" Yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we Him no more " (2 Cor. 5:16).

That Christ had a standing "after the flesh" is the plain statement of Scripture. That He had such a standing shows that "after the flesh" is not necessarily connected with & fallen state.

The language of i Cor. 10:18, "Behold Israel after the flesh," referring as it does to Israel under the law, defines for us the significance of the term "after the flesh:" it is a position on earth, given of God to man, in which he is responsible to meet his obligations toward God. Did not the commandment of God to Adam, "But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil thou shalt not eat of it," give to him a standing "after the flesh ?" Law, as & principle in Adam's case, and as a system in the case of Israel, brought forth the words of the prophet, "But they like Adam have transgressed the covenant" (Hosea 6:7, R. V.).

Furthermore:Is not the Gentile viewed in his standing "after the flesh" when, in Rom. 2:7, eternal life is set forth as the reward of those "who, by patient continuance in well-doing, seek for glory and honor and incorruptibility ?" Is not this the ground of personal responsibility for them ? The moral perfections of God's nature are what man must express in heart and life if he will meet with acceptance with God on the ground of personal responsibility. But in the seed (Adam), in the bulk (the nations), or in the well-cultivated sample (Israel), the failure is seen to be sad and utter.

Who then shall stand to "the glory of God" on the ground of personal responsibility ? The answer of God is-Christ after the flesh. As the voice from heaven expressed it at His baptism, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased " (Matt. 3:17).

For, "When the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law"-"made of a woman" and as under the law, therefore a man "after the flesh." We see Him, at twelve years of age, " in His Father's business " in the temple at Jerusalem. On Jordan's banks we see the Holy Spirit descending upon Him as the seal of His perfection (Matt. 3:16; Jno. 6:27)- the seal of His personal fitness to meet the requirements attached to that standing, or position; the seal, too, of His fitness to make good that which He had just pledged Himself to in His baptism in Jordan's waters, to meet the righteousness of God in its demands upon those who had been confessing their sins, and were baptized by John.

In the wilderness, having fasted for forty days, and being hungry, we see Him being tempted of the devil:"If Thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread." But He meets the tempter as man, as "Christ after the flesh," not using His divine power to meet His own need; in lowly subjection to God He replies, "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God" (Matt. 4:4). In all His pathway, from Jordan to the dread reality of Calvary, of which Jordan was a type, we see Him as the "Leader and Completer of faith" (Heb. 12:i), answering to the moral perfections of God's nature, glorifying Him, and meeting every responsibility attaching to man " after the flesh."

On the banks of Jordan, "Through the Eternal Spirit He presents Himself without spot to God." What a sight is this! A man "after the flesh" walking in the beauty of holiness, drawing down the approbation of heaven! A man justifying God in the creation of man-a man, yet the Redeemer of men. "I am come to do thy will, O God,"is the language of His heart. And when the time came for the fulfilment of what He had pledged Himself for at His baptism in Jordan, we see Him going out on that eventful night, with a hymn of praise, to offer Himself for our sins! For-oh, wondrous fact! -this was " the will of God " which He had come to do. "By the which will we are sanctified, through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all" (Heb. 10:10).

His death closed the condition of "Christ after the flesh." Mary, who had followed Him on earth with intense affection, thinks she has recovered Christ after the flesh when He appears to her on the morning of the resurrection (Jno. 20:15-17). But the Lord says to her-Not so. He must go to the Father, where He now is; and she, and we all in this dispensation, cannot have "Christ after the flesh;" a heavenly Christ it is that calls forth our faith, and love, and hope. Of this heavenly Christ, and the Church's association with Him up there, Paul was chosen to be the minister. Not in Adam, but in Christ we are accepted before God. It is a new creation, of which Christ is the Head. "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." G. MacKenzie