2 Corinthians 5:16

Since his conversion, Paul had stopped making superficial personal judgments based only on external appearances (cf. 2 Corinthians 5:12). Previously he had looked at people on a strictly physical basis, in terms of their ethnicity rather than their spiritual status, which is the merely human perspective. Now whether a person was a believer or a non-believer was more important to him than whether one was a Jew or a Gentile.

Paul had also formerly concluded that Jesus could not be the divine Messiah in view of His lowly origin, rejection, and humiliating death. Now he recognized Him for who He really was and what He really had done (cf. 2 Corinthians 5:14-15). Probably Paul did not claim to have known Jesus during His earthly ministry here, though he may have known Him. However after his conversion on the Damascus road, Paul saw Christ in a new light (i.e., according to the Spirit), from the divine perspective.