極大的奧秘 - 基督與教會

Meaning

Refers to the human body Christ put on through incarnation, which became God's medium to accomplish redemption work on earth

Refers to Christ's divine essence and person Himself, as the sphere, element, and essence for creating the new man

Function

To terminate, abolish, and demolish all negative things

To create, establish, and constitute positive new things

Distinction

Emphasizes the negative aspect of Christ's redemptive work, removing obstacles in the old creation

Emphasizes the positive aspect of Christ's redemptive work, establishing the new creation

Examples

Abolishing the enmity (ordinances in the law), breaking down the middle wall of partition

Creating Jews and Gentiles into one new man, making the two one in Christ

Application

Believers, by being crucified with Christ, deal with the old man, flesh, and the world

Believers become a new creation in Christ, having new life and new nature, living out Christ

Related Scriptures

Hebrews 2:14 "Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil"

Romans 8:3 "For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh"

Ephesians 2:15b-16 "so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity"

Colossians 3:10-11 "and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him, where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free, but Christ is all and in all"