Some Men in the Epistles

N. Anderson.

1. OUR OLD MAN — Rom. 6:6. Has reference to all that believers were as in the flesh — they have died to that in the death of Christ.
2. THE OLD MAN — Eph. 4:22; Col. 3:9. Man in general, under the headship of fallen Adam, or "sin in the flesh."
3. THE NEW MAN — Eph. 4:24; Col. 3:10. What believers are as "in Christ" — "a new creation."
Note: Christ is nowhere said to be "the New Man." We read as to this, "after God is created in righteousness and true holiness" Christ is not a creature! While this is true, it is quite correct to say that the New Man is Christ characteristically.
4. ONE NEW Man — Eph. 2:15. Embraces all believers from among the Gentiles and Jews.
5. INNER (or, INWARD) Man — Rom. 7:22; 2 Cor. 4:16; Eph. 3:16. That which is formed in the soul by the sovereign operation of God, by the activity of a divine Agent — the Holy Spirit. Who uses a divine instrument — the incorruptible Word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.
6. OUTER MAN — 2 Cor. 4:16. What we are naturally or externally.
7. HIDDEN MAN — 1 Peter 3:4. That which has been wrought in us in new birth — a new moral being. The graces of this hidden man of the heart are to be ornamented by obedience to the Word of God.
8. NATURAL MAN — 1 Cor. 2:14. This is the unbeliever — devoid of any work of God in him. Consequently not born of God, nor sealed with the Holy Spirit.
9. SPIRITUAL MAN — 1 Cor. 2:15. The believer, not only sealed with the Holy Spirit, but walking according to the Spirit.
10. CARNAL MAN — 1 Cor. 3:1, 3, 4. A believer walking according to the flesh.
11. FIRST MAN — 1 Cor. 15:47. The order in which man was created.
12. SECOND MAN — 1 Cor. 15:47. The order of our Lord's Manhood — heavenly, holy, sinless.
13. FIRST ADAM — 1 Cor. 15:45. Adam, the fallen head of a fallen race.
14. LAST ADAM — 1 Cor. 15:45. Christ, the Head of a new race, taking character from Himself.
15. EARTHY MAN — 1 Cor. 15:48. The origin of the first man was "dust" — "dust thou art, and unto dust thou shalt return." His character being commensurate with his origin — "earthy."
16. HEAVENLY MAN — 1 Cor. 15:48. The origin of the "Second Man" was "out of heaven." His character, as is that of all who are of His order, being spiritual and heavenly.

"When the Spirit of God calls our Lord "the Second Man," it is as good as telling us that all other men are but the reproduction of the First Man" (see Bible Treasury, Vol. 4, p. 348) Our Lord Jesus Christ is different, distinct, and distinguished, from the First Man. Truly Man — spirit, soul, and body — He has superseded and hast thus displaced the First Man entirely.

He has been raised from among the dead by the glory of the Father. Having accomplished redemption by His sacrificial death for sin at the cross, He has ascended up where He was before. Being by the right hand of God exalted, He has sent down the Holy Spirit to indwell His own, whom He has left in the world, to be "Another Comforter" in His room and stead. Also, as the Last Adam he has given them life in association with Himself as glorified. Thus He has a company here in this world from whence he has gone, in which, by the Spirit, He is reproducing His life.

"All like Thee, for Thy glory like Thee, Lord,
Object supreme of all, by all adored.

He is the "heavenly One," His own the "heavenly ones."

While Scripture teaches that "our OLD MAN is crucified with Christ" it never teaches that the First Man has been crucified. Human relationships belong, not to the order of the "Old Man," but to that of the "First Man," however sadly they have been coloured by the features of the Old Man. These relationships will continue for believers until our Lord shall come for us all, or until death shall intervene. While, as trusting Christ, "we have put off the Old Man"

and "have put on the New Man" (Col. 3:10), we shall not put off the First Man until we leave this responsible sphere.

Morally, we are now of the order of the Second Man; and the Spirit of God, occupying us with Christ in glory, produces in us those features ever delightful to our God in Christ.

It is our privilege so to respond to this work of the Spirit that we introduce into the relationships of life the grace of the heavenly Man. Shortly we shall be with and like Him in the glory, then we shall certainly, and forever, be done with the order of the First Man.

Believers are: —  Heavenly in origin, in character, and in destiny (1 Cor. 15:47-48, 49).

"As we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall bear the image of the heavenly."