Unfathomable Riches of Christ - The Church as One New Man
Vern Peterman · Nov 4, 2018
Unfathomable Riches of Christ, No. 41
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://www.hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/49261912446607

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

We're going through a series last month and now beginning this month about the church and our position in the church, which is described in various ways in scripture. We have eight of them here on the schedule, and believe it or not, this is not all of them.

November 25th will be the last time in this elective going through these and then after that this elective will be ended and you're invited to join the others for the remainder, the remaining three weeks in the first three Sundays in December. As Nancy and I will be pulling out after the Christmas party on December 2nd. So, you're invited to join that. We'll be looking at today being the last of the four remaining, and the church is one new man.

Now, so one thing I'll note, I put in here the New King James Version, which is, I don't typically use it. However, there are times when that's a better choice. It's the one that is in many of the Pew Racks in your Bible, I consider to be very well done. And in this instance, one of the reasons I've included it, although I usually would use an American Standard, one of the reasons I've included it is because New King James, King James, some other translations, they have done better with the translation of this word, translating it as man, not a self.

I think that self is not the best way to translate, so it's an instance where, as you look at the different translations, which one brings across the idea the best. The only updated alternative that I might use, more in keeping with sort of our modern language environment, is one new person. That would be a reasonable way to do it. It's because, as we'll see here, it's not one new man-male, but it's one new, and it's Anthropos, which is referring to man as in human, and person is a good way to carry that across in our culture where you've got all these gender issues that people bring forward.

Nonetheless, it gets the idea across, and that's the reason for the change of translation from the usual numeric and standard. So what we have here is in Ephesians 2 14 through 18 and that would be the first one and would also be an important front end to this whole study. So let me read that.

For he himself is our peace who has made both one and has broken down the middle wall of separation, having abolished in his flesh the enmity that is the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, that he might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity. And he came and preached peace to you who were far off, the Gentiles, ethnic Gentiles, and those who were near, ethnic Jews. For through him we both have access by one spirit to the Father."

So a few things to take note of here. does the Jew-Gentile distinction still stand as primary in the church? No, it does not. The Jew-Gentile distinction, is it biblically significant? In the big picture of the Bible, does Jew and Gentile difference matter?

Yes, they do matter in the church, is the specific context where we say that it does matter only that we have a position individually and together in Christ. The distinctions with respect to the position of male and female, the distinctions of Jew and Gentile, and all the other earthly distinctions fade away in comparison to who we are in Christ. The who we are in Christ's statement is absolutely, and in fact, I'll say eternally, of higher significance and authority, as significant as the Gentile and Jew distinction is.

Yeah? I just wanted to point out the homo-Christian standard says one new man also. Yes. Yep. The Holman Christian Standard Bible, and matter of fact they have an update to that I don't care for, but the Holman Christian Standard Bible does have a few different places where it makes some very important distinctions, and I think it's a great translation. And so this is a significant thing.

One new man or one new person is the best understanding of it. One new man, if it was Andross, would be specifically male. That's not what's used here in any of these contexts. New man or old man, any of that. It is anthropos, meaning specifically humanness, or as some have translated, particularly Harold Hohner, person. That would be a valid way of carrying the idea across. There's no gender distinction. Yeah, there's no gender distinction intended, and it's referring to humanness, not to male or female.

So that's why it's important. It is also not the best in the way the American Standard has brought it across, although I, in general, like the translation, as you know. To call it self, especially one new self, that's not the idea, right? So what's the importance of one new man or one new person? Why is that significant? So here's one thing, and you just brought up an outstanding, excellent point. The one new man has a new headship.

What was our headship under Adam? Adam was, as the term goes, the federal head of all the unsaved. Christ is the federal head of all those who are saved. And so Paul talks about that. in the last half, verse 12 to verse 21 of Romans chapter 5. And he makes a distinction between, in Adam, this was true, or under Adam's headship, this was true. Under Christ's headship, this is true. And he makes a number of distinctions there in the last half of Romans 5.

In his headship, But another thing that we see, notice in Ephesians 2, what are the two words, let's call it three words, before one new man. What are the three words that you see there? Okay, one is this new man, did the new man evolve? Absolutely not. Okay, one more thing. Did the new man, the one new man, just come about by accident.

God was doing something special and unique that he set in place before he said let there be light to create this one new person. And God started this before he said let there be light and before he did all the things that created the world that you and I see around us. Plus the things that are invisible we don't see, right? Before he did any of that, he chose us in whom? In him, Christ, before the foundation of the world, before he said let there be light.

So this creation of creating in himself one new man was not an afterthought, hey I've got an idea, right? It's not that. This was definitely a forethought, a forethought before the physical and spiritual creation of this world in which you and I were chosen as one new man. So it was premeditated.

And so here's the other part where Phil brought up appropriately and truthfully the federal headship of Christ in this one new man. We also see in those words right before one new man. It's not just federal headship, but it is identification. So let's ask this question.

How did he create the one new man? How did he do that? Through Christ. Absolutely through Christ. Can we say more than that? You're correct, but can we say more than that? What was his mechanism, if you will, of creation? Of the one new man? Tom? God the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit both agreed on the plane. Okay, that's true, but what are these two words created in himself? What does that say? What's the mechanism for bringing about the one new man? Would that be the resurrection? That's true, that's a part of it, but what does it say in here?

Identification. Identification in Christ is the mechanism by which the one new man was created. See the words there? Identification in Christ is God's designated one singular mechanism for creating the one new man, which is all of us. See that? That's how God got it done in Christ. And by the way, who gets credit for that? Christ.

The Father. Blessed be the God of Fatherhood. The Lord Jesus Christ has blessed us with a few spiritual blessings. Every spiritual blessing in the picnic basket. In Christ. See that? Every spiritual blessing in Christ, including having created this new man in Christ.

We were chosen in him, Ephesians 1.4, right?

We were created in him, Ephesians 2.15. Created in him as one new man. Now, so the one new man is all of who we, present tense, are in Christ.

As a body, right? As a church body. So get this, and I haven't written this here. So get this when I say it verbally. The one new man is all of who we are in Christ. Do you see that from the statement here? He created in himself, he made us to be in Christ, the one new man is all of who we are spiritually in Christ, having been brought about by the mechanism of identification that also encompasses Christ as the federal head for all of us. You see that? It's identification, it's federal headship, all in one.

God designed it before he said let there be light and created anything else. God intended it from then. God implemented it in history that day on the cross. Implemented it in each of our lives into actual fact on the day we believed. But it was all accomplished long, long ago before any of us was even a thought. Yes.

So this goes back to an earlier class, much earlier, where you had your two pictures of the current man and then the spiritual man growing alongside that. So when you say create in himself positionally, it probably is a lot of doing away with sin, justification, reconciliation, all those other big words. But the person is not like a baby, he's not brand new, but he's the spiritual man that you talked about earlier. We're going to go on to the next one, and so one of the things that the Bible does is it teaches things by contrast.

And sometimes it's not just a few little verses here and a few little verses there, but the Bible will take several books just to paint the picture. For example, how many books does it take to paint the picture of the Old Testament law? Well, the first five books contain the law of Moses, right? So you got the first five books to give you 613 laws.

And by the way, the Jews of different stripes and times, they don't argue about that number. They all agree on it, even today. 613 laws, 365 just like the number of days in the usual year. It's at the leap year, right? 365 things not to do. Those are all spelled out in the first five books. Yes, referenced and spoken of in other books, but those are all spelled out in those first five books. Why spend the first five books of the Bible spelling out the law? So that we can learn from the law, and part of that learning comes by contrast. And that's a part of the contrast here.

Before we were one new man, as unbelievers, we were what? The old men. One old man, right? Yeah! So that's the next part we're going to get to. So one of the things we'll see in the Bible repeatedly is that God puts things in place, reveals them in Scripture explicitly so that we can learn by contrast. He does that, yes. When did this happen that he created this in a point of time? It was Tuesday. So let's look at how did it begin in this initial creation? How did it begin? Where did it begin? At what point?

I believe Pentecost. Okay, so that was when it began in history, okay? Put in place in history. What happened before that? In his mind he noticed an eternity past. That's right. So what happened, this started in an eternity past. And so this is one thing about spiritual truth, is when you start looking at spiritual truth, where does the spiritual truth begin? All these spiritual truths began before God said, let there be light. But then we see their implementation in history. And you're correct. The implementation in history was on the day of Pentecost. That starts it in terms of the clock in history. That gets started right then. But the initiation was an eternity past.

You're right about that. Yeah? Christ prayed about it in John 17. Yes. How do I say it again? Oh, the disciples, yes. I had any idea it was like one of those, you know, aha moments years and maybe decades later, right? Yeah. Oh, that's what he meant, right? That had to be an answer to Christ's prayer with the Father. Yes, and so here's one of these things.

It didn't become true in terms of the point in history until the day of Pentecost. As a matter of fact, we could even say at 6 a.m. had it become true yet. No. No. By about mid-morning, it had become true. But by that evening, the implementation in history was only hours old, not even a day. So in terms of our human clocks, living life within the time tunnel that we do, that's how we would see it. But God began the whole thing before he said, let there be light, let's make them male and female, all that.

Yes? But then it was still kept a mystery, wasn't it, until Paul started? Yes, and so this is another thing, just like the apostles had all sorts of things that became true on the day of Pentecost, in terms of their implementation in history, did they understand them all on that day? No, that was the day that they began to understand everything.

And we have an important thing to gather up in our own awareness and understanding is that God has accomplished all these things in eternity past. He implemented them in time from the moment we believe. Did we understand all these things that we're learning here even as of this morning? No, we didn't.

We're spending all of our lives catching up to what God has long ago accomplished. and to what he put in historical beginning in our lives on the day that we believed. But he already accomplished everything in the past already and he began to set things in motion in eternity past before he said look at the light. So let's look at the one, we see this immense truth, and notice we keep going back to this passage in Ephesians 2, the last half of Ephesians chapter 2, because it's so rich with all these teachings about our individual and together position in Christ. Romans 6, 1-11, what shall we say then, so here's Paul speaking rhetorically, shall we continue in sin, in fact the sin, that grace may abound?

Certainly not! How shall we who died to thus in nature live any longer in it? By the way, have we died to thus in nature? Yes, we have. So he's asking the question, assuming that that truth is known. Or do you not know, and by the way, does he know that they know? Yes, and chapter 7 makes that clear. And do you not know, and I speak to those who know the law, right? So he's clarifying there in chapter 7. Yes, this means yes you do know, right?

And do you not know, and yes you do, that as many of us were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death, immersed so as to be identified. Therefore we were buried with him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. This doesn't assure what will happen, it makes provision what will happen in our position. For if we have been united together in the likeness of his death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of his resurrection.

Knowing this, the Greek there in verse 6 and the beginning of verse 9, is because you know. And so it's because you know, and that our old man, all who we were together in Adam, with Adam as our federal head, and in Adam, having been identified with him, was crucified with him that the body of sin, that the sinful body here, might be done away with, eliminated and completely truncated and annihilated?

What does it mean when this sinful body might be done away with, put out of commission? That's what it means. that we should no longer be the slaves of sin. Does it mean that we cannot and will not ever be slaves to sin? No. So why does it fall short of just guaranteeing that we'll never again be slaves to sin? Because if you live in your condition, like the carnal Christian, if he falls and goes back to living a carnal life, then he's again slayed to sin.

So I was going to ask, so once he dies can he actually, that seems like he didn't make a full death decision. Who? The one who goes back to live carnally. So how can they be saved? They have to make that decision and they have to die to be saved, right? Right, so no, so let's talk about that because that's an important distinction and it just gets to position and condition, right? So, if I skip it, will you remind me? I want to get there, but let's get through this.

That he who died has been freed from thus in nature. Now, if we died, and is if here, so if we died and we did, and actually since is not the meaning of the Greek, but yes, if does not mean since in the Greek. An important distinction. It never means since. If, and if it's what's called a first class condition, if, and it's assumed to be true. As it turns out, there are 300 of those first class conditions in the Greek New Testament and 37% of the time they actually are true. Still doesn't make sense.

So, if we died with Christ, and we did, assume to be true, we believe that we shall also live with him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died, he died to the sin nature once for all. By the way, that's a Greek word, one Greek word, And this is the first time in the New Testament that that word is used. He died once for all, but the life that he lives, he lives to God. Likewise, you also reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

So the distinction that is a very important question that you asked, the person who believes, what is true of their position based on what we see here? They're saved once for all. They're saved once for all. What is true of them in their position is completely and irreversibly true.

But here in Romans 6.11, reckon yourselves is the first thing to do in the whole book of Romans. And there you are right in the middle of the six chapters. It's the first thing to do. Everything that's been said earlier about the believer is true as to position. But there's been nothing yet to do. Here in verse 11 is the first thing to do in the whole book of Romans. And what is that? It's reckon, consider, count yourselves as having died to the sin nature.

Why? Why is that important? Because it's true. One, because it's true. You're absolutely correct. And why else? These things, every detail of it, you have been identified with Christ, all that is absolutely, totally, completely true. Can I, as a believer, having been eternally saved, can I and do Christians live not recognizing this truth?

And how do they do that? Do they do it in their condition and some do it out of ignorance? And there are times we can do it even with full knowledge and still make the choice. We can also make the choice out of negligence. You must reckon yourselves dead to sin and alive to God. People go, I don't even know what that means yet. So they can fail to do so out of ignorance. And probably much of Christendom is stuck in that mode. They can fail to do it out of ignorance, they can knowingly do it with full knowledge, they can also do it just simply out of negligence. Out of negligence, by just, I'm going along and I know what's going on, but I just don't pay any attention.

Every time this person walks into the room, I just become enraged. Why? Is that what God wants in my life? Is that what the Holy Spirit is empowering in my life? Is that consistent with my having been crucified with Christ? That I become enraged every time this person walks in the room? Even though I've studied through Romans 6, I've got it all down, I understand it, but out of negligence, or out of ignorance, or out of deliberately, you know, I know what all this stuff says, but I want to be mad at this person.

Right? So, yes. I think Al called that taking the bait. Taking the bait. Yeah, so here it is, and even having full knowledge of it, we can still choose that. Or, even having full knowledge of it, we can just set aside the knowledge for the time. You just said it's a choice. It is a choice. It is a moment-by-moment choice, and it's a choice to be made in each of the circumstances we find ourselves in. Yes.

Somebody once told me, and I don't know if it's true, that the law and atonement was for sins accomplished in ignorance and negligence and all these other things. But if you knowingly did it, you weren't covered by the law. Is that true? Do you know? Here's the thing with the law. It didn't matter whether you knew it, whether you didn't know it. You're just guilty. Right?

That's true, but the atonement takes that away. It was covered, those sins that you did out of ignorance and not knowing and unintentional and all that other sort of thing. But for the one who stepped out and did it, knowing and fully well aware of it, it didn't.

Yeah, so one of the questions, so reality, here's the law, does the law really deal with the problem? No, the law doesn't deal with the problem. In truth, everything about the law doesn't really deal with the issues. It's like this is a temporary hold.

That's the best it can do. But wasn't that the biggest problem with the Pharisees and the Sadducees and the rulers and why Jesus used the word hypocrite? Because they were saying that they were following the law, but they were adding to it and doing bad things, even while being. It's well doctored, right? Yeah. And so he was doctored the law. And they were not safe. So. Yeah. Yeah. And so it's like, look, you've got all this stuff, and you've got all your rules, and your bypasses, and your exceptions, and you've got everything all worked out.

The definition of work had 39 different considerations, and then a list of exceptions, and they got really just furiously ticked off with Jesus because he didn't divide by the 39 considerations and list of exceptions. And healing on the Sabbath was not one of those exceptions. So let's take a look here in verse 3, verse 6, and verse 9.

What we have is knowing this, because you know. Since you know, do you not know? And of course you do. So 3, 6, 9, all of them state this is a knowing that you already know. Paul, when he wrote these believers in Rome, not having been to Rome, knew that they knew these truths and had been taught them. And that's the way he writes Romans 6, verse 3, verse 6, and verse 9. He knew they had been taught these truths.

Do you not know? And of course you do. And since you know, because you know, all these things were things that they already knew. But there's one more thing you have to do besides no. You must reckon, consider, count yourselves dead to sin. And by the way, is it good to stop there? No, it is not. Dead to sin and alive to God. That is absolutely essential.

Is it the believer's assignment to do battle with the sin nature? Is that your assignment? Is it your job to do your best to try to be a good person? Is it your job to take on the sin nature and fight and battle with all your might? It is not! It is not God's intent. God does not intend it. He has not empowered you to go out and take on the sin nature. What has He empowered, enabled, and energized through the Holy Spirit? You reckon yourselves dead to the sin nature and alive to God. That's what's enabled and empowered. Not battling and taking on the sin nature.

If you do that, God will not be pleased. You will lose. Yes. Absolutely not. So here's the thing. This passage says our old man was crucified with Him. Our, together, us. Old man. all of who we were in Adam. All of who we were in Adam, with Adam as the federal head is crucified with Christ.

Yes? What is your definition of the word reckon? Okay, reckon is an accounting term. And so it is to draw a logical conclusion, so it is to consider, to count, to work it out logically, work it out consistently as in a mathematical or logical process, and draw this conclusion from the facts.

What another thing it enters in is our, not our conscience, but our free will. We know, but we have free will not to act on what we know. Okay, so let me look at the term free will, and it's because that term, I'm not saying it's a bad term, but it's one we've got to be conscious of and aware of. Do we have absolute free will? No, we have free will, we have the freedom only within the particular parameters and constraints that have been set in place there.

Example, do you have the free will to simply not sin? Do you know that the Bible says that you don't? And that's Romans 7 and Galatians 5, 16-18. You do not have biblical statement. You do not have the free will to decide not to sin. And guess what pastors then turn around and do in most of the churches in America? They appeal to people Not to sin. And then when somebody does sin, they'll sit there and scold them because they didn't make the decision not to sin.

When the Bible says, you can't make that decision. Don't try this at home or anywhere else. Don't try it at church, don't try it at home, don't try it at work, and especially don't try it on the freeway. It does not work. It is not what God expects of the believer. God does not desire it. Christ did not die on the cross so that you could decide not to sin.

That's battling with the sin. We lose every time. Yeah, it's absolute losing. Why? It's because God tells you right there in Romans 7 and in Galatians 5, as plain as day, You cannot will to do not the wrong thing and to do the right thing. What is the free will that the believer has ultimately? Where is my dependence? That's your one choice. And guess what? Does God just say pick one? No! God does not say pick one.

He has put Christ on the cross, he has had him buried, he has had him resurrected, and you've been identified with all those things so that you can reckon yourselves dead to sin and alive to God. He has done all those things so that you can walk in the Spirit so that you will not satisfy the desires of the flesh. He's done all those things, so as they're studying, not downstairs, the elective, the Ephesians, they're studying the last couple of weeks here, they've started walking the Spirit. These things, and to be filled with the Spirit, as Paul wrote to the Corinthians, we're called into fellowship with the Son. Those things are what we're called to. not to try our hardest not to sin.

Not to make a choice that we're not going to sin and not to make a choice that we're going to be a good boy and a good girl. Yes? So basically it's saying, I know that you're going to sin, but I got you covered. Okay, so what do you mean by that? Well, because we have the free will to sin, we can't say we're not going to sin, but I died on the cross for you.

So our choice is never put before us by God as you need to decide not to sin and you need to decide to do the right thing. That's not what God intends. It's not why Christ died on the cross and was buried and rose again. That's not the point. The point is what God accomplished is that we will reckon, count, consider ourselves dead to the sin nature and very, very important and alive to God.

So you don't do it halfway either. Yeah? Yeah, I'm thinking that when I rely on or reckon on these things like being dead to the sin nature, especially being tied to God, that my confidence in Him and my joy are increased? Yes. And the reason is that's the only way to do it. It was never, was never, isn't ever, will not ever be, try to be a good person. Try not to sin. Do your best to do the right thing. All of those.

Yeah, Roy? Your handout here, the next verses in Colossians and Ephesians explain this pretty thoroughly. Yeah, and that's one reason, we're not covering even the very short set of passages, but I think we're still getting to the crux of the point here.

Scripture is very consistent in these teachings. The new man and the old man, those terms are three times each. They're really consistent, it's clear, and in no case does it have to do anything with gender, new man being new person. The new person, the man all of who we are in Christ, the old man all of who we were in Adam, those are three times old man, three times new man. They are clearly taught in scripture. They are simple. It's not a gender issue. It's not a are you Jewish or are you Gentile issue. There is nothing that the law will fix.

So doesn't this fit in with when Paul was defining grace and he said that regardless of the sin and how much sin, grace is always greater and can cover it. And then somebody said, but then why don't we just go out and sin more and get more grace? But the answer was, heaven forbid. So in other words, that goes back to the free will of who are you going to depend on? That's kind of what Paul was saying there, right? So in other words, if you sin, it's covered because of grace. But it's your choice to who you're dependent upon, because he said their father was the devil. One of the things to look at as things are put in the New Testament, including the Apostle Paul, is that there are some things that are put down as, here is a rhetorical question, and then the answer is, No way. Absolutely not. Not happening. Not going to be. It is not even possible.

You will also see ifs in the Bible, and it's important to understand what was intended by those. And by the way, the ifs never intended to mean since. Since is a different set of words. So there are things that are absolutely stated, no ifs. There are things that are stated if, and those have a particular meaning and significance. We've had a supplement and a handout that we've made available to cover those. Let me know if you didn't get that. And then there are since. And those are all very different things, to be understood differently, intentionally.

So what we see here though, is knowing this, since you know, because you know, absolutely certain, our old man was crucified with him. The old man was crucified, who did the crucify? So, it looked like Romans were putting the nails in, but ultimately our old man was crucified, not because Romans did that, but because by God's designation through the Father, he gets credit for our old man, all of who we were in Adam, having been crucified with Christ. God takes the actions. We see in the Romans 2 passage, created in himself, in Christ, one new man who took that action. God. God did it. So one of the things you'll see about what God did with the old man, God did it. You and I didn't do it. We don't take any credit for it. The creating in one new man who did it, God did it. We don't take any credit for that. So the accomplishments here are God's accomplishments. He's done it entirely. It's entirely by grace. We have no credit to take whatsoever for any of it. No merit on our part. We can't enhance it, improve it. Nothing.

And so there's no fixing up the new man, excuse me, the old man. No fixing up the old man because the old man doesn't need to and can't be fixed because God decided we're going to deal with the old man by doing what? Crucifixion. We don't do anything to improve upon the new man who did the creation of the new man. Are you going to improve your new man over time? not a chance. You and I had nothing to do with dealing with the old man. You and I had nothing to do with the creation of the new man. God is the one who gets the glory, period.

Yes? Is the new man complete in us at the beginning, and if so, How has being conformed to Christ not been part of that? Right, so you have a very important question. The old man is all of who we were in Adam. The new man, all of who we are in Christ.

When you believe what got saved, what did the believing? Did the old man believe? No. The old man didn't do the believing. It's that essential identity, the person who continues into who we are now, that did the believing, and that is at this point in time, dealing with your question, what grows? Your spiritual growth is not improving the new man. Why can the new man not be improved?

It's perfect. There's no room for improvement because all of who we are in Christ, is any of who we are in Christ going to be improved? Positionally, it's already everything it needs to be. What we are is catching up to, growing into that one new man.

Let's pray because we plum run out of time. I'll leave the rest to you. Sorry, we need to pray. Thank you, Lord, for your word. Thank you for what you make clear. Thank you also, too, for just the many important things that surface with these rather simple topics at the outset, and yet things that are oftentimes not as clear to us as they might be. We just pray that we would grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ in our understanding of the old man, and the new man, the one new man in whom we have been created. We pray in Jesus name, Amen.