The new man is of Christ. It is His Body, created in Him on the cross (2:15-16). It is not individual, but corporate (Col. 3:10-11). The fact that the new man is created of two peoples proves that it is corporate. Furthermore, Colossians 3:10 and 11 reveal that the new man is a composition of many different peoples. In this corporate new man there is no Greek or Jew, no bond or free, no barbarian or Scythian, but Christ is all and in all. In Colossians 3:11 the word “all” refers to people. This means that in the new man Christ is all the people and is in all the people. Therefore, in the corporate new man Christ is all and in all.
The book of Ephesians reveals that the church is the Body of Christ (1:22-23), the kingdom of God, the household of God (2:19), and the temple, the dwelling place of God (2:21-22). It reveals further that the church is the new man. This is the highest aspect of the church. The Greek word for church, ekklesia, means those called out for a gathering, hence, an assembly. This is the initial aspect of the church. From this the apostle goes on to the aspects of fellow-citizens of the kingdom of God and members of the household of God. These are higher than the initial aspect, but not as high as the aspect of the church as the Body of Christ. Yet the new man is still higher than the Body of Christ. Thus, the church is not just an assembly of believers, a kingdom of heavenly citizens, a household of God’s children, nor even a Body for Christ. It is in its uttermost aspect a new man to accomplish God’s eternal purpose. As the Body of Christ, the church needs Christ as its life; whereas as the new man, the church needs Christ as its person. This new corporate person should live a life as Jesus lived on earth, that is, a life of truth, expressing God and causing God to be realized as the reality by man. Hence, the new man is the focus of the apostle’s exhortation in this section (vv. 17-32).
Verse 24 says that the new man was created according to God. The old man was created according to the image of God outwardly, without God’s life and nature (Gen. 1:26-27). But the new man was created according to God Himself inwardly, with God’s life and nature (Col. 3:10).
Furthermore, the new man was created in righteousness and holiness of the truth. Righteousness is being right with God and with man according to God’s righteous way, whereas holiness is being separated unto God from anything common and being saturated with God’s holy nature. Righteousness refers to the outward acts, whereas holiness refers to the inward nature. Outwardly everything related to the new man is righteous; and inwardly everything related to the new man is holy.
The righteousness and holiness of the new man are of the truth. The article before truth in verse 24 is emphatic. As the deceit in verse 22, related to the old man, is the personification of Satan, so truth here, related to the new man, is the personification of God. This truth was exhibited in the life of Jesus, as mentioned in verse 21. In the life of Jesus righteousness and holiness of truth were always being manifested. It was in the righteousness and holiness of this truth, which is God realized and expressed, that the new man was created.
Deceit is the Devil, and truth is God. The old man is according to the lusts of the Devil, but the new man is in the righteousness and holiness of God. It is a serious mistake to render the Greek word for truth here as an adjective. The King James Version made such a mistake in adopting the rendering “true holiness.” Here Paul’s concept is not that of true holiness but that of the holiness of the truth. Holiness here is the holiness of the divine Person. The new man was created according to God in the righteousness and holiness of God Himself.
In order that we might learn Christ, Paul presents a sharp contrast between the old man and the new man, between the Devil and God, and between lusts, on the one hand, and righteousness and holiness, on the other. We have been taught that we have already put off the old man and have put on the new man. This means we have put off the lusts and the falsehood of the Devil and have put on the righteousness and holiness of God. This God is the truth, and this truth is seen in the living of Jesus on earth. The human living of Jesus was according to the truth, that is, according to God Himself, full of righteousness and holiness. Praise the Lord that we have learned Christ as the truth is in Jesus!
If we learn Christ by putting off the old man and by putting on the new man, we shall be in the church life, for the new man actually is the church. If we learn Christ as the truth is in Jesus, then we can have a genuine, proper, and practical church life.