"Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh"
It doesn't just say we don't know Jesus Christ in the flesh, but that we don't know anybody ("no man") in the flesh. Now obviously, we can know people by what we feel, taste, hear, smell or see. We all know people through our senses. So what does St. Paul mean when he says we know "no man" in the flesh? Clearly he does not mean that we are all now disincarnated. We have bodies. We are not disembodied. And neither is Christ disincarnated or disembodied. He arose bodily; He ascended bodily.
Where is Christ? He is now at the right hand of the Father in His glorious, resurrected body.
He is also in the Eucharist, for He said "This is My body."
He is also in us, and we are His body. We are the mystical body of Christ.
We now know "no man" in the flesh: we do not think of ANY person in an exclusively mechanistic/materialistic manner anymore. We do not think of persons as limited to matter and energy, time and space. We are embodied spirits: enspirited bodies. We not just "things".
When we imagine persons as just "things" bound by the laws of time and space, we are thinking in the flesh.
Don't you believe that we are the Body of Christ; and the bread He blesses is the Body of Christ (as He said "This IS My Body"); and He is in heaven, having risen in the flesh, and is seated at the right hand of the Father?
He is capable of doing this. Of course He can. Goodness gracious, even electrons and protons can bilocate (LINK!).
And that's just a material phenomenon. It's not even spiritual. It's mere quantum mechanics. And do you think that Jesus Christ, in His totality, His body, blood, soul and divinity, could not even do what an electron can do, and be two places at once??
He is so much greater than what we can grasp in our carnal minds.
P.S. This is coming to you from don-o's account, since I am using my husband's computer right now. [I am not bilocating :o) ] But if you care to respond, please ping it to Mrs. Don-o.
I think the two verses above 2 Cor. 5:16 answers the question regarding knowing no man, not even Christ NOW after the flesh.
"For the love of Christ constraineth us: because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead: 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." And verse 16: "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away: behold all things are become new."
We are in the flesh as long as we are on this earth, but we are spiritually seated in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. We are in Christ, and He is in us. Spiritually speaking.
We worship in Spirit and in truth. It is all spiritual, during Christ's physical absense from this earth. When He walked this earth, he was known after the flesh, bones, and blood. When He ascended to His Father in heaven, it was a glorified body of flesh and bones, without His blood, which had been sacrificed for our sins. Just as we will have one day. When He returns to set up His kingdom, He will return in His glorified Body of flesh and bones.
During His absence, how could we possibly know Him after the "flesh", His walk on earth amongst people? We can ONLY know Him now after the Spirit. He is in heaven. Without His blood. Which is another problem with the Eucharist. His blood has already been sacrificed. Every last drop. There is no more blood to be turned from wine.
"This do in remembrance of Me." 1 Cor. 11:24. NOT "This do to partake of My Body."
But I already know, we disagree..:)