Was Christ before the cross as much the object of our salvation as Christ after the cross?
No. The Christ before the cross was not the object of our salvation that He is after the cross. It is the work of the cross—His death, burial, and resurrection—that makes possible our salvation experience. Believers are now attached to the ascended, glorified Christ, not Christ in His earthly ministry.
Les explains that Paul is not talking about following Christ after the flesh—that is, Christ in His earthly ministry with His miracles, signs, and wonders. Many preach only Jesus in His earthly ministry, but Paul says we no longer know any man after the flesh. It is the same man, the same God, yet the Christ before the cross was not the object of our salvation as He is after the cross. The work of the cross—His death, burial, and resurrection—makes our salvation experience possible. Now He is ascended in glory, and that is the Christ we are attached to. Paul lived contemporary with Christ in the flesh, but from the point of His death, burial, and resurrection, we do not look back and know Him in His earthly ministry as such.