Hi Mike,
I just wanted to share a revelation I got from scripture that really connected some dots for me. You probably already realize the things I am saying, but it’s still good to share just to testify about the goodness of God.  
One thing that confuses most people, and confused me for quite a while was the cross. I mean, what happened there? If Jesus died on the cross for all sinful people, why is there this mandate to forsake sin? Why is that necessary? Those are the questions I asked myself, sometimes even after the Lord showed me the truth that all people would be saved by his grace. There is a sect of believers, like the Concordant church, who say that because Christ died on the cross everyone is already righteous no matter what, even if they rape and murder. Yet how clear the scripture is when it says that only those who do righteousness are righteous, even as God in Heaven is the same. Things became clearer to me when the meaning in this became clearer:

Rom 8:3-4  For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

WOW! What I realized here was that Paul is saying that God made his son Jesus into a type and shadow of something. Jesus was in the likeness of sinful flesh, just as the slain sheep of the Old Testament were likenesses of Jesus. Yet the Son, in reality, knew no sin at all. He resembled us, without being like us, just like the Old Testament shadows resembled Jesus, without being like Him. So if Jesus was in the likeness of sinful flesh, what is the old wooden cross of 2000 years ago? It is the likeness of how the sinful flesh dies… through self sacrifice. The cross is an indication to the world of how Jesus would put down sin within the Sons of God, as their sinful flesh is put down when the Spirit is put within them crying “Abba, Father!” that he may do good through them. And I realized that nothing physical can save us. Only the Spirit can save us from this wicked generation, these sinful ages, and that physical cross is an indication of how the spirit would put down sin in us. That is when the dots began to connect:

Rom 6:1-4 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so (ie, in that same likeness) we also should walk in newness of life (in actuality).

On the cross Jesus died to the sinful flesh, but in likeness. When he is in us, we die to our sinful flesh because the sacrifice of the cross is within us. I realized that Jesus did not die so that nobody else would have to die. He died so that the world could die with him, and then find the same life. That is when this finally made sense:

Mat 10:38 And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me.

In the scripture we are told that whoever God loves, he chastises (Heb 12:11). I had wondered why chastisement is necessary, if God supposedly is blind to our sin. The church teaches that the Lamb’s blood covers our sin, so that God sees us as righteous even if we are not. But that would eliminate any need for God to chastise those he loves. Then I realized that God’s chastisement is not a form of counting our sin against us, but in working the sacrifice of the cross through us. And that is how the Lamb takes away the sin of the world, not by pretending it does not exist, but by placing his Spirit in us so that instead of sinning, we are doing good. God bless you, S____

Hi S____,
You are right on target when you say:
“When he is in us, we die to our sinful flesh because the sacrifice of the cross is within us. I realized that Jesus did not die so that nobody else would have to die. He died so that the world could die with him, and then find the same life.”
The doctrine of ‘substitutionary death’ has robbed the whole orthodox Christian church from any understanding of “that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ.”

Col 1:24  Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body’s sake, which is the church:

The mere suggestion that there is anything “behind of the afflictions of Christ” sounds completely blasphemous to the orthodox Christian church. It sounds like one is saying that Christ’s sacrifice is not sufficient to cover the sins of the world. That, of course, is not what I or the holy spirit through the pen of the apostle Paul are saying.
Here is what that verse actually says:

Col 1:24 Now, am I rejoicing in the sufferings on your behalf, and am filling up the things that lack of the tribulations of the Christ, in my flesh, in behalf of his body, which is the assembly, (REV)

Do you see that little article ‘the’ which precedes the word ‘Christ?’ That little article ‘the’ really belongs there. It is in the Greek manuscripts, but many translations, including many which claim to be literal and concordant, leave out that article ‘the.’ They leave it out simply because they do not know anything about the doctrine of ‘the Christ.’ But the word ‘Christ’ simply and literally means anointed, and Christ has anointed those who He has sent to the world as His “christ.”

2Co 1:21  Now he which stablisheth us with you in Christ [, Greek – Christos – the Anointed One – 5547] and hath anointed[ Greek – chrio – 5548] us, [ is] God;

So God has anointed us with our brothers in ‘the Christ.” What this verse says literally is that God has, in ‘Christos’, has ‘chrioed’ (annointed) us. The Words of Christ Himself agrees with this verse:

Joh 20:21  Then said Jesus to them again, Peace [ be] unto you: as [ my] Father hath sent me, even so send I you.
Luk 22:29  And I appoint unto you a kingdom, as my Father hath appointed unto me;

Now that is Christ’s doctrine of ‘the Christ.’ The article ‘the’ precedes the word ‘Christ’ in many instances where most, but not all, of the translations simply leave it off. They do not understand that Christ has a christ called “the Christ,” just as Christ Himself is called “the Christ.” Christ’s christ really is sent by Christ just “as my father hath sent me” and Christ’s christ really is appointed a kingdom just “as My Father hath appointed unto me.”
This Biblical similarity between Christ and His christ goes so far as to call Christ’s christ, “saviors.”

Neh 9:27  Therefore thou deliveredst them into the hand of their enemies, who vexed them: and in the time of their trouble, when they cried unto thee, thou heardest [ them] from heaven; and according to thy manifold mercies thou gavest them saviours, who saved them out of the hand of their enemies.

Oba 1:21  And saviours shall come up on mount Zion to judge the mount of Esau; and the kingdom shall be the LORD’S.

Such a doctrine is blasphemous to the entire orthodox Christian church which insists on keeping Christ separate from His Christ, as if Christ were too holy to identify with mere flesh and blood mankind.
Here are but a couple of the many verses which show us just how much Christ identifies with His creation:

2Co 5:14  For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead:
2Co 5:15 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.
2Co 5:16  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.
2Co 5:17  Therefore if any man [ be] in Christ, [ he is] a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
2Co 5:18  And all things [ are] of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation;
2Co 5:19  To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.
2Co 5:20  Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech [ you] by us: we pray [ you] in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God.
2Co 5:21  For he hath made him [ to be] sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

There is the message of your e- mail: ” … he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them…”
But notice what we are told in verse 16:

2Co 5:16  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 [ after the flesh].

Why are we told “henceforth know we [ him] no more [ after the flesh]?” Here is why we are told that we are not to “know Him… after the flesh:”

Heb 2:14  Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;

So here is where I must take exception with one sentence in your e- mail.
“He resembled us, without being like us, just like the Old Testament shadows resembled Jesus, without being like Him”.
As those Old Testament shadows portray, Christ, He was through us guilty of “being worthy of death and hanging on a tree.”

Gal 3:13  Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed [ is] every one that hangeth on a tree:

This verse and Heb 2:14 cited above, tells us that “as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He Himself took part of the same [ flesh and blood].” If it had been any other type of flesh and blood Christ could not have identified with “the children” and His sacrifice would have not been for sins committed in ” the same… flesh and blood.”
In the sense that Christ was “without sin” He was unlike us. But in the sense that He “took part of the same… sinful… flesh and blood,” He was exactly like us.
Be sure you listen to and read the study notes concerning The Spiritual Significance of The Sin Offering, and The Spiritual Significance of The Trespass Offering on the web site. The Truths of Christ foreshadowed in the fact that the nation of ancient Israel was given both a sin offering for the fact that God had created mankind in a horribly “marred,” destroyed and dying condition, not because of anything Adam did, but simply because of the earthy composition with which the Creator has begun His creation; with “dust of the ground,” and not yet “conformed to the image of His [ spiritual] Son.” Christ came in “the same… flesh and blood… of the children.” That was the same “flesh and blood which cannot inherit the kingdom of God.” Not even the flesh and blood of Jesus Christ. Hence:

2Co 5:16  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.

This Truth is stated in the clearest terms only 4 verses later in this very same chapter. Let’s read the verses leading up to verse 21 to see why we are to “no longer know Him… after the flesh:”

2Co 5:17  Therefore if any man [ be] in Christ, [ he is] a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
2Co 5:18  And all things [ are] of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation;
2Co 5:19  To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.
2Co 5:20  Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech [ you] by us: we pray [ you] in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God.
2Co 5:21  For he hath made him [ to be] sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

‘The words ‘to be’ are not in the Greek and are not inspired of God. Leave them out. “He made Him sin for us, who knew no sin…”
What are the “old things which have passed away?” Verse 16 has just told us that it is what we have “known” that has changed:

“… though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we [ him] no more [ after the flesh].”

“Old things have passed away behold all things are become new” is speaking specifically of the things we once “knew” to be true. The Truth is that what Christ Himself once called the manna, “bread from heaven.” Even though “all things are of God” (verse 18) including the temporal shadows of the law of Moses, the body casting that shadow, the Christ who was not “after the flesh,” declares to us: “Moses gave you not that bread from heaven, but My Father gives you that true bread from heaven.”
Here are the words of Christ to Moses:

Exo 16:4 Then said the LORD unto Moses, Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a certain rate every day, that I may prove them, whether they will walk in my law, or no.

What now, are the “but I say unto you” words of the Christ of the “change also of the law… written not with ink…” New Testament”? They certainly are not the words He spoke unto Moses. They are rather the words of a reformer:

Joh 6:32  Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven; but my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven.
Heb 9:10  [ Which stood] only in meats and drinks, and divers washings, and carnal ordinances, imposed on them [ only] until the time of reformation

“Old things have passed away, behold all things have become new,” is just as true today for the doctrines of Babylon as they were true for the doctrines of Moses in the days when Christ was “known in the flesh” by His apostles. And one of those Babylonian doctrines which is accepted by the whole orthodox Christian world is that Christ’s flesh was not “the same… sinful flesh… as the children” (Heb. 2:14 and Rom. 8:3). But what say the scriptures on this subject?

Rom 8:3  For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:

All flesh, including the flesh of Christ, falls far short of the spiritual bodies God has waiting for all of His creation in it’s time and place. All flesh is “marred in the hand of the Potter before it ever draws its first breath:

Psa 51:5  Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.

Why does not this verse say ‘my Father?” It is because Christ was on His Father’s side “conceived of the holy ghost.”

Mat 1:20  But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost.

Christ was conceived of the holy ghost on His Father’s side, but He was, in His own Words, the “Son of Man” on His mother’s side. In Hebrew, the language of the Old Testament, the word ‘man’ is ‘adam’. It was being “made of a woman which gave Christ the right to claim to be “the Son Of Man”:

Gal 4:4  But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law,
Mat 8:20  And Jesus saith unto him, The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air [ have] nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay [ his] head.

“Of a woman… under the law” are both statements referring to “being made sin.” This is Gal 4:4, just a few verses from where we were just told that being under the law means that we are “under sin… shut up unto the faith which was to be revealed:”

Gal 3:22  But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe.
Gal 3:23  But before faith came , we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed.
Gal 3:24  Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster [ to bring us] unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.
Gal 3:25  But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.

Christ refers to Himself as “the Son of Man” 81 times, which is almost three times as often as He calls Himself the ‘son of God.’ The phrase ‘the Son Of God” appears but 28 times. Clearly Christ “is not ashamed to call them brothers.”

Heb 2:11  For both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified [ are] all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren,

But all of orthodox Christianity, all of Babylon, denies that Christ was “made sin” and had actually entered the realm of death by being “made of a woman, made under the law.” All of orthodox Christianity denies that David or Christ could possibly be “shapen in iniquity, and conceived in sin.” It is all “foolishness unto them” to proclaim that one can be “conceived in sin” before one is even given the opportunity to commit sin.” The reasoning of the carnal mind sees no difference between sin as a state of being, and trespass as sinful actions committed while in that “sinful flesh” state of being. Consequently they cannot understand why God gave Israel a sin offering for the “marred” condition in which His own hand had formed them, as well as a trespass offering for the sins committed in that marred and sinful condition. That is why Christ cannot be understood by Babylon as “made sin” in spite of the fact that that is exactly what the scriptures teach:

2Co 5:16  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.
2Co 5:21  For he hath made him sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him .

Christ, because He was “conceived of the holy ghost from His mother’s womb, is the only person in history who has never sinned. Yet “He made Him sin, who knew no sin, that we, who all have sinned, might be made the righteousness of God in Him.
Here are your words S____:
What I realized here was that Paul is saying that God made his son Jesus into a type and shadow of something. Jesus was in the likeness of sinful flesh, just as the slain sheep of the Old Testament were likenesses of Jesus. Yet, the Son, in reality, knew no sin at all. He resembled us, without being like us, just like the Old Testament shadows resembled Jesus, without being like Him.
You are right that Christ’s body of flesh was but a type of His spiritual body, but I hope that, in light of the scriptures, you can now see that the typical body He was given was “the same… sinful flesh… as the children, and that in that “same flesh and blood… as the children… He was in all ways tempted as we are, yet without sin.” It is the fact that His body of flesh was but a shadow, that made it “the same as the children,” whose marred earthy bodies are also mere shadows of the heavenly bodies we are all to don on the day of the resurrection from among the dead. Those bodies can indeed materialize and be handled, and we will be able to say to those who will shake our hands:

Luk 24:39  Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have.

And yet we will “be as the wind:”

Joh 3:6  That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
Joh 3:7  Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.
Joh 3:8  The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.

I hope that you are able to see that Christ was not asking the rich young ruler to do something that He Himself had not already done.

Mar 10:21  Then Jesus beholding him loved him, and said unto him, One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow me.

Christ had “taken up His cross” and was following His Father long before He was physically nailed to the cross.

Joh 8:28  Then said Jesus unto them, When ye have lifted up the Son of man, then shall ye know that I am [ he], and [ that] I do nothing of myself; but as my Father hath taught me, I speak these things.

Christ knew that He was come into this world to die as the sacrifice for the sins of all mankind. As such, He counted Himself as being dead to this world and alive to His Father. Everything He asks of us is what He Himself has already done.

Rom 6:3  Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?
Rom 6:4  Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
Rom 6:5  For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also [ in the likeness] of [ his] resurrection:
Rom 6:6  Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with [ him], that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.

Christ “took up His cross by entering into the realm of death when he came into this world in a body of dying flesh, “made of a woman made under the law.” Conception of the holy ghost did nothing to save Christ’s flesh. Christ’s flesh, just as ours will be, was “changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye…” and “this earthy” body was replaced with the heavenly body, and “henceforth know we Him no more… after the flesh,” because “flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, neither does corruption inherit incorruption.”

1Co 15:47  The first man [ is] of the earth, earthy: the second man [ is] the Lord from heaven.
1Co 15:48  As [ is] the earthy, such [ are] they also that are earthy: and as [ is] the heavenly, such [ are] they also that are heavenly.
1Co 15:49  And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.

“The second man is the Lord from heaven” is a statement about “the Lord and His Christ.”

1Co 15:50  Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.
1Co 15:51  Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,

Christ was “changed” from a body of “the same… flesh and blood… as the children” into a spiritual body capable of materializing when needed to show unbelieving disciples His grotesque wounds. But there is no mention of these wounds when we read of His appearance in Revelation one:

Rev 1:12  And I turned to see the voice that spake with me. And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks;
Rev 1:13  And in the midst of the seven candlesticks [ one] like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle.
Rev 1:14  His head and [ his] hairs [ were] white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes [ were] as a flame of fire;
Rev 1:15  And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters.
Rev 1:16  And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth went a sharp twoedged sword: and his countenance [ was] as the sun shineth in his strength.

I hope this helps you to see that Christ was ” the same… flesh and blood… as the children” who are his own brothers and sisters who also struggle against “the same… flesh and blood Christ struggled with “yet without sin,” and that you have not been led to believe that Christ was any less the son of Adam, the Son of Man, than are you and I. It was only His Father in Him that kept Him spotless and pure in His every action in spite of the fact that he too was “shapen in iniquity and conceived in sin.”
Christ, sweating great drops of blood while praying in the garden just prior to his crucifixion, was experiencing the same thing Paul was expressing with these words:

2Co 5:1  For we know that if our earthly house of [ this] tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.
2Co 5:2  For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven:
2Co 5:3  If so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked.
2Co 5:4  For we that are in [ this] tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life.
2Co 5:5  Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing [ is] God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit.
2Co 5:6  Therefore [ we are] always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord:
2Co 5:7  (For we walk by faith, not by sight:)
2Co 5:8  We are confident, [ I say], and willing rather to be absent from the body, and [ not ‘is’] to be present with the Lord.

Read the study notes on the sin and the trespass offerings for an in depth treatment of this subject.
Mike