KNOWING CHRIST AFTER THE FLESH.
THIS is an expression that is sometimes used, or one similar to it, in an accommodated sense, as it is in an article in this paper, meaning the physical presence of Jesus as he walked this earth. But this is not the meaning of the expression as found in 2 Cor. 5:16. The text reads as follows:— "Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh; yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more." What does it mean? The reader will perceive that the above is a conclusion drawn from previous argument, which really begins with the third chapter, the ministry of the Spirit, but it will doubtless be sufficient for our elucidation of the text to go back to the fourteenth verse. The apostle states, after speaking of the judgment seat of Christ, where all must appear, that the love of Christ constrained him to labor for all those for whom Christ died; "because," says he, "we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead," that is, doomed to death because of sin. And then he declares that that is just what Christ did do: "And he died for all." (Revised Version.) The purpose he had in thus redeeming man is next stated: "That they which live should no longer live unto themselves, but unto Him who for their sakes died and rose again." Then he draws the conclusion of the passage in question. Before we notice that, we would like to inquire what it is to live unto ourselves, and what it is to live unto God. To live unto ourselves is to follow the lusts and desires of the natural man. This the apostle characterizes as "after [kata, "according to"] the flesh." Rom. 8:5. This is man's natural unregenerate condition, and "that which is born of the flesh is flesh," or fleshly. Therefore Jesus told Nicodemus, "Ye must be born from above; for that which is born of the spirit is spirit," or spiritual. John 3:3-6. One thus brought forth by the divine power (James 1:18; 1 Peter 1:23) can render spiritual service to God, or, in other words, "live unto Him who died and rose again." Paul thus presents the two different conditions:— "For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. For the minding of the flesh is death; but the minding of the Spirit is life and peace. Because the minding of the flesh is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God." Rom. 8:5-8, margin. After, or according to, the flesh is enmity against God, or following our own selfish lusts. Therefore, as Christ "died unto sin once" for our sakes, but now lives unto God, so we should reckon ourselves "to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof." Rom. 6:10-12 The flesh never profited us; it only brought us bondage. Rom. 6:20, 21. But Christ bought us with his own precious blood (1 Cor. 6:20), and now we belong to him who has set us free. Therefore, as we once yielded to the flesh, when we were its slave, so now we should yield to Christ every instinct and power of our being. Rom. 6:19, 22. "Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die; but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live." Rom. 8:12, 13. "After the flesh," in 2 Cor. 5:16, means just what it does in Romans. To know men after the flesh would not be to labor among them with the love of Christ, as did Paul, but with a heart of selfishness, to get all we could to ourselves, just the same as is seen among men of the world, and many professed Christians, at the present time. To know Christ after the flesh it is not necessary to have seen the person of Jesus. We may read about his wondrous love, sublime fortitude, and perfect character; we may profess his name, and may assert to all the truths of his gospel, and yet we may not know his regenerating, sanctifying power. We may know Christ, as many professed church members know him to-day, "according to the flesh." They profess that they know Christ, yet deny him by their works, walking according to the flesh and following its lusts. See Titus 1:16. To the Ephesians Paul said, "But ye have not so learned162Christ." Eph. 4:20. And to the Corinthians, some of whom had been walking according to the flesh (1 Cor. 3:3; 5:1-6), he exhorts in his own personal example: "Wherefore henceforth know we no man after [according to] the flesh; yea, though we have known Christ after [according to] the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more" in that way. 2 Cor. 5:16. That this does not mean Christ's flesh, or physical presence while here on earth, is evident from the first part of the verse. Just the way he was not going to know men after the flesh, so he would not know Christ according to the flesh. And the reason was that Christ had regenerated him, and the old man, with its deceitful lusts, had passed away. "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature; old things are passed away; behold all things are become new." Peter knew Christ after the flesh when he told his Lord that suffering did not await him or his. Jesus told him: "Get thee behind me, Satan; thou art an offense unto me; for thou savorest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men." Matt. 16:21-23. But he knew him after the Spirit on the day of Pentecost. Acts 2. Reader, how do you know Christ? Is it after the flesh? Do you use your profession of godliness for a cloak to gain personal ends? Is your name on the church books, while your heart is minding the things of the flesh? Or do you know him as the Power of God and the Wisdom of God, a precious, personal, living Saviour, who enables you to walk "not after the flesh, but after the Spirit"?