The Heavenly Man

Paul's original vision about Christ and the Church was completed while he was in jail in Rome.

Eliseo Apablaza

The life and ministry of Paul are entirely governed by the vision of the heavenly Man who is Christ, the Head, and the Church, His body.

Paul received the first vision of this heavenly Man on the road to Damascus. The Lord was manifest saying to him: "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?", insinuating with this that, although he was in heaven, His body was on the earth, expressed in those few that were being beaten by him. This vision of Christ's body is confirmed even more to Saul when he is ordered to go to the city, where he would be told what he must do. Saul didn't receive any more instructions directly from the Head, but indirectly from His body.

This experience happens at the beginning of Paul's 'career'. And when we come to the end of it, we find a much more perfect and more exact vision of this same revelation, in his three main prison epistles.

A more perfect vision

Indeed, Ephesians, Philippians and Colossians together show this spiritual reality of the heavenly Man, this new Man.

The specialists of the Bible agree that these three epistles are, from the revelational point of view, the greatest that Paul wrote. The three were written from jail, and the three deal with Christ and the Church. In jail, while he was deprived of freedom, it was here that Paul experienced the broadest vision regarding the mystery of the gospel.

Each one of these epistles emphasizes a different aspect that, in combined form, describe this heavenly Man. Just as the natural man is made up of body, soul and spirit, these epistles show this new Man in this same triple dimension.

When Christ, as a man, was born of the virgin Mary, he went through the stages of a man's growth, and he did so in these same three planes: body, soul and spirit. " And the child grew, and waxed strong, filled with wisdom: and the grace of God was upon him." (Luke 2:40) It was an orderly growth that advanced from his body to his spirit, going through his soul. The heavenly Man grows in the same way, in the same order, until reaching the fullness of God.

Until the consummation of this age, God will be carrying out this work: the perfection, or progress to maturity, of the heavenly Man. The Man-Jesus needed 30 years of human life to reach maturity. How much will this heavenly Man need to be developed fully?

These three epistles, written by Paul while he was a prisoner in Rome, on the whole show us what this New Man is, how it is his body, his soul and his spirit. Ephesians shows us how God gave a body to this Man, how it was born; Philippians shows us the psychology of this Man, how he thinks, feels and acts; Colossians, on the other hand, introduces us into the realms of his spirit, that Holiest Place, where this Man reaches fullness.

Ephesians

Ephesians introduces us to the heavenly Man. Paul reiterates time and again the reality of the Church as Christ's Body (1:22; 2:16; 4:4; 4:12; 4:16; 5:23; 5:28; 5:29; 5:30), and, surprisingly, there are a great variety of allusions to the human body. The knees are mentioned, the feet, the eyes, the mouth, the loins, flesh and bones, and, in general, each member of the body (4:16). He even mentions its stature and dress. In none of the other two epistles is there such a marked allusion to the body as a human reality, which - we believe - is not accidental, but rather has the intention of showing a spiritual fact: to reaffirm in us the vision of Christ's body.

In each chapter of Ephesians we are shown this heavenly Man's new appearance. In chapter 1 we are presented with his heavenly reality, because the Father exalted Christ, and gave him authority over every created thing, placing Him as Head of the Church. (1:20-23). In chapter 2, we see his origin, which is Christ's cross: "that he might create in himself of the two one new man…" (2:15) Before the cross, there were two different human realities (Jews and gentiles), but they came from the same root: the old man, the old Adam. In the cross both realities die, in order to open the way to a new one.

In chapter 3 Paul shows us the greatness of the mystery of the heavenly Man that was not made known in other generations, but that now is revealed through the apostles and prophets. In chapter 4, we are shown his growth unto maturity. Paul tells us that this New Man needs to go on being formed, and expressed throughout the earth. This is as much on the personal plane as on the collective. Each believer is called to a renovation, to a constant "putting on". Paul takes dress as an illustration, like when somebody undresses from some old clothes and gets dressed into new ones. That's why he says: "put off according to the former conversation the old man … and put on the new man, that after God hath been created" (4:22, 24).

In the collective, this growth is expressed, on the one hand, by the unity of the faith, and on the other, by the unity of the knowledge, until reaching spiritual maturity which is expressed in reaching the stature of Christ. The children of God will become one in the faith and in the knowledge of our Lord only by means of the reality of Christ's body that receives its growth from the Head. The many disseminated believers won't be able to come to an agreement in spite of the many attempts at alliances and co-fraternities. Unity is only possible if the believers realise their reality as members of the same body, inseparably united and dedicated to one same future and destination. They are associated, and are mutually dependent and co-members of one another. Only this spiritual reality, when it is lived fully, will make it possible for the Church to reach its age of maturity.

In chapter 5 we are shown the care that the Head gives toward His body, how He meets the needs of the Church. "For no man ever hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as Christ also the church because we are members of his body. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife; and the two shall become one flesh." (5:29-30) Each human being takes care of his body, he sustains it and takes care of it: likewise Christ with the Church. The word 'nourishes' implies nurturing and caring for. That is to say, feeding as well as dressing is part of Christ's care for the Church.

Finally, in Ephesians 6 we see the heavenly Man's body perfectly armed for the battle. This armour has defensive and offensive weapons - more defensive than offensive - which testifies of the victory already achieved by Christ on the cross, and that now is only maintained and defended by the Church.

Let us note that this Heavenly Man is not the individual Christian, but rather it is Christ and the Church, as an indissoluble unit. It is this Man who is called to sustain the victory of the Head in the present time, and not the individual Christian.

Philippians

Philippians is an epistle impregnated with emotions and feelings of the soul. (In fact, Paul wrote this epistle crying, 3:18). It is evident that the church in Philippi occupied a very close place to Paul's heart. That's why we have here the noblest feelings in the soul of the apostle subject to the Spirit, which are the heavenly Man's feelings. This epistle shows us the rich psychological variety, with its thousand wonderful shades, of Christ's feeling through the Church. How does he think, how does he feel, what is the desire of this heavenly Man, especially when surrounded by adverse circumstances?

The heavenly Man is Christ's continuation in his earthly ministry. What Christ was yesterday, the heavenly Man is today in this world. "because as he is, even so are we in this world" (1 John. 4:17 b). So, we look beyond the Church in Philippi, and beyond Paul, to see, if it could be said, Christ's psychological configuration through this epistle.

The three planes of the human psyche are present here: the mental, the affective and the volitional.

A way to think

In the intellectual plane, the predominant word in the Greek is 'phroneo' which is translated as feeling in many versions of the bible, but which literally means to think. This 'to think' is, however, more than a mere intellectual activity; it is a mental attitude.

This Greek word, with its diverse forms, appears ten times in this epistle. In the first one, the apostle expresses his thoughts of concern toward the Philippians, desiring that God might complete the work that He began in them. (1:6-7). Then, the apostle expresses a desire toward the Philippians: that they be like-minded (2:1-2). They should have one same mental attitude. But which is that mental attitude? "Have this mind (phroneo) in you, which was also in Christ Jesus" And here the wonderful description of Christ's incarnation begins.

This is Christ's mental attitude: to deny himself for the good of others, and to lower himself time and again, until reaching the cross. This is the trajectory of one who followed the way of the cross. Christ humbled himself in his condition as God (because He became man), then in his condition as man (because he became a slave), and then in his form of dying (because he died crucified).

We always want to ascend, to ascend and to ascend, but Christ shows us in these three moments of his humiliation what his way of thinking is: to lower, to lower and to lower oneself.

This was also Timothy and Epapharas' mental attitude, who thought more in the good of the brothers and sisters than in their own (verses 19-30), and Paul's too, who despised everything that which was for him a reason to boast, for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus. (chpt.3) The reasoning concludes by making a call to the Philippians so that all may be of one mind, like those that have reached maturity. " Let us therefore, as many as are perfect, be thus minded (phroneo): and if in anything ye are otherwise minded (phroneo), this also shall God reveal unto you " (3:15).

In opposition is the attitude of those who only think of earthly things (Phil. 3:18-19), who have their minds set on the earth. The apostle doesn't hesitate to declare them "enemies of Christ's cross."

Then, there is a call to two sisters, Euodia and Syntyche, that they be "of one same mind (froneo) in the Lord" (4:2). In them, Paul summarizes this battle of thoughts among those who love the cross and those who hate it. They are constrained by the apostle. The capacity to feel the same thing will reveal if they are thinking (feeling) the correct thing. Knowing that it is a ferocious battle, Paul requests the "true yokefellow's" help so as to help them.

This is, in synthesis, the way of thinking of Christ, and which is also that of His servants Paul, Timothy and Epaphras. And it is also the way of thinking for the Church, the heavenly Man.

A way to feel

In the affective plane, we find many noble feelings and emotions, but the most outstanding is joy, reiterated many times (1:4, 18, 25; 2:2; 2:17-18; 2:28-29; 3:1; 4:1, 4, 10-11). It is the joy amid pain and adversity.

Let us remember that Paul was lashed in Philippi, and then imprisoned. And there, far from complaining in the face of adversity, he sings hymns with his co-worker Silas. Paul's experience is now almost exactly repeated, many years later. As he writes this epistle, Paul is imprisoned in Rome, and again the same rejoicing is present.

The circumstances are difficult. It is not only the pain Paul feels regarding not being able to preach in season and out of season, as was his habit. It is also the uncertainty about tomorrow. For two years Paul was kept under guard, waiting for a meeting with the emperor Neron, which could take place anytime the emperor chose. This waiting could wear away at one psychologically, but that didn't happen. He shows the best expression of Christ's feelings in the face of that adversity. Paul's personal experience points out the way to the experience of the Church. His feelings in that experience are the pattern of the feeling of the Church in those circumstances as well.

Christ's life is so powerful that even in the most desperate moments, one can have joy. This was Paul's experience, that of the church in Philippi's, and of every Christian.

A way to want

What did Paul want? In chapter 1 of Philippians we see that Paul had a desire, and that desire was to depart and be with Christ (21-26). He was already old and tired. He had lived many sufferings, he had received so many injustices, on his heart weighed the fate of the churches, so much so that he rightfully wanted to depart. However, he gives up his desire and hopes to be able to stay a little longer, because it was necessary for the sake of the brothers and sisters, for their "progress and joy in faith".

In this, Paul shows the desire of Christ; which is to deny oneself for the good of others.

It is normal for us, when we make decisions, to think of our own convenience. But Paul was a mature man. His form of loving shows us the form of the desire of Christ. In Gethsemane, the Lord gave up his own desire so that the will of God was done. How does the heavenly Man want after things? He doesn't have his own personal desire, but what God wants.

In chapter 4 of Philippians, we see a man, Paul, who is content whatever his situation. He can have abundance or suffer need, but in everything he is content. He doesn't have his own desire in relation to abundance or to shortage. He is in a neutral point. If the Lord gives him shortage, he is content; if he gives him abundance, he is also content.

So, Paul says: Is it necessary to depart or to stay? What God wants. Is it necessary to have abundance or shortage? What God wants. A man of God's desire is the same desire as that of the heavenly Man, that is to say, the desire of Christ.

Therefore, Philippians shows us what the psychology, what the soul of this heavenly Man is; what the saturated soul of Christ's life is like.

Colossians

Lastly, Colossians is the epistle of fullness, of perfect and exact things. If Ephesians shows us the body, and Philippians the soul, Colossians introduces us into the heavenly Man's spirit.

In the passage 1:15-22 we enter the Holiest Place. Here we perceive the Ark of the Covenant with its cherubs and with the propitiatory; and the Lord Jesus Christ, creator, sustainer and also reconciler of all things (not only earthly, but also heavenly), carrying out His magnificent work as the Lamb of God. The figure of Christ here acquires a magnificent importance; and His work, cosmic dimensions.

The cross has a superlative function here: it not only reconciled us to God (1:21-22), and put off the sinful flesh in us (2:11), but rather, it also reconciled all the things of the heavens and the earth to God (1:20). On this last point, the cross acquires an dimension previously unacknowledged in Paul's other epistles. The heavenly man expresses a magnificent victory that is the culmination of the work of the cross.

Oh, this knowledge is wonderful! For that reason, Colossians doesn't only speak of "knowledge ", but of full knowledge (the Greek 'epignosis'). Not a mental knowledge, but a spiritual knowledge: "From the day that you heard and knew (fully) the grace of God in truth" (1:6); "we do not cease to pray for you, and ask that you may be filled with the knowledge (full) of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding" (1:9); "increasing in the knowledge (full) of God" (1:10); "unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding" (2:2); "renewed into full knowledge according to the image of him that has created him" (3:10). It is by the spirit that we know the deep things of God, the fullness of God. What is the fullness of God?

Christ gathers in himself all the fullness of God: "Since it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell" (1:19); "For in him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily" (2:9). "In him are hidden the treasures of wisdom and understanding" (2:3), That's why in Him the man (corporate) is found perfect: "to the end that we may present every man perfect in Christ " (1:28); and "you are complete in him" (2:10).

Colossians contains the highest revelation of Christ, and of the man in Christ. The heavenly Man is here a resurrected man who lives in the heights, because he is hidden with Christ in God in heaven (3:1-4). This Christ today is the hope of glory of the Church (1:27), He is his present life (3:4) and is the fullness of all things (3:11).

In Ephesians we only have the announcement of the expression of the eternal will of God (1:10), here in Colossians it appears as an accomplished fact: Christ is the head of all principality and powers (He removed them on the cross, 2:15), and is all and in all (2:10 b; 3:11).

Here in Colossians all things are perfect and are complete. The gospel has already been preached to everybody (1:23). Paul feels a call to complete Christ's afflictions for his Church (1:24), and to announce the word of God in its complete form (1:25).

In Colossians, just as in Ephesians, the double mystery appears, the mystery of God (Christ), in 2:2, and the mystery of Christ (the Church), in 4:3; but they also meet masterfully in the sentences "Christ (the fullness of the Godhead) in you" (1:27), and "you are complete in him" (2:10). This is the ' summit' of the perfection and the consummation of all things: the Godhead is complete in Christ, (and as Christ inhabits us), we are complete in him.

Colossians closes the prophetic circle when pointing out that Christ is the explanation and antitype of all the things in the Old Testament. He is the body of which all those things were only shadows (2:16-17).

But Judaism not only turns pale in the face of Christ's glory, but so too does asceticism, with its thousand forms of abstinences (2:20-23).

Colossians recaptures the figure of Ephesians of the new Man's 'putting off', but takes it to its final point, "renewed unto knowledge" (3:10), according to the image of Christ.

Colossians recaptures and consummates the character of the Church, this heavenly Man, in 3:12-14. Here the noblest feelings are present -presided over by compassion -, until reaching the culminating point of love, the bond of perfection.

The sum of the Pauline revelation

These three great epistles show us, as we have seen, the sum of the Pauline revelation, which is that of the heavenly Man, Christ and the Church. Paul's 'career' is summarized in this glorious revelation, consummated in jail, where all wrong and penury are rife, but where the heavens opened up for him, and for us all.

May the Lord grant us a more spiritual and deeper knowledge of this wonderful reality, so that we can express it properly on the earth.

Copyright © AGUAS VIVAS | CHILE 2005