Was the Christ before the cross the object of our salvation?
No. According to the context, the Christ before the cross in His earthly ministry was not the object of our salvation as He is after the cross. The work of the cross, His death, burial, and resurrection, makes possible our salvation experience, and believers are attached to the ascended, glorified Christ.
Les explains that Paul draws a line at the work of the cross. Because of Christ's death, burial, and resurrection, Paul says, "henceforth we know no man after the flesh." Les notes that much preaching today focuses on Jesus in His earthly ministry, His miracles, signs, and wonders, but Paul says we are not following any man in the flesh. It is the same man and the same God, yet the Christ before the cross was not the object of our salvation as He is after the cross. The cross makes our salvation experience possible, and now Christ is ascended in glory; that is the Christ believers are attached to. Paul had known Christ after the flesh, but from that point on believers do not look back and know Him merely in His earthly ministry.
Wherefore 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.
More Questions
After the cross, how should we know Christ?
Instead of knowing Christ after His earthly flesh, believers are to take Christ after the work of the cross—after His death, burial, and resurrection—now that He has ascended into glory, because that risen and exalted Christ is the Christ to whom we are attached.