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access, is also used to prevent access; it can be shut as well as be opened.
Indeed, if nothing but access were needed, a door would be unnecessary. In
the three passages where the veil of the Temple is mentioned (Matt. 27:51;
Mark 15:38; Luke 23:45), it is recorded, that 'it was rent in twain from the
top to the bottom', or 'rent in the midst' or as Moffatt renders the passage,
'torn in two'. Two facts of doctrinal importance arise from these
considerations. Access was only possible for all believers, when the veil
was 'rent', the veil representing 'His flesh'. Before the rending of the
veil, entry into the holiest was barred. Now if this be a legitimate
exposition, the sinless humanity of the Son of God, instead of being to our
advantage, would have rather increased our condemnation. Had He not died for
us, His spotless life would have but exposed our sinful condition the more.
All so -called 'gospels' that urge the seeking sinner to follow the example
of the Lord's earthly life, are snares and delusions. We are not to ask,
'What would Jesus do?' but 'Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?' We cannot
walk if we are dead; we cannot profit by a sinless example, while we
ourselves are still under the dominion of sin. Something of this teaching
appears to have been in the apostle's mind when he wrote to the Corinthians
saying:
'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' (2 Cor. 5:16).
The word 'henceforth' occurs three times in 2 Corinthians 5:15,16, but
translates three slightly different words in the Greek. In verse 15, 'And
that He died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto
themselves, but unto Him Which died for them and rose again'. Here
'henceforth' translates the Greek meketi. In verse 16, 'wherefore henceforth
know we no man after the flesh'. Here 'henceforth' translates the Greek apo
tou nun; and 'yet now henceforth know we Him no more', where 'henceforth' is
the translation of the Greek ouketi. Meketi is an adverb made up of me,
'not' and eti, 'any more'; ouketi, an adverb made up of ou, 'not' and eti,
'any more'.
The difference between the two adverbs is that the negative me refers
to a thought or a supposition, whereas ou refers to a matter of fact. As it
was not universally true that all had died with Christ and so live in newness
of life, the negative that refers to a 'supposition' is used, but there was
no supposition in the apostle's mind concerning the historic fact of the
death and resurrection of Christ, or that there could be any supposition
entertained that anyone could, since that most wondrous event, ever know Him
after the flesh again.
Apo tou nun simply means 'from now' from the time now present. This
looks forward to the insistence on 'now' in 2 Corinthians 6:2: 'Behold, now
is the acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation'. With the death
of Christ, all types and shadows ceased to have a legitimate place. With His
death, the veil that hung before the holiest of all was 'rent in twain', the
stroke descending from above, for it was rent from 'top to bottom', not as
some have taught that the veil was rent by the earthquake that took place at
the same time. When the Saviour said, 'I am the door of the sheep' (John
10:7) He followed that figure with another, saying, 'I am the good Shepherd:
the good Shepherd giveth His life for the sheep'. By this door, if any man
'enter in' he shall be saved (John 10:9). Again He said, 'I am the way, the
truth and the life; no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me' (John 14:6).
In Hebrews 10:20 this 'way' is spoken of as 'new' and 'living'. The true