And have 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." (Colossians 3:10-11)
A life that is set on the things above, is receiving that life for a particular purpose. That purpose is the creation of the new man.
We cannot think of the new man as only Christ in you. It is Christ in as the hope of glory, the desire of His expression. Praise the Lord Christ is in you, but you and Jesus do not make up the new man. The new man has two parts, quite simply the head and the body. The head we know is Christ and the body is the expression Christ through the many members. You see ? This is the hope of His glory. This is why Paul told the believers to cling to the Head (2:19) because this evaporated all of the things that are below, the false, teaching, the culture, the world, the philosophy, the law, the man made ordinances and the self. Our occupation in our daily life and in everything is to hold the head. This may seem like the goal of Christians as individuals, but it is not. The goal is for the head to fill you up as a member of the body and then for you to richly supply the saints with His Life. This supply of His life knits us all together, we all become connective tissue that stimulates the growth of the rest of the body. This is what it means to grow with the growth of God." (Colossians 2:19)This growth is the expression of His glory.
This means the new man emerges as all the members are receiving life supply from the throne or the Head. Each member then allows his life to flow through them as a means of supplying this rich life of Christ to the rest of the body. This is how the new man is formed.
The Christian life therefore is constantly for the production of the new man wherever you live. A Christian cannot isolate himself from other believers. A Christian cannot grow apart from other believers. We may have extenuating circumstances, like Paul, who was in prison, but you see, in chapter 4, that he did everything he could to Supply and be supplied by other members of the body.
In conclusion, the church is where there cannot be a bunch of distinctive Christians. It’s a place! Christ has a location! And it’s in his body where there cannot be a Jew and a Greek, cultured and uncultured, etc. etc. your distinction cannot exist simultaneously in the body. Your self cannot exist here.
What is here in the church then? It’s a place where Christ is all and in all.
This little phrase, Christ, all, and in all, is a summation of chapter 1, where Christ is presented as the one who is in all things above all things accomplishes all things, is holding all things together, and in all things he is having the preeminence. Where on the Earth can we see this kind of Christ? Only among the saints who have this revelation of the New Man. Get to know the new man.
