The creation of the one new man (Eph. 2:14-15) is extremely crucial in the New Testament, but it has been neglected by most Christians. When Christ died on the cross, not only did He deal with sins, the old man, Satan, and the world; He also abolished in His flesh the law of the commandments in ordinances. This is not the law of the moral commandments but the law of the ritual commandments, composed principally of the practice of circumcision, the observance of dietary regulations, and the keeping of the Sabbath. These ordinances were the main “columns” of Judaism. The ordinances, the different ways of living and worshipping, had to be abolished by Christ on the cross so that He could create the Jewish and Gentile believers into one new man and make peace among all believers. The Jews and Gentiles were separated to the uttermost by the ordinances. But both peoples were created in Christ with the divine essence into one new entity, which is a corporate man, the church.

Most believers recognize that the church is the ecclesia, the gathering or assembling of God’s called people. This, however, is an elementary understanding of the church. A somewhat more advanced concept of the church is that it is God’s household or family. An even higher understanding of the church is to see that the church is the Body of Christ. The highest understanding of the church is that it is the one new man. These four concepts of the church are like four levels in the educational system: kindergarten, elementary, high school, and college. We need to advance from the kindergarten level of the church, that of the assembly, to the college level, that of the one new man.

The relationship among Christians in an assembly, a gathering, is not very close. The relationship is much closer and more intimate among those in the family, the household. Moreover, we are not only members of God’s family but also members of the Body of Christ, where the relationship among the members is still closer. Those in an assembly and the members of a family may be separated from one another, but the members of a body cannot be separated from the body unless they are amputated. Wherever a body goes, the members must go also; they have no choice. However, in the one new man the fellowship is even more intimate than in the Body. The new man is corporate and universal. There are many believers, but there is only one new man in the universe. All the believers are components of this one corporate and universal new man.

One reason the one new man has been missed is the translation of Ephesians 4:22 and 24 in the New American Standard Bible. Instead of using the word man in these two verses, this version says in verse 22 to “lay aside the old self” and in verse 24 to “put on the new self.” The Revised Standard Version is also in error by adopting the renderings, “put off your old nature” and “put on the new nature.” W. E. Vine, however, had some understanding of this matter. In his Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words he says that the new man in 4:24 is the church because it is the same new man mentioned in 2:15. Because the new man is created of two peoples, the Jewish and Gentile believers, it must be a corporate entity.

In Colossians 3:10-11 Paul tells us that we need to “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, free man, but Christ is all and in all.”  The word where, referring to the new man in verse 10, means in the new man. There is no natural person in the new man. Furthermore, there is no possibility, no room, for any natural person. There cannot be Greeks, who care for philosophical wisdom, and Jews, who care for miraculous signs (1 Cor. 1:22). There cannot be circumcision and uncircumcision. Circumcision refers to the observers of the Jewish religious rituals; uncircumcision refers to those who do not care for the Jewish religion. Furthermore, in the new man there cannot be barbarian, Scythian, slave, or free man. A barbarian is an uncultured person, the Scythians were considered the most barbarous people, the slaves were those sold into slavery, and the free men were those who had been freed from slavery. No matter what kind of person we may be, as far as the new man is concerned, we must regard ourselves as nobodies. In the new man there is room only for Christ, not for any kind of natural person. In the new man there is no possibility for racial differences (Greek and Jew), religious differences (circumcision and uncircumcision), cultural differences (barbarian, Scythian), or socio-economic differences (slave, free man).  In the new man there cannot be any Jew or Greek, and there cannot be any white or any black. As a complement to Ephesians and Colossians, Paul wrote at approximately the same time period, the book of Philemon which provides a beautiful illustration of the believers’ equal status in the new man. The new man is not Chinese, Japanese, French, English, German, or American. The new man is only Christ. Christ is all and in all in the new man!

The new man is of Christ. It is His Body, created in Him on the cross (Eph. 2:15-16; 1 Cor. 12:12). It is not individual but corporate (Col. 3:10-11). In this corporate new man Christ is all and in all—He is all the members of the new man and in all the members.  In the new man there is room only for Christ. He is everything in the new man. In the new man He is the centrality and universality. He is the unique constituent of 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 a Body for Christ. In its ultimate, uttermost aspect, it is a new man to accomplish God’s eternal purpose—to have a corporate expression and representation on earth (Gen. 1:26; 2:9; Eph. 3:11). As the Body of Christ, the church needs Christ as its life, whereas as the new man, the church needs Christ as its person (Gal. 2:20). This new corporate person should live a life like that which Jesus lived on earth, that is, a life of reality that expresses God and causes God to be realized as the reality by man.  The Lord has no way to accomplish His purpose until He has this one new man on the earth. In this day and age, with so much racial, cultural, religious, and economic division among men, the church must stand as one new man to be God’s corporate expression! How critical it is that this ultimate aspect of the church be fully understood and recovered!

“Gleanings from the Bible” is a series of articles contributed by a local Christian home meeting group that loves the Lord Jesus, believes that the Bible is God’s Word, and cares for the oneness of the Body of Christ. For more information please visit our website at www.fromhouse2house.org or email us at info@fromhouse2house.org. This article is based in part on footnotes from the Holy Bible Recovery Version published by Living Stream Ministry.