THE ‘ONE NEW MAN’ VERSUS JUDGEMENT
THE ‘ONE NEW MAN’ VERSUS JUDGEMENT:
THE CHURCH, CALLED ‘0NE NEW MAN’
WILL NEVER COME TO ANY JUDGEMENT.
JAN LILLEBY
If you are no ‘Two Books’ believer, namely holding to only Ephesians and Colossians as Doctrine of Faith for the Church, the ‘one new man’ – you may be dragged into a sidetrack regarding right division.
What I mean is, that if one blend in Philippians and Paul’s pastorals (Titus and Timothy) – you may get the impression that a Christian must perform and actually have works (!) to get a full reward in heaven.
There exist Acts-28 preachers holding the idea of this…like, one has to try to perfect and improve your life as a believer and a member of the ‘one new man’ – to be able to achieve the reward. This also means that such a believer…striving with his life…must be judged before a ‘Bema-seat’.
The idea of having to strive for improvement of life, is contradictory to Col. 2:8-10, NASB,
“8 See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than * according to Christ.
9 For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form,
10 and in Him you have been made complete, and He is the head over all rule and authority”
The idea of having to improve oneself in order to achieve a supposed ‘reward’, is the very same as warned against in verse 8: ..philosophy and empty deception… and Paul give the answer to why we must resist being captivated by such deceptive human fantasies/philosophies: we are already made complete in Christ. If we are already complete, there is no room for ‘more completeness’ – and the silly fairytales told of ‘reward’ goes down the drain!
Paul had more to say about our standing in faith in Christ: in Him we are also filled full, and thus there is no need of getting fuller. Full is full!
Eph. 3:19, NASB,
“17so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love,
18 may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth,
19 and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.”
The English word ‘fullness’ is translated from the Greek pleroma. Which actually mean ‘being so full that one cannot possibly get fuller than this’.
Paul also points to how it is that we are FULL OF GOD, and it is not because of our strivings and works to achieve some ‘reward’ – no, on the contrary, it is our knowledge of the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge! Verse 19.
The love of Christ in God, for us, the ‘one new man’, saves us from all sorts of restless toil and sweat and striving works. Here below is James Strong’s breakdown of Eph. 3:19 – showing that pleroma means super-full, it cannot get fuller, thus it PERMEATES ENTIRELY us who are members of the body of Christ, the ‘one new man’, - Cambridge Dictionary describes the word: “to spread through something and be present in every part of it”,
Know (G1097 - ginōskō): To know by experience, perception, and relationship, rather than just intellectual understanding.
Love (G26 - agapē): Unconditional, sacrificial, and divine love; the very nature of God.
Surpasses (G5235 - hyperballō): To throw beyond, excel, transcend, or go utterly beyond measure.
Knowledge (G1108 - gnōsis): General knowledge, understanding, or science.
Filled (G4137 - plēroō): To make full, complete, fill up, or permeate entirely.
Fullness (G4138 - plērōma): The state of being full, completeness, or the total sum of divine attributes and powers.
God (G2316 - theos): The supreme divinity, the Creator.
It will take too much space here in my article to go over all the details connected to such a faulty teaching, that of striving to achieve a reward, but much of it derives from Charles Welch, if not all of it. He was an excellent Bible expositor, but he made some errors during his long time in ministry. To such an effect as to mix in John, Philippians, Titus, Timothy and more….as if what Paul taught in his Acts-ministry may have valid effect in certain issues for the Post-Acts body, the ‘one new man’.
Let me get straight to the issue: neither Philippians, Titus, 1 & 2 Timothy, - nor John’s Gospel, Galatians, Romans, 1 & 2 Corinthians, Hebrews or writings by Peter, James, John and Jude - has any saying regarding us, the ‘one new man’ in Christ!
None other than Paul, and he alone…was given and entrusted by the Lord with the revelation of the Mystery Body, the new oikonomia charis – the Gospel of God’s Grace, the unfathomable riches of Christ.
I don’t care whether Welch or any others among the early Acts-28 expositors…or any of the Acts-28 teachers in our days (2026)..influenced by the early ones, comes up with lots of hypothetical schemes which say that we, the ‘one new man’ (as in Eph. 2:13-15) are to work and trying to perfect ourselves to achieve a supposed ‘reward’.
When Paul wrote his prison epistles, he left his ‘brand mark’ in there: Both Ephesians and Colossians have the two MOST IMPORTANT facts laid out in them:
The Law of Moses was abolished by Christ at the cross (but kept secret to the Acts-body, to test Israel for faith).
The revelation of the Mystery given exclusively to Paul, as the first man ever to receive this revelation. It had been hidden in God in all previous ages.
Checking with the other writings of Paul, not to mention writings of others than Paul (!) – we find that NO OTHER WRITINGS have these two factors pointed out in them! Zero!
There is NO MYSTERY in Philippians, or in Timothy 1 & 2, or in Titus.
Also, we find that even Luke (who accompanied Paul on his journeys, and also had contact with him in his jail-situation) abstained from mentioning anything of a fresh new revelation given Paul for us Gentiles! Luke did not pretend to have any idea of this revelation of the Mystery, like we see in Eph. 3 and Col. 1. This tells us that Luke deliberately did ‘shut up’ regarding Paul’s new Grace doctrine, that of the ‘one new man’ and the Law of Moses abolished. He left it to Paul alone. He was with Paul when he wrote Colossians in 63-67 CE, Col. 4:14, NASB,
“Luke, the beloved physician, sends you his greetings, and also Demas”.
As we read on in both of Paul’s Mystery-epistles…Ephesians and Colossians, we find no clues of having to strive and perfect ourselves to be able to ‘cash in a reward’. You wouldn’t find it if you used the Hubble Space Telescope looking for it!
Such feeble theories seem only to exist with Acts-28 believers who has not yet been rooted and established in this faith, knowing that we actually are saved and eventually ‘rewarded’ by that one singular intervention of God: that He already have seated us up in His heavenly abode in Christ. We are also in the happy situation – talking of some reward – of having already been blessed with ALL SPIRITUAL BLESSINGS in the super-heavens with Christ! If we have ALL such blessings, there is no room for yet more such ones!
And there are no other situation or place of salvation promised us. We have an inheritance with Christ, and it cannot get better than that. We are actually ‘judged’ righteous in Christ, and we are filled full…so that there are no more place in us to be even fuller or richer or better…in any matter of Grace salvation without works. We already have it all, always and forever and ever. It is the GIFT OF GOD…thus He does not ask us to strive to achieve a ‘reward’.
Col. 3:23-25, NASB, is a key-word regarding the idea of a reward for us believers, but it says nothing of having to strive for it, - the work mentioned here, is regular work for an employer to earn a salary…and the heavenly reward is one we have inherited in Christ! Nobody have to strive and work to inherit God’s blessings in Christ.
“23 Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men,
24 knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom you serve.
25 For he who does wrong will receive the consequences of the wrong which he has done, and that without partiality”.
However, in all the Acts-epistles we find that these have the doctrine of faith on two factors: the Law of Moses, and the New Covenant, laid on top of the Law for Grace to Israel’s Messianic believers. Heb. 9:15.
The free Grace Gospel, with the Mystery-body of saints, can only be found in Ephesians and Colossians.
Gracepano.com
