The evangelists in their ministry preached “the kingdom of heaven as at hand,” when Jesus as the prophet and teacher of Israel was in their midst, and presented it to them as the promised Messiah. By its rejection through their testimony, He made Peter and James and John acquainted with the further mysteries of the King of glory, and of His millennial kingdom at the Mount of transfiguration, but postponed till “His people should be willing in the day of His power.” More remarkably too, when He joined them on the other side of His death, and after His resurrection, He reproved them for their slowness of heart, adding, “Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and” (by the pathway of His sufferings and rejection) “to enter into His glory”. It is upon these foundations of eternal wisdom and power, and upon such a basis as the death and resurrection of Christ, that a revelation from God came forth which declares the only begotten Son to be “the Yea and Amen” of His promises and counsels from everlasting to everlasting; and that the times and seasons for their fulfillment are held in His hands. Paul’s commission was distinctly from this risen Son of man, “whom God had made strong for Himself”—the Son of man in the glory of God; and these are the glad tidings which He preached to every creature under heaven, and which He opened out “for the obedience of faith.” What wonder was it in a sinful world, and by declaring “one Jesus” as the central object before God for every purpose, present and future, that He should be accused of turning the world upside down? Nor is it any marvel that by setting aside “man in the flesh” in all his pretensions, and thus exposing the world, and Satan in his rebellion, he became “the prisoner of the Lord” in it, and in chains. Christianity was thus established in Christ above, and upon this earth beneath, through this very Christ of God raised from the dead by “the glory of the Father,” and seated in His place on high as Head over all things to the Church which is His body— “the fullness of Him that filleth all in all.” “Because I live, ye shall live also.”
Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, as minister and witness, is correspondingly in his proper place below to perfect the testimony as a suffering prisoner in a world that had broken loose from God, and avowed its enmity by rejecting and crucifying His Son. “Lo, I come to do thy will, O God,” lay outside and beyond all mere human responsibility, and brought the Son from the Father’s bosom, to act according to the power which was given Him over all flesh; namely, “that He should give eternal life to as many as thou past given Him.” In the power of this life eternal, and as united to Christ, and under the anointing of the Spirit, Paul came forth with “the mind of Christ” in chapter 3, to throw off the things which distinguished him as a Hebrew of the Hebrews, and which made him of reputation among men, “that he might win Christ, and be found in Him.” His new consistency “as a minister and witness” was consistency with Christ, and therefore he says, “What things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ;” and in carrying out this rule of trans figuration, he adds, “Yea, doubtless, and I count all things but loss: for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord.” In the power of the Holy Ghost, Christ is thus become the pattern to whom this apostle is conformed, “by the will of God,” as a servant in the energy of his new life and nature. Not only does this man of previous renown and attainments in the Jew’s religion (who, touching the righteousness which is in the law, was blameless) make himself of no reputation, and count the things that were gain to him loss for Christ, but he refuses to trust in the flesh, and boast any longer of his pedigree, or even to know himself as of the stock of Israel. He goes ahead of all that he was by birth and natural descent from this favored race, in order to ennoble himself “by grace and calling,” and to boast of another genealogy through “power from on high.” He even writes of himself according to this new style, “When it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb, and called me by His grace to reveal His Son in me that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood.”
The “power of the Highest” shall overshadow thee, were the words of the archangel Gabriel to the Virgin Mary at the annunciation; “therefore that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.” The twelve apostles began and continued their testimony to the Messiah, in a world scarcely woke up as yet out of the fall; but primarily to the Israel of the living God, till another messenger, and a witness from the risen Lord in glory, was sent forth to preach Christ among the Gentiles likewise. Guided in his course by the Spirit to Philippi, Paul made known this power in grace to Lydia, “whose heart the Lord opened,” and to the women who were gathered together by the riverside, where prayer was wont to be made. The great text for Paul’s life in the Son of God was, “That I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable unto His death.” The power which wrought in Christ was ever before his soul, and having this life in Christ (by the energy of the Spirit), he neither could nor would tread any other path. It was as having “the mind of Christ,” he writes to the Philippians, “this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” Adversities only favored him in this course; for once and again in the region about Lycaonia he had become a witness and a sufferer with Christ, and literally conformed to His death; for “the people having stoned Paul, drew him out of the city, supposing he had been dead.” The power of resurrection wrought in measure for Paul (and the other apostles of Jesus Christ), and displayed itself the more by these unlikely means— “Howbeit, as the disciples stood round about him, he rose up and came into the city.” J. E. B.
As spirituality becomes feeble, the exercise of mind, and the play of mere natural feelings, becomes a necessary aliment. But to the soul fresh in its spirituality, the word of God has more sweetness in its least statements (for they come from God) than any indulgence whatever of the mental powers.
Different Uses of the Word “Man”
Man as a creature of God is a tripartite being, composed of body, soul, and spirit (1 Thessalonians 5:2323And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Thessalonians 5:23)); but these two last are often spoken of under the one term—the soul: “Fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear Him which is able to destroy both soul and body in Gehenna.” (Matthew 10:2828And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. (Matthew 10:28).) The soul is immortal, so it never dies, and it never sleeps. Hence all the dead live unto God (Luke 20:3838For he is not a God of the dead, but of the living: for all live unto him. (Luke 20:38)), a solemn thought for the unsaved. But man as such is said to live only when in his body; for he is not complete as a man without it. As for the body it can die; but, if it dies, it will be raised to die no more (Revelation 20); that the person as a whole—body, soul, and spirit, may live forever, whether in weal or in woe. The death of the body is but temporal. The second death, which is the lake of fire, is not in any sense a ceasing to exist; the person as a whole, who is cast into it, and as alive, will be tormented there forever and ever. (Revelation 20:1010And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever. (Revelation 20:10).) Resurrection then of the body is a consequence of death, because man is a responsible creature, and so must render an account of his deeds to God in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, before whose judgment-seat we must all be manifested, whether converted or unconverted (2 Corinthians 5:1010For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad. (2 Corinthians 5:10)), to receive the things done in the body, according to what we have done, whether it be good or bad. Hence the sleeping saints; i.e. those whose bodies are in the dust, will share in the resurrection from the dead; whilst the ungodly will only share in the resurrection of the dead. For, alas! man is now a fallen creature; and since all are not saved, there will be a resurrection of the just and also of the unjust; a resurrection unto life, and a resurrection unto judgment. (Acts 24:1515And have hope toward God, which they themselves also allow, that there shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust. (Acts 24:15); John 5:2929And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation. (John 5:29).)
Such is the creature man. But as there are different senses in which the word man is used, it may be helpful to some to distinguish them. We read of the outer man and the inner man; of the old man and of the new man; of the first man and of the second man. To this we may add the natural man, the fleshly man, and the spiritual man.
Now, first, of the outward man and the inner man. These are the two parts of every man, whether converted or unconverted; the outward man referring to the body which can die (2 Corinthians 4:1616For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. (2 Corinthians 4:16)); the inner man (Romans 7:2222For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: (Romans 7:22); 2 Corinthians 4:1616For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. (2 Corinthians 4:16); Ephesians 3:1616That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; (Ephesians 3:16)) referring to the heart, mind, etc.; all that is within the body, but is distinct from it, and which can never die. Ephesians 3:1616That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; (Ephesians 3:16) may help to make this clear, as we read, “That ye may be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man; that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith.” And again (Romans 7:2222For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: (Romans 7:22)), “I delight in the law of God after the inward man: but I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind,” etc. Here the heart and the mind are the inward man. These terms then, outward and inward, contrast the material and the spiritual parts of man as a child of Adam.
The old man and the new man speak of two natures, both of which are only found together in one really born of God. The old man, παλαίος (Romans 6:66Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. (Romans 6:6); Ephesians 4:2222That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; (Ephesians 4:22); Colossians 3:99Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds; (Colossians 3:9)) is a term used of that sinful nature which governs the unconverted, and which we all inherit from Adam. It is also called the flesh, and sin. (Galatians 5:1919Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, (Galatians 5:19); Romans 7:2020Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. (Romans 7:20).) The new man (καινος in Ephesians 4:2424And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. (Ephesians 4:24), and νεὸς, in Colossians 3:1010And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him: (Colossians 3:10)) tells us that this nature, derived from the new birth, is to man one wholly new in kind, and so called καινὸς; and new as to time, seeing he did not formerly possess it, so it is called also νεὸς. That which formerly characterized him ere his conversion, the walking after the dictates of the old or former man, is to characterize him no longer. For that old man has been crucified with Christ; i.e. judicially dealt with by God at and on the cross; and now the nature that the Christian has received, as born of God, is to be seen working in him. For the new man is created, according to God, in truthful righteousness and holiness (Ephesians 4:2424And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. (Ephesians 4:24)); but though new as to time—νεὸς it is a nature only, and not power, so is to be renewed, ἀνακαινόυμενον, unto full knowledge, ἐπίγνωσιν, according to the image of Him that has created him. (Colossians 3:1010And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him: (Colossians 3:10).) As new then, καιωὸς, it is wholly different from the old, παλαίος man; and as new, νέος, or recent, there was a time when the person did not possess it. The man then, the Christian, is a person composed of parts—body, soul, and spirit; with two natures diametrically opposite the one to the other; the one, the old man, only and wholly evil; the other, the new man, which is impeccable. At times the person may be viewed as identified with the one, and at times as identified with the other. An instance in Galatians 2:2020I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20) will make this plain: “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Him: self for me.” The new man is not crucified with Christ. The old man was. So “I am crucified with Christ “views the person as identified with the old man, for whose actions he is and will be held responsible. “I live,” etc., views the same person as identified with the new man.
Further, the distinction between the two natures in the Christian’s inner man can be seen in Ephesians 4:22-2422That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; 23And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; 24And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. (Ephesians 4:22‑24): “Your having put off according to the former conversation the old man, corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; and being renewed in the spirit of your mind; and having put on the new man,” etc. Here the old man and the new man designate of course the two natures, and the mind refers to the inward man; one part of every child of Adam, whether converted or not.
3. We come now to the terms, the first man and the second man. These are two persons, Adam and the Lord Jesus Christ; the two heads of races, the natural and the spiritual. All of us by nature are ranged under the headship of Adam; and every Christian is ranged under the headship of Christ. So we speak of being in Adam, or in Christ. The condition of the first man, consequent on his act of disobedience, characterizes, and the results which flow from his act involve, all ranged under his headship. The condition consequent on the act of obedience to death of the second man characterizes, and the results of His obedience concern, all who are ranged under His headship. All mankind are involved in the one. All saints share in the other. That we learn from Romans 5:12-1812Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned: 13(For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law. 14Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come. 15But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many. 16And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift: for the judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offences unto justification. 17For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.) 18Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. (Romans 5:12‑18). But this truth of headship has not only a moral application, it concerns the person of the saint in his body as well. So we read, “The first man out of the earth, earthy (χοἴκός); i.e. made of dust; the second man, out of heaven. Such as he made of dust, such also those made of dust; and such as the heavenly One, such also the heavenly ones. And as we have borne the image of the one made of dust, we shall bear also the image of the heavenly One.” (1 Corinthians 15:47-4947The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven. 48As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly. 49And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly. (1 Corinthians 15:47‑49).) The reader will be helped in the understanding of the passage, if he remembers that the apostle is treating of the resurrection of the body. We bear in our bodies the image of the earthy one; i.e. the one made of dust. We shall in our bodies bear, when we see the Lord Jesus, the image of Him, the heavenly One. The contrast here is not a moral one, as the term earthy, not earthly, will show.
Lastly (4) we read of the natural (ψυχικός) man, the fleshly (σάρκιωος.), and the spiritual man (πνευματικός). All three are mentioned in 1 Corinthians 2:14; 3:114But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. (1 Corinthians 2:14)
1And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. (1 Corinthians 3:1). These are different states or conditions, in one of which every person on earth must be classed. The natural man (ψυχικός) describes a person without spiritual life, animated only by his created soul. The fleshly one (σάρκινος) is one born of God, but without the indwelling presence of the Holy Ghost. So in Romans 7, in delighting in the law of God after the inward man, he finds he has no power to do what is right. So he says, “I am fleshly” (not carnal, which would be σαρκικός) “sold under sin.” Again the apostle, addressing the Corinthians, who, though really richly endowed with all spiritual gifts, were not walking in the energy of the Holy Ghost, tells them he writes to them as unto fleshly (not canal); i.e. as to those who were quickened, yet were without the energizing power of the Spirit, for they were not using it. They were not really fleshly, but he addresses them as such. But the spiritual man is one in whom the Spirit is, and who is guided and energized by Him. Every true Christian then is spiritual as to his condition, though he may be walking like a fleshly person, and be even carnal in his ways.
Briefly then, to sum up, we have first (1) the different parts of man, which will always characterize him as the creature man. Those parts which he has by his birth as a man will exist in eternity. He will, as raised or changed, always have a body, a soul, and a spirit. (1 Thessalonians 5:2,32For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. 3For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape. (1 Thessalonians 5:2‑3).) But from the saint all taint and presence of sin will be removed, and his body will be fashioned like to Christ’s body of glory.
Next (2) we have glanced at the two natures now in the saint. But, thank God, he will by-and-by be freed forever from the old man, the fruit of the fall, and only have throughout eternity the new man.
Thirdly (3) we have two persons, two heads of races, under the term first man and second man. Saints are now by the Holy Ghost in Christ ranged under His headship, though still bearing the image of the. first man, looking forward when the change comes to bearing instead, and then forever, the image of the second, the heavenly One.
Lastly (4) we learn there are three conditions, in one of which every person on earth must be classed, either natural, fleshly, or spiritual, this last condition not being reached by attainment or walk, but consequent on being sealed with the Spirit. It is plain then we must not confound the inner man with the new man, nor the first man with the old man, if we would speak or think correctly. C. E. S.