From
now on, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we have known
Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer. (2
Corinthians 5:16)
The
word "flesh" as used
here is comprehensive and general. Not knowing Him after the flesh, and not
knowing one another after the flesh means really what we should think if we
were to say we do not know one another naturally, in the natural realm.
Whatever that might be, that is all-embracing. We know one another as we know
Christ, spiritually. The context here sets forth that our relationship with
Christ in the new creation is purely a spiritual thing, and therefore our
relationships with one another as being in Christ are spiritual relationships.
The whole new creation is a spiritual matter, because it is Christ.
That
leads us to this specific point, which goes right to the heart of things. In this realm the thing which dominates is
the measure of Christ. Everything here is determined and
governed by the measure of Christ. Christ fills this whole realm; Christ
dominates this whole realm in a spiritual way; from this realm of the new
creation everything which is not Christ is excluded: all things are out from
God. We might say that God's world is Christ, so far as we are concerned. The
entire sphere of God for us is Christ. For us as believers there is nothing
else whatever in relation to God, but Christ. Nothing is accepted by Him, but
Christ. Nothing is blessed by Him, but Christ. Nothing is used by Him, but
Christ. Nothing is seen or considered by Him, but Christ. Here, filling God's
entire realm so far as we are concerned, is Christ, only Christ.
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