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This "sentence of death" in himself the apostle realized also in connection with his
ministry:--
"But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be
of God and not of us. . . . always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus,
that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. . . . in our mortal flesh"
(II Cor. 4: 7, 10, 11).
"Commending ourselves as the ministers of God. . . . as dying and behold we live"
(II Cor. 6: 4-9).
This same line of teaching continues through the last chapter. There the apostle,
making his final appeal relative to his ministry, adduces a parallel which once again
brings in death and resurrection:--
"Since ye seek a proof of Christ speaking in me (who unto you is not weak, but is
mighty in you, For even He was crucified through weakness, yet He lives through the
power of God; and though we also are weak in Him, yet we shall live with Him, through
the power of God unto you), examine yourselves," &100: (II Cor. 13: 3-5).
In the personal experience of the apostle he had ceased to know Christ after the flesh.
His personal experiences seem to have always kept pace with the development of his
ministry (a theme worthy of separate consideration), and it is so very manifestly here.
Judaism recognized the flesh. The ministry of Peter was limited to the "Circumcision"
(Gal. 2: 9), and the hybrid teaching that was undermining the faith in Corinth and Galatia
had, at the bottom, the belief that there was still some possibility for the flesh. The
apostle in Galatians leaves it crucified with its affections and desires (Gal. 5: 24), and
repudiates it in all its forms in II Corinthians. He set aside "fleshly wisdom" (1: 12) and
"fleshly weapons" (10: 4). He did not purpose according to the flesh; he urged the
Corinthians to cleanse themselves from its filthiness (7: 1). He repudiated the charge
that he walked according to the flesh (10: 2), or warred according to the flesh (10: 3), and if
he makes his boast in the flesh (11: 18), it is as a fool, and received a "thorn in the flesh"
lest he should be exalted above measure by the visions and revelations he had received
(12: 7). It is not surprising therefore that in introducing the ministry of the reconciliation
he should say, as an outcome of the result of the resurrection:--
"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" (II Cor. 5: 16).
The parallel thought to this in the ministry of the new covenant is the emphasis upon
the Spirit. Israel's blindness is brought prominently to view in chapters 3: and 4:,
which must be kept in mind when we consider Rom. 11: Much as we should like to open
out the rich teaching of this section (chapter 3:), we must concentrate for the time upon
chapter 5: