I.　God's intention in His creation of man was to have a corporate man to express Him and to represent Him; this corporate man is the one new man, the masterpiece of God, created through Christ's death on the cross—Gen. 1:26; Eph. 2:10, 15; Col. 3:10-11; Eph. 4:24.

II.　The new man is Christ in all the saints permeating us and replacing us until all natural distinctions have been removed and everyone is constituted with Christ—Col. 1:27; 3:11; Eph. 3:17a; Gal. 4:19; 2 Cor. 3:18.

III.　If we would live Christ as the constituent of the new man, we need to be ruled by the peace of Christ and inhabited by the word of Christ through persevering in prayer—Col. 3:15-17; 4:2:

A.　We need to allow the peace of Christ to arbitrate in our hearts—Col. 3:12-15; Eph. 2:14-18; Rom. 5:1:

1.　The Greek term for arbitrate can also be rendered "umpire," "preside," or "be enthroned as a ruler and decider of everything"; the arbitrating peace of Christ dissolves our complaint against anyone—Col. 3:13.

2.　Often we are conscious of three parties within us: a positive party, a negative party, and a neutral party; hence, there is the need for inward arbitration to settle the dispute within us:

a.　Whenever we sense that different parties within our being are arguing or quarreling, we need to give place to the presiding peace of Christ and allow this peace, which is the oneness of the new man, to rule within us and have the final word—v. 15; Eph. 2:15; 4:3.

b.　We need to set aside our opinion, our concept, and listen to the word of the indwelling Referee.

3.　If we allow the peace of Christ to arbitrate in our hearts, this peace will settle all the disputes among us, we shall have peace with God vertically and with the saints horizontally:

a.　Through the arbitration of the peace of Christ, our problems are solved, and the friction between the saints disappears; then the church life is preserved, and the new man is preserved in a practical way.

b.　The arbitrating of the peace of Christ is Christ working within us to exercise His rule over us, to speak the last word, and to make the final decision.

c.　If we stay under the ruling of the enthroned peace of Christ, we shall not offend others or damage them; rather, by the Lord's grace and with His peace, we shall minister life to others.

d.　This peace should bind all the believers together and become the uniting bond—Eph. 4:3.

B.　We need to let the word of Christ dwell in us richly—Col. 3:16-17:

1.　When the peace of Christ arbitrates in us and keeps us in a situation full of oneness and harmony, we become the place of God's speaking, His oracle— vv. 15-16; Rev. 2:1, 7:

a.　God's speaking requires oneness; division causes God's speaking to diminish, even to cease altogether—Lev. 1:1.

b.　Since oneness is a necessary condition for God's speaking, we need to let the peace of Christ arbitrate in our hearts—Col. 3:15.

2.　We need to allow the word of the Lord to have first place in us so that we may experience the functions of the word of God operating within us and ministering the riches of Christ into our being—v. 16:

a.　The word of God enlightens (Psa. 119:105, 130), nourishes (Matt. 4:4; 1 Tim. 4:6), and waters us to quench our thirst (Isa. 55:8-11).

b.　The word of God strengthens (1 John 2:14b; Prov. 4:20-22), washes (Eph. 5:26), and builds us up (Acts 20:32).

c.　The word of God completes, perfects (2 Tim. 3:15-17), and edifies us by sanctifying us (John 17:17).

3.　By allowing the word of God to inhabit us, we can become proper human beings, God-men filled with Christ as the reality of the attributes of God— Col. 3:17-25; Phil. 4:5-8.

C.　We need to persevere in prayer, watching in it with thanksgiving—Col. 4:2:

1.　We must take time to enjoy the Lord as the all-inclusive land so that all the elements of Christ as the rich soil may be absorbed into us for us to be made full in Him in our experience—1:12; 2:6-7, 10a:

a.　We need to allow adequate time for prayer, which will enable us to absorb more of the riches of our God—4:2; Phil. 4:6-7; Dan. 6:10.

b.　Our contact with the Lord should not be rushed; if we are in a hurry, we shall not be able to absorb much of His riches.

c.　We need to forget our situation, our condition, our failures, and our weaknesses and simply take time to absorb the Lord—Luke 8:13; Matt. 14:22-23; 6:6.

2.　In order to fight on God's side against Satan, we need to persevere in prayer—Dan. 6:10:

a.　As those who take sides with God, we find that the whole fallen universe is against us and, in particular, against our prayer; resistance to prayer lies not only outside of us but even within us—Matt. 26:41.

b.　To pray is to go against the current, the trend, in the fallen universe— Luke 18:1-8.

3.　We need to set aside definite times for prayer; our attitude should be that prayer is our most important business and that nothing should be allowed to interfere with it—Dan. 6:10; Acts 12:5, 12.

4.　We need to pray without ceasing, to persevere in prayer, keeping ourselves intimately connected to the Lord—1 Thes. 5:17; Matt. 26:41; Col. 2:19.

5.　As we absorb the Lord's riches into us through prayer, He permeates and replaces us with Himself until all of our natural distinctions have been eliminated and we become the new man in reality.