总题：一个新人成就神创造人的定旨
THE ONE NEW MAN FULFILLING GOD'S PURPOSE IN CREATING MAN TABLE OF CONTENTS
Message Three
The Creation and Bringing Forth of the One New Man
Scripture Reading: Eph. 1:9, 11; 3:9; 2:15-16; 4:22-24
I. "The co-workers and the elders, who take the lead in the Lord's recovery, must realize that the Lord's recovery is resting upon their shoulders. What the recovery will be depends upon what they will be" (The Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1994 – 1997, vol. 4, "The Divine and Mystical Realm," p. 99):
A. "I am quite concerned for all the co-workers and elders. It may be that a good number of them do not have a complete understanding of what the Lord's recovery is" (p. 92).
B. "Regarding the Lord's present recovery, I hope that none of you would be held back by your old theology or by your old understanding of the recovery" (p. 93).
C. In the last days of this age, before the Lord will be able to return, we must see the vision of the one Body and the one new man—1 Cor. 12:12; Eph. 4:4; 2:15-16; 4:24.
D. The church, the Body of Christ, is the one new man to accomplish God's eternal purpose—1:9, 11; 3:9; Rom. 8:29; 2 Tim. 1:9; Eph. 2:15-16; 4:22-24:
1. The emphasis on the church being the Body of Christ is on life, whereas the emphasis on the church being the one new man is on the person.
2. As the Body of Christ, the church needs Christ as its life; as the one new man, the church needs Christ as its person.
E. The Bible reveals that the one new man is a corporate, universal man—Eph. 2:15; 4:24; Col. 3:10-11:
1. We, the believers in Christ, are all one with Christ to be the new man; thus, we all are parts, components, of the corporate one new man.
2. The one new man is a corporate God-man, the aggregate of all the God-men; when we put all the God-men together, we have the one new man.
II. The new man as the poem, the masterpiece, of God was created through Christ's death on the cross—Eph. 2:10, 15-16:
A. We need to pay careful attention to two phrases in verse 15: in His flesh and in Himself:
1. "In His flesh" Christ terminated all the negative things in the universe: Satan, the devil, the enemy of God (Heb. 2:14); sin (Rom. 8:3; John 1:29); the flesh of fallen man (Gal. 5:24); the world, the cosmos, the evil system of Satan (John 12:31); the old creation, represented by the old man (Rom. 6:6); and the separating ordinances of the law (Eph. 2:15).
2. "In Himself " as the sphere, element, and essence, Christ created the Jews and the Gentiles into one new man:
a. Christ is not only the Creator of the one new man, the church, but also the sphere in which and the element and essence with which the new man was created.
b. He is the very element and essence of the one new man, making God's divine nature one entity with humanity—cf. Col. 3:10-11.
B. In the creating of the new man, first our natural man was crucified by Christ, and then through the crossing out of the old man, Christ imparted the divine element into us, causing us to become a new entity, a new invention of God—Rom. 6:6; 2 Cor. 5:17.
C. The one new man created through the creating death of Christ equals the Body formed in Christ's resurrection and ascension; hence, the one new man and the Body are synonymous terms and may be used interchangeably—Eph. 2:15-16; Col. 2:19; 3:10-11.
III. On the cross Christ created the new man in Himself by abolishing in His flesh the law of the commandments in ordinances, the middle wall of partition—Eph. 2:14-15a:
A. The law spoken of in 2:15 is not the law of the moral commandments but the law of ritual commandments, such as the ordinances of circumcision, keeping the Sabbath, and eating certain foods.
B. Ordinances are the forms or ways of living and worship, which create enmity and division:
1. On the cross Christ abolished all the regulations regarding living and worship, regulations that have divided the nations—v. 15; Col. 2:14.
2. From the time of Babel, mankind has been divided by ordinances concerning the ways of living and worship; in God's economy in the church life, we must overcome Babel—Gen. 11:1-9.
3. Due to man's fall there are many ordinances, many customs, habits, ways to live, and ways to worship; all these differences among peoples have divided, scattered, and confused mankind.
4. One of the main elements of ordinances is language; our very language can become an ordinance:
a. On the day of Pentecost the divisions caused by language were overcome, and the church as the one new man came into existence—Acts 2:1-11.
b. If we can overcome the difficulty presented by language, a great part of our problem with ordinances will be solved—6:1 and footnote 1.
IV. The more we are in the mingled spirit, in the mingling of the divine Spirit with the human spirit, the more we shall be set free from ordinances in order to bring forth the one new man—Eph. 2:18, 22; 4:23-24; 6:18:
A. The cross abolished the ordinances in order to give place to the Spirit, in whom we have access unto the Father—2:18:
1. If we have ordinances, we do not have the Spirit, but if we have the Spirit, we shall not have ordinances:
a. The church life does not consist of ordinances but of the living Spirit.
b. The church is the reprint of the Spirit—Zech. 4:2-6.
c. "No Spirit, no church. More Spirit, more church"—1 Cor. 12:13; Eph. 4:4.
2. As long as we are not in the Spirit, anything we do is an ordinance—cf. 2 Cor. 3:6.
B. "Neither is circumcision anything nor uncircumcision, but a new creation is what matters"—Gal. 6:15:
1. The only thing that matters is the new man as the new creation, the masterpiece of life with the divine nature—v. 15; Eph. 2:10.
2. To be a new creation is to have Christ wrought into our being—3:16-17.
3. When Christ is realized through the Spirit in our spirit, we become the new creation, the new man—Gal. 6:18; Eph. 4:23-24.
V. The goal of the Lord's recovery is to bring forth the one new man—2:15; 4:22-24; Col. 3:10-11:
A. What was divided and scattered in the old man is recovered in the new man—Gen. 11:5-9; Acts 2:5-12; Col. 3:10-11:
1. In the old man, man was divided and scattered; in the new man, man is gathered and made one.
2. In the world the more different and individualistic a person is, the better; this is contrary to God's economy, which is to gather and to make one.
3. To put off the old man is to put off the divided and scattered man; to put on the new man is to put on the gathered and one new man—Eph. 4:22, 24.
B. Christ should be our only source; we should not allow anything of our background, culture, or nationality to be our source—cf. Col. 3:10-11:
1. The worldly people regard cultural differences as a source of prestige, but in Christ we have lost this prestige; now our only prestige is Christ and the genuine oneness.
2. If we are willing to let go of our cultural pride, it will be possible for the Lord to have the proper church life.
C. What the Lord has been doing and is now doing in His recovery is bringing forth the one new man with Himself as the life and the person for God's expression—Eph. 3:17-19; Col. 3:4, 10-11.
D. The one new man will usher in the kingdom of God and will bring Christ, the King, back to this earth—Rev. 11:15.
E. Now is the time for God to accomplish His purpose to perfect the one new man, who will come into full existence on earth—Eph. 4:11-13, 24:
1. The world situation has been raised up for the goal of the one new man.
2. Everything that the Lord is doing in the present age is to usher in the practical existence of the one new man.
3. Because of the advances in technology, there is now the possibility that the saints in every locality in their environmental circumstances will become the one new man in reality and in practicality.
F. When the one new man is perfected, that will be the time for the Lord's coming, and the perfected new man will be the bride—Rev. 19:7.