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:
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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).
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“In Himself” as the sphere, element, and essence, Christ created the Jews and the Gentiles into one new man:
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
Morning Nourishment
Eph. 2:15 Abolishing in His flesh the law of the commandments in ordinances, that He might create the two in Himself into one new man, so making peace.Rom. 6:6 Knowing this, that our old man has been crucified with Him…
Christ abolished in His flesh the law of commandments in ordinances; but He did not create the new man in His flesh. No, in the flesh He terminated the negative things so that He might create the two, the Jews and the Gentiles, into one new man in Himself. The negative things were terminated in Christ's flesh, whereas the new man, which, of course, is positive, was germinated in Christ Himself. We need to pay careful attention to two phrases in Ephesians 2:15: in His flesh and in Himself. If I were to ask you where you are today, you should say, “Firstly, I was in Christ's flesh; now I am in Christ Himself. In His flesh I was terminated on the cross, but in Christ Himself I was created as part of the one new man.” (Life-study of Ephesians, pp. 209-210)
Today's Reading
Christ did not stop with the termination of the negative things….Death is the threshold of resurrection; it ushers us into resurrection. Although Christ in the flesh was crucified on the cross, this death brought Him into resurrection. In resurrection He is no longer in the flesh; rather, He is the wonderful Spirit. It was in His flesh that we, the old man, were terminated, but it is in the wonderful Spirit that we have been created into the one new man. When our old man and our old nature were crucified, the ordinances related to our fallen nature were slain. Then in Christ's resurrection and in His wonderful Spirit, we were created into one new man. It does not seem reasonable to say that we were crucified before we were born. Nevertheless, it is a marvelous fact that we were terminated in the flesh of Christ on the cross. Moreover, before we were born, we were also created in the wonderful Spirit to be the one new man.The phrase in Himself [Eph. 2:15] is very significant. It indicates that Christ was not only the Creator of the one new man, the church, but also the sphere in which and the essence with which the one new man was created. He is the very element of the new man. After we were terminated, in Him we received the new essence. Christ Himself became this new element to us. Nothing of our old man was good for the creation of the new man, for our former essence was sinful. But in Him there is a wonderful essence, in which the one new man has been created. Christ created the one new man, the church, with God's nature wrought into humanity. This divine work was something new. In the old creation God did not work His nature into any of His creatures, not even into man. In the creation of the one new man, however, God's nature has been wrought into man to make His divine nature one entity with humanity.
The demons and evil angels know that the one new man has been created in the divine essence. This fact terrifies them. For this reason, the demonic powers would try to keep Christians from seeing the fact of the creation of the one new man. Hence, we must fight the battle for this truth. We need to pray for a clear and sober mind to perceive that not only have we been terminated on the cross, but that by means of this termination we have been transferred into Christ. In Christ, with His divine essence, we have been created into the one new man. It is essential to believe that before we were born we were created into the one new man and that a new essence has been wrought into our being. Apart from being in Him, we could not have been created into the new man, because in ourselves we do not have the divine essence which is the element of the new man. Only in the divine essence and with the divine essence were we created into the new man….Christ Himself is this essence, this element. Hence, in Himself Christ created the two into one new man. (Life-study of Ephesians, pp. 210-212)
Further Reading: Life-study of Ephesians, msgs. 23-24, 70-71, 85-87