Apostle Paul in his epistle in 2 Corinthians 5 verse 16 declares: “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.” This is the set standard of our new life in Christ. Our Lord Jesus, who the disciples once knew after the flesh, is no more such known after His resurrection. This is the new order of life we are to build on and live who are raised up together with Him through faith by the mighty working of God who raised up Christ from the dead ( Colossians 2: 12). For a born-again believer to live after the flesh is to deny the faith and the power of resurrection. No wonder Paul prayed in Philippians chapter 3 verse 10 : ” That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;
In the book of Exodus chapter 25 verse 40, after the LORD God showed His servant Moses the pattern of the temple, He gave Moses specific instruction: “See that thou build according to the pattern shown thee on the mountain.” The LORD Holy Spirit through Apostle Paul echoes the same instruction to believers in Christ: “For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.” (1 Corinthians 3: 11).
To set our perspective in order, the bible did not leave us clueless as to what the flesh, that is, the sinful nature, and its work is and which we henceforth should not be known by. In Galatians chapter 5 verses 19 and 20 we read: “When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarrelling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these…”
In Colossians 3 verse 8 and 9, we are cautioned : “But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy (slander), filthy communication out of your mouth. Do not lie to one another since you stripped off the old self with its evil practices.”
Also in 2 Timothy chapter 3 verses 1 to 5 we read: “But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away.”
These are the sinful nature, the flesh which we have become dead to and which we are no more known after.
“Put on your new nature.” This is the admonition in the book of Colossians chapter 3 verse 10. This is the foundation that God in Christ has laid for us to build on. It is our responsibility as we daily purpose to be made conformable to the death of Christ and to bear witness to His resurrection. Our changed life from flesh, that is, sinful nature, to the spirit, that is Christ-like, bears more powerful testimony to the resurrection of Christ than miracles of healings. Our focus and motives have to be clear. If we are the temple of the LORD, then we are to build according to the pattern shown us and on the foundation already laid, which is Christ Jesus.
Building up upon an already laid foundation, which is Christ, should be an exciting call for every believer, like a child learning to take his first steps. The sinful nature is such a burden because there is a law against it, and its wage is death compared to the nature of the Spirit, which has no law against it and which leads to eternal life. “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things, there is no law.” (Galatians 5: 22- 23).
Building on the foundation of Christ demands our carefulness, our intentionality. The bible enjoins us to work out our salvation, that is, have a departure from our old sinful nature, with fear and trembling. The fear and trembling is a call to our carefulness, our diligence, and our intentionality because every man’s work will be made manifest for all to see.
How do we sow ourselves into the Spirit, seeing that we are to be known no more after the flesh but after the Spirit. There are three instruments at our disposal and free choice, namely the word of God, prayer, and fasting. While the word orders our walk, for His word is a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path (Psalm 119: 105 ), prayer and fasting indicate our dependence and devotion to God. These three elements show up our intentionality, our willingness, and our sincerity to be known no more after the flesh. Our hearts have been made fallow, devoid of the life of God and His righteousness after the fall of man to sin, and we open ourselves to the devil to sow tares, that is, his evil nature in our hearts.
It is time to break up the fallow ground of our hearts by feeding ourselves with the milk of the word of God through study and living by the word of God. We back it up with prayers and fasting, that is, denying the flesh continually and daily, committing ourselves into the hands of Him, who is able to save our souls from death. Fasting has a spiritual and physical component to it. The physical component of fasting, which is abstaining from food and pleasure, is necessary to put our body under. Spiritual components of fasting, which entail departing from evil and making ourselves servants, to righteousness is very vital. When we back this up with prayer, our souls open to God to receive His grace and the power of His Spirit to do His good pleasure continually.
It is God our heavenly Father, the Rock of our Salvation who works in us, and make us able to do His good pleasure. The work He does in us is a work of grace (power), of love and wisdom. There has to be a willingness in us, there has to be an intention about us for there is nothing more exciting in heaven and on earth as this work of redemption that transform men from the flesh to sons of God, from death unto eternal life.
It is wisdom and enlightened self-interest to die to the sinful nature that brings death and to put on the new nature created after the knowledge and nature of God that brings life. It is those that sow themselves into the Spirit that can truly say “death where is your sting, O grave where is your victory?” (1 Corinthians 15:55). Known no more after the flesh is a call to every man for the only work required of every man is to believe in the propitiatory death of Christ and His resurrection. Every man is to see himself in Christ. First, we reckon that if one man died for all, then were all men dead (2 Corinthians 5: 14). Also, we reckon that as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, so also He desires and has power to bring many sons unto God through faith in the risen Christ.
What God did in Christ was not for a particular sect or race, it is for all men, for we have all sinned (Roman 3: 23) and the wages of sin is death (Romans 6: 23). That God raised Jesus Christ from the dead demonstrated the hope He wants all men to be begotten into. Having this hope, we owe it a duty thus to purge ourselves and put on the new nature that came by the resurrection of Christ. Seeing that the author of our salvation is known no more after the flesh, we also, who believe in Him, should be known no more after the flesh with all its works and depravity.
