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Today's Pathway: II Corinthians 5:16-17 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. Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

There are differences of opinion about verse 16, but there is one interpretation that makes far more sense than any others. Paul begins by saying "wherefore", which means that what he is about to say is rooted in what he has just said. His previous comments concerned the love of Christ that motivated him to be faithful in taking the Gospel message to a world that was spiritually dead. Because of that, he writes that since the point in time where he understood the love of Christ and his need of a Savior he no longer sees mankind "after the flesh". What he means is this: salvation gave him an entirely new perspective of humanity. He no longer saw people as being rich or poor, or Gentiles of Jews. He was no longer concerned with ethnicity, race, or social status. He now saw people through spiritual eyes, and saw each one as a soul who was lost and on his or her way to the "second death" of an eternity in the Lake of Fire (Revelation 20:14-15). In addition, he no longer saw fleshly distinctions between his brothers and sisters in Christ. He wrote in Colossians 3:9-11,

"...ye have put off the old man with his deeds; And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him: Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all."

Paul adds at the end of verse 16 that there was a time when he knew Christ after the flesh, but he doesn't know Him that way anymore. The Bible does not say whether Paul ever physically saw Jesus during His earthly ministry, and that is not what Paul is emphasizing here. He is saying that at one point he saw Jesus through fleshly eyes and evaluated Him by an unsaved human standard. He looked at Him just like the other Pharisees and the majority of the Jews did. In Acts 26:9-11 He gives his testimony of how he viewed Christ and His followers before his own salvation:

"I verily thought with myself, that I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth...many of the saints did I shut up in prison...and when they were put to death, I gave my voice against them. And I punished them oft in every synagogue, and compelled them to blaspheme; and being exceedingly mad against them, I persecuted them even unto strange cities."

In verse 17 Paul begins with another "therefore". Because Paul's view of both Jesus and mankind changed when he got saved, he can now state that when anyone gets saved that person becomes a new creature in Christ. The Greek word translated "creature" is often translated "creation", and refers to bringing something into existence which has not existed before. Paul wrote in Ephesians 2:10,

"For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works",

"And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness".

"The affirmation here is universal, 'if any man be in Christ', that is, all who become true Christians-- undergo such a change in their views and feelings as to make it proper to say of them that they are new creatures. No matter what they have been before, whether moral or immoral; whether infidels or speculative believers; whether amiable, or debased, sensual, and polluted, yet if they become Christians they all experience such a change as to make it proper to say they are a new creation."

"We are not reformed, rehabilitated, or re-educated—we are new creations, living in vital union with Christ. We are not merely turning over a new leaf; we are beginning a new life under a new Master."

"old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new".