The phrase “in spirit” is found in every chapter of Ephesians, except chapter one. Do you realize what is in our spirit? You may say that the Lord Jesus and the Spirit of God are in our spirit. This, of course, is correct. But now we need to see that the new man is also in our spirit. God’s habitation, His dwelling place, is in our spirit (2:22). In type, the ancient city of Jerusalem was God’s dwelling place, but today God’s dwelling place is in our spirit. Our regenerated spirit is today’s Jerusalem. You may think that there is no comparison between the city of Jerusalem and our spirit. Jerusalem was a large city, and our spirit is very small. But if you know the Bible, you will realize that our spirit today is much larger than Jerusalem. Our spirit is universally spacious. The problem is that we are too individualistic and think only of our individual spirit. But when the Bible speaks of “your spirit,” it includes the spirits of all the saints.
For too long our mind has been preoccupied by natural concepts, religious thoughts, and traditional teachings. In considering the matter of our spirit, we need to drop all this and see that our spirit is universally spacious. We know that God dwells in the third heaven, but He also dwells in our spirit. This makes our spirit today’s Jerusalem. Hallelujah for that wonderful entity in the universe called our spirit! The Spirit witnesses with our spirit (Rom. 8:16). The words “our spirit” include Paul’s spirit, Martin Luther’s spirit, John Wesley’s spirit, Brother Nee’s spirit, your spirit, and my spirit. How spacious our spirit is! The Bible reveals that God is the God of our spirit (Num. 16:22; Heb. 12:9). Where is God today? In our spirit. Where is God’s dwelling place today? In our spirit. Where is the one new man? Also in our spirit.
The way to put on the new man is for our spirit (which is mingled with the Spirit), in which are found God, God’s dwelling place, and the new man, to become the spirit of our mind. Our mind dominates and directs our whole being. For the spirit to become the spirit of our mind means that the spirit directs, controls, dominates, and possesses our mind. Instead of our mind being the mind of our spirit, our spirit should be the spirit of our mind. If the mind is the mind of our spirit, it means that our mind dominates, controls, and directs our spirit. But if our spirit is the spirit of our mind, it means that our spirit dominates, controls, and directs our mind. When the spirit directs our mind, it governs our whole being. When this is the case, our being is under the control of our spirit, in which are found God, the dwelling place of God, and the new man. It is in this spirit of our mind that we are renewed. By means of this spirit we put on the new man.
How much we put on the new man depends on how much our spirit directs our being. When our spirit dominates and directs us, there is no ground for opinions or ordinances. There is no room for our way, because our whole being is dominated, controlled, governed, and directed by our spirit.
Putting on the new man does not take place once for all. On the contrary, it is a lifelong matter, a gradual process that goes on throughout our Christian life. We have pointed out again and again that the new man has been created in Christ and with Christ. In 2:15, the Greek word rendered “in” has an instrumental significance; it also means “with.” Thus, in Himself actually means with Himself. The new man has already been created with Christ as the divine essence. When we were regenerated, this new man was put into our spirit. Now day by day we need to put on this new man by permitting the spirit to control our being and renew our mind. Every time part of our being is renewed, we put on a little more of the new man. Hence, the more we are renewed through the spirit controlling our mind, the more of the new man we put on. Eventually, this process of putting on the new man will be completed.
In the one new man there are none of the national and cultural distinctions between the peoples. Here there is neither Jew nor Gentile, bondman nor freeman, cultured nor uncultured (Col. 3:10-11). Likewise, there is no American, nor British, nor Japanese, nor Chinese, nor German, nor French. In this new man Christ is all because He is the very essence with which the new man is created. Hence, the new man is just Christ.
Because the new man has been created in Christ and with Christ according to God, the new man bears the image of God. In contrast to Genesis 1:26, which says that man was made in the image of God, Ephesians 4:24 says that the new man is created directly according to God. Eventually, the new man will bear the image of God in holiness and righteousness of the reality. By being renewed in the governing spirit of our mind, we put on this new man that has been created in Christ Jesus.
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