before writing this Epistle, he may have said to himself, “Why did I say so little in Ephesians about Christ’s abolishing all the ordinances? I should have gone into much more detail. Also, my word in Philippians and Colossians was too short. I need to write a longer epistle to show that all the things of Judaism are over and that Christ is superior to these things.”
In the thirteen chapters of Hebrews Paul depreciated the things of Judaism. He even cut every crucial matter in Judaism into pieces. In Hebrews Paul indicates that the Jews have God, but the believers have the God-man, Jesus Christ. Paul goes on to point out that the angels are servants. Furthermore, he shows that Christ is superior to Moses, Aaron, and Joshua.
In Hebrews Paul also tells us that there is no longer a sin offering. According to God’s will, Christ, the all-inclusive One, is the unique offering. Therefore, in the universe there is only one offering that is according to God’s will. In Hebrews 10:9 and 10 Paul says, “Then He said, Behold, I come to do Your will. He takes away the first that He may establish the second; by which will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.” This indicates that all the Old Testament offerings have been taken away and replaced by Christ as the unique offering. In Hebrews 10:12 and 14 Paul says, “This One, having offered one sacrifice for sins, sat down forever on the right hand of God....For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are sanctified.”
In Hebrews 13:8 Paul says, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, and today, and forever.” Prior to 13:8, Christ changed in that He passed through incarnation and resurrection. Through incarnation, He put on human nature. This means that He changed from being One who had only the divine nature to the One who now has both the divine nature and the human nature. Once He was merely God, but He changed to become the God-man. Furthermore, in His resurrection He, as the last Adam, changed to become a life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45). Since passing through the process of incarnation, human living, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension, Christ has not changed and will not change. Therefore, Paul had the boldness to say that Christ is the same today, yesterday, and for eternity.
In Hebrews 13:13 Paul continues, “Let us therefore go forth unto Him outside the camp, bearing His reproach.” Here “the camp” signifies human organization, especially that of Judaism. Paul’s word here is based on the fact that Christ was crucified outside the city, outside the camp. Since Christ was rejected and suffered outside the camp, we should go forth unto Him outside the camp. When Paul wrote this portion of Hebrews, he may have been saying to himself, “I was wrong to go back to Jerusalem. Jerusalem was the camp. There was no need to go back to Jerusalem in order to take care of Judaism, for that was to go back to the camp. We should forget Jerusalem and go out of the camp and bear Christ’s reproach.”
Paul went outside the camp and bore the Lord’s reproach. When he was making the voyage from Caesarea to Rome, he was outside of Judaism bearing reproach as one in bonds. But as he bore reproach outside the camp, he magnified Christ.
I hope that we all shall spend time to dwell on the two matters covered in this message—Paul’s living as a wonderful witness to Christ and the thoroughness of the divine revelation in the books of Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and Hebrews. In these books no ground is left for any kind of mixture. In these Epistles there is room only for Christ.