We have seen that the believers corporately experience the dispensing of the Divine Trinity through entering into the kingdom of God, through living in the church life, and through living in the Body of Christ. In this lesson we will see that in the progressing stage of God’s full salvation the believers also corporately experience this dispensing through putting on the new man.
The believers corporately experience the dispensing of the processed Triune God through putting on the new man (Eph. 4:22-24). 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).
Ephesians reveals that the church is the Body of Christ (1:22-23), the kingdom of God, the household of God (2:19), a holy temple in the Lord, and a dwelling place of God in spirit (vv. 21-22). Furthermore, 4:24 reveals that the church is the new man. This is the highest aspect of the church. In its initial aspect, the church is an assembly of the called-out ones. From this initial aspect, Paul goes on to speak of being fellow citizens of the kingdom of God and members of the household of God. Then he advances to speak of an even higher aspect of the church—the Body of Christ. Ultimately, he speaks of the church as the new man. Thus, the church is not just an assembly of believers, a kingdom of heavenly citizens, a household of God’s children, or even the Body of Christ. In its ultimate, uttermost aspect, the church is the new man for the accomplishing of God’s eternal purpose. As the Body of Christ, the church needs Christ as its life, and as the new man, the church needs Christ as its person. This new corporate person should live a life like Jesus lived on earth, that is, a life of reality that expresses God and causes God to be realized as reality by man.
Christ, the One who worked God’s nature into humanity, is the element with which the new man was created. The creation of the new man was a new act, a new creation. God did not impart His nature into any creature in the old creation, not even into man. However, in the creation of the one new man, God wrought his nature into man; thus, His nature was mingled with humanity to produce one entity—the one new man. In Ephesians 2:15 the phrase in Himself denotes that Christ is not only the Creator of the one new man, the church, but also the sphere in which it was created and the element with which it was created. The new man, the church, is corporate and universal. Although there are many believers, there is only one new man in the universe. All the believers are the constituents of this one corporate and universal new man.
All the saved and regenerated ones must put off the old man and put on the new man. Although the new man has already been created, we still need to put off the old man and put on the new man, which was created in Christ.
We put on the new man by putting off the old man with its corrupted living in the lusts of the deceit. Ephesians 4:22 says, “Put off, as regards your former manner of life, the old man, which is being corrupted according to the lusts of the deceit.” The old man is of Adam, who was created by God but became fallen through sin. This old man was crucified with Christ (Rom. 6:6) and was buried in baptism (v. 4). In Ephesians 4:22 the article the before the word deceit is emphatic and indicates that the word deceit is personified. Hence, the deceit refers to the deceiver, Satan, from whom come the lusts of the corrupted old man. The old man is corrupted according to the lusts of the devil, the deceiving one. Outwardly, the manner of life of the old man is a walk in the vanity of the mind (v. 17). Inwardly, the old man is corrupted according to the lusts of the devil, the lusts of the deceit.
To put off the old man is not merely to put off the old nature; it is to put off the old manner of life, the former manner of life. Our old manner of life is not merely an individual manner of life; it also refers to our former social life. No one is able to be totally individualistic and independent. Therefore, to put off the old man specifically refers to putting off our worldly social relationships. A believer who continues to live in his old social relationships continues to live the life of the old man. The living of the old man is mainly related to social relationships. Hence, to put off the old man does not mean to merely put off the self of the old man but to also put off the worldly social relationships.
Today the Lord desires not only to gather us together but that we would also put off the living of the old man. We not only need to put off our old nature; we also need to put off our former manner of life. Our manner of life should be altogether new in its nature, fashion, and practice. The church life is the daily living of the new man in the new nature and the new manner of life.