Incarnation And Resurrection

Τί ἐστιν, ὅπερ φησὶν ὁ Ἀπόστολος· Εἰ δὲ καὶ ἐγνώκαμεν κατὰ σάρκα Χριστὸν, ἀλλὰ νῦν οὐκέτι γινώσκομεν; Ἐπειδὴ διὰ τὴν ἡμετέραν σωτηρίαν ὁ Δεσπότης ἄνθρωπος γενόμενος, καὶ τοῖς ἀνθρώποις συναναστρεφόμενος, ἵνα δείξῃ ἀληθινὴν τὴν οἰκείαν σάρκωσιν, οὐ μόνον ἐγαλουχήθη βρέφος τυγχάνων κατὰ τὸ βλεπόμενον, ἀλλὰ καὶ αὐξηθεὶς βέβρωκέ τε καὶ πέπωκεν, ἐκοπίασέ τε καὶ ὕπονωσεν, ἐμαστίχθη τε καὶ ἐσταυρώθη, καὶ τὰ ἐξῆς. Μετὰ δὲ τὴν ἀνάστασιν αὐτοῦ τὴν ἐκ νεκρῶν, οὐκέτι ὑποπίπτει ταῖς τοῦ σώματος ἀσθενείαις, καὶ χρείαις ἀναγκαίαις· διὰ τοῦτο φησιν ὁ Ἀπόστολος, ὅτι οὐκέτι γινώσκομεν τὸν Χριστὸν παθητὸν, καὶ ἀσθενῆ, καὶ θνήσκοντα. Ἐξενίκησε γὰρ ἡ δύναμις τῆς θεότητος αὐτοῦ πάντα τὰ ἀνθρώπινα. Κἂν γὰρ ὑπάρχει καὶ νῦν, καὶ εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας ἐν τῷ ἀγίῳ σώματι τῷ πρώην ἐπὶ Πιλάτου σταυρωθέντι, καὶ ταφέντι, καὶ ἀναστάντι ἐκ νεκρῶν, ἀλλ' ὅμως οὐκέτι πείσεται ἀνθρώπινα, καὶ τὸ σῶμα ἔχει ἀγήρατον, ἀπήμαντόν τε καὶ ἄχραντον εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας. Ἅγιος Νειλος, Βιβλιον Πρῶτον, Ἐπιστολὴ ΡΜΘ' Κορνηλιῳ Πρεσβυτερῳ Source: Migne PG 79.144c-145a

Why does the Apostle say, 'Even if we have known Christ according to the flesh, we no longer know Him so'? 1 Because for our salvation the Lord was made man, and He lived with men, that He might show the true state of the incarnation, whence He was not only seen as a child taking milk, but even as an adult He ate and drank and laboured and slept and was struck by the whip and was nailed to the cross, etc. However after His resurrection from the dead, He was no longer subject to the infirmities and necessities of the body. Whence the Apostle means that we no longer know Christ subject to passions and weakness and death, since Divine virtue surpasses all human things. For He is even now and forever in the holy body which before at the time of Pilate was nailed to the cross and placed in the tomb, and after rose from the dead, but no more shall He suffer anything human, having a body that does not age, that is not troubled by injuries, nor can it be defiled by the filth of this world. Saint Nilus of Sinai, Book 1, Letter 149 to the Priest Cornelius 1 2 Cor 5.16