II Corinthians 5:16

From the Differentiator magazine:
Vol. 24 New Series December, 1962 No. 6

Here the Concordant Version reads: "So that WE, from (the) now (on) are acquainted with no one according to flesh. Yet, if we have even known according to flesh Christ, nevertheless now no longer we are knowing (Him). V. 17: So that, if anyone (is) in Christ, (there is) a new creation: the primitive passed by. Lo! it has become new!" Rotherham, 1872: "So that WE, from the present, know no one according to flesh; on the contrary, now no longer are we getting to know (Him). V. 17: So that, if any one (is) in Christ, (there is) a new creation: the old things went away, behold! there have come into existence new things." Olshausen: "Under this point of view Paul adds, he beholds all believers; he regards the old man in them as dead in Christ, that is, this supposes of course that they conduct themselves as the truly renewed, and he therefore has no occasion to employ any worldly considerations in his intercourse with them as the false teachers do (V. 12). The oudena (V. 16) meaning "no one," is not to be received absolutely, of every man without exception, it is explained in V. 17 by the en ChristO (in Christ). The entire passage is based upon the parallel between the new birth and a new creation; therefore the "new man" is here also styled "new creation," equals bidyeho khedashah as the Jewish proselytes were already denominated. Besides, "the primitive things passed by" contains an allusion to Isaiah 43:18-19, a passage which is evidently considered in Rev. 21:5. (Isaiah: "Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?" Rev. 21:5: "And He who sat upon the throne said, 'Behold, I make all things new.'" The "Yet even if we have known Christ according to flesh, nevertheless now we are knowing (Him) no longer," alone presents a difficulty. But if we do not permit the mind to be disturbed by the various significations of our passage, the following very simple meaning of the words is apparent: "I no longer know any man after the flesh, not even Christ Himself, of whom it might be supposed that what concerned men could not be applied to Him." Even in Christ a transition took place analogous to that which happened to man in regeneration; in the resurrection His life according to flesh passed over into a life according to, spirit, and in this Paul desires to say he alone knows Christ.

Alexander Thomson