THE NEW MAN
[p. 119] THE NEW MAN
Ephesians 4: 24; Colossians 3:10
In seeking light from the Lord on this important subject, we must first be absolutely clear of the thought which is so general in christendom, that God’s Son became a man in order to repair and rehabilitate the first man - the Adam race. Many years ago it was said that man was broken china, but that Christ was like perfect china. This was absolutely denied by the most godly man of the day. Christ was not china at all, but unique, a man of His own order, and in His death the first man is clean set aside in judgment, and the new man is therefore according to God. Consequently we must not be deceived by thinking that the human mind can form an idea of any trait of the new man, or that it can imitate Christ, though many read the gospels with this object. Thus we start on this inquiry, looking entirely to God in order to understand the Man of His pleasure - “The holy thing also which shall be born shall be called Son of God” - “the expression of his substance” - “the beginning of the creation of God”. As another has said, the difference between Him and us is that with Christ all His springs were in God, whereas our springs are in ourselves.
We know from the types that in the meat-offering the fine flour was not only anointed with oil, but it was mingled with oil, the Spirit of God, for Christ the One typified was conceived by the Holy Spirit. “Since therefore the children partake of blood and flesh, he also, in like manner, took part in the same, that through death he might annul him who has the might of death”. He bore the judgment due to the first man and righteously removed him from the eye of God; so that it is not in Adam that the believer appears before God, but in Christ.
[p. 120] Now our inquiry is: What is the new man? We have seen what it is not; we have already seen that it cannot be learned by any effort of the human mind, that its structure and nature are entirely beyond the conception of man, and the next question is: How do we learn it? I believe it is not by reading or by the mere study of Scripture that we learn it, but by association with Christ, by beholding the Lord’s glory, and being changed into the same image. You could not explain what you get, but you get that which corresponds with Him; as you are with Him you acquire it. “Having put on the new man, which according to God is created in truthful righteousness and holiness” (Ephesians 4: 24), is addressed to a believer who is in conscious union with Christ, seated in the heavenlies in Him. Now He comes out here in a new way, beginning with the mind, “renewed in the spirit of your mind” - not making works prominent, but in the renewed mind which is able to judge of the works that suit Christ. As we read in 1 Corinthians 2: 16, “We have the mind (nous) of Christ” - we “put on the new man, which according to God is created in truthful righteousness and holiness”. A believer realises the tastes of the new man by association with Christ. It is important to see that we derive from Him, we are in Him and He lives in us, He is altogether sui generis - of His own order, and it is only by association with Him that His nature and mind become experimentally known to us. It is so little known because association is so little sought.
‘Yet sure, if in Thy presence
My soul still constant were,
Mine eye would, more familiar,
Its brighter glories bear.
And thus Thy deep perfections
Much better should I know,
And with adoring fervour
In this Thy nature grow.’
[p. 121] We get an idea of what His grace is, in what He says to the church of Laodicea; He offers association with Himself for restoration. “Behold, I stand at the door, and am knocking: if any one hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in unto him, and sup with him, and he with me”. No one can tell what he acquires by association; but he knows that he has acquired a taste for the company of Christ, and that when not in His company he has not that which suits his new taste: he finds it very partially here among His own and he is glad to return to His presence, and he knows the benefit of it.
This draws the great line of difference between mere students of the word and those who enjoy His presence, beholding His glory; the latter can form a conception of what suits Him which the former cannot. We see from Colossians 3: 10, “Having put on the new, renewed into full knowledge according to the image of him that has created him” - that we cannot be with Him without getting enlightened; the word comes with more definiteness to our souls; we are “renewed into full knowledge”, etc. Thus we see that as we become like Him by being with Him, we also get more intelligent in His mind, we know Him as Head and put on bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, etc.
The Lord give us to seek His presence more. Moses could say in a comparatively dark day, after he had seen all the mighty works of the Lord, “Shew me thy glory”.
May our hearts have the rich enjoyment of being in spirit with Him in glory. Every one likes to think of Him as known in His great works, but how blessed the consummation of being partakers with Him in His glory!