Two Verses that might Challenge your Doctrine (Part.1)

Two Verses that might Challenge your Doctrine (Part.1)

The following two verses referenced below played a HUGE role in helping me to understand the Bible in its proper context. If I never knew at that time what I now know about the Bible, these two verses would have been hard to swallow, hard to digest, hard to agree with! I trust you get my point. :)

In actual fact, it is these very two verses that got me on the path of studying the Word in a dispensational way, (or as Paul puts it, rightly dividing the Word of truth, 2 Tim.2:15). The reason is because these two verses mention some very interesting things, things that will cause you to question if you actually read the verse correctly, things that will certainly make you think twice about what Paul was really saying. 

So, let me break your suspense and jump into the first of these two verses and provide some comments and interpretation on them.

Our first verse is,

2 Corinthians 5:16 Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer. 

WHAT!?

Did you get that?? Can you justify what Paul is saying here?? 

Is Paul really telling the church at Corinth to no longer regard Jesus and all he did in his earthly ministry?

Well, that's what the verse reads, not so! 

Can you see why this made such an impact on me? Before one learns about rightly dividing the word, and how to understand scripture in its proper context, this verse can just blow one's mind! It becomes one of those verses you don't want to read, or one you purposefully skip over in your bible studies. Heaven forbid you have to read that verse out loud in front of your church members!!

So, how do we interpret this verse?

Well, for starters, you have to zoom out of this passage and understand 'the bigger picture'. You have to know more about Jesus earthly ministry, and more about Jesus purpose. You need to know when Paul is speaking this (ie: when in the timeline) and to whom is Paul writing this to? This is the dispensational approach which I'm promoting on this blog and which brings clarity to scripture. Knowing the answers to these questions is fundamentally important to understanding the context of this verse. Without this knowledge, the verse is skewed and interpretations can go wildly off track.

I'm going to provide the quick interpretation of this verse here to avoid this post becoming too long. But for some explanation and context I'll set up a part 2 and more to delve into the details. So please look out for these and read them for a deeper understanding.

Quick Interpretation

Paul is writing to the Corinthians during the 'mystery' dispensation. In this dispensation, the risen and glorified Christ has dispensed new revelations to Paul which has been kept secret since the world began (Col.1:26). Paul (being the apostle of the Gentiles, Rom.11:13) is the master builder and foundation layer of these new revelations, 1 Cor.3:10, which becomes the doctrine for the new creation, the Body of Christ. The Kingdom gospel and law-based doctrine that was lived out and taught by Jesus during his 3-years of earthly ministry applies directly to the Jews (Gal.4:4, Matt.15:24), but does not apply to the Body of Christ, since we are not under law, but under grace (Rom.6:14). With all this in mind, it should make perfect sense why Paul tells the church at Corinth that they should not know Christ any longer according to the flesh. In other words, they should not follow after the law-based doctrine that Jesus taught and which belonged to the Jews but to now follow the new revelations given to a new group of people, the Body of Christ, who are free of the law and walk in a new manner, after the Spirit.

I am aware that I compressed much into a single paragraph, but I encourage you to read through the next parts of this continued study that will break this open and clarify things even more with additional scripture confirmations.

By the way...

If you consider the very next verse in this passage, it will now read A LOT clearer and ring out with A LOT more insights. 

2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.

Do you see? The new creation is the Body of Christ. Old things like the law and customs and the traditions of the elders and ceremonial and civil practices have passed away. All things have become new, the new mystery doctrine that was NEVER prophesied, the new foundation that Paul was laying. This becomes the new way of living and following a heavenly Christ. Hallelujah!

Click here to go to Part 2