“So we have stopped evaluating others from a human point of view. At one time, we thought of Christ merely from a human point of view. How differently we know him now! This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!”
2 Corinthians 5:16-17 NLT
As we look around us at the people we see, how do we view them? Being human ourselves, we use our own value system to assess and review who they are. So, in the office, we might see one person as an irritation or another as a threat. In the street, we might approve or otherwise of a person’s dress code or behaviour, particularly if it doesn’t align with our own perspectives. Humans tend to categorise values such as success, looks, and other external factors, but Paul wrote, “So we have stopped evaluating others from a human point of view”. The Bible consistently reminds us that God sees deeper than we do. In 1 Samuel 16:7, we read, “But the Lord said to Samuel, “Don’t judge by his appearance or height, for I have rejected him. The Lord doesn’t see things the way you see them. People judge by outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart””. When we adopt Christ’s perspective, we begin to value what God values—character, faith, and potential.
Paul admitted that even his understanding of Jesus was once limited. He wrote, “At one time, we thought of Christ merely from a human point of view”. There was a time when Paul saw Christ from a purely human standpoint, perhaps as a controversial teacher or threat. But after encountering the risen Lord on the Damascus Road, his perception was radically changed. Paul later wrote in Romans 12:2, “Don’t copy the behaviour and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect”. The way we view other people happens in our minds, and Paul taught that it is there that we are transformed. As God renews our thinking, we learn to see life differently. This includes viewing people as image-bearers of God (Genesis 1:27), recognising potential rather than just problems, and offering grace rather than quick criticism. When we truly know Christ, our relationships begin to reflect His compassion.
Paul continued, “How differently we know him now!” The exclamation mark is very telling. Paul’s encounter with Jesus totally transformed his life. His perspective of Jesus went from Him being a threat to the Jewish traditions and faith that he knew and loved, to one of Him being the Son of God, here on Planet Earth, on a mission to save mankind.
Paul wrote in Galatians 2:20, “My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me”. We are new creations, so if our identity is no longer defined by our past, then neither is anyone else’s. Every person becomes someone Christ died for, someone capable of renewal. The Apostle James went further. He warned, “My dear brothers and sisters, how can you claim to have faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ if you favour some people over others?” (James 2:1). In God’s kingdom, human distinctions lose their power. Wealth, background, and reputation cannot determine a person’s worth. But it’s hard trying to see others through the eyes of Jesus, perhaps because that means treating them with dignity before it’s earned, or offering mercy before judgment. Qualities that Jesus extended to us when we bowed before Him on the cross of Calvary. Perhaps we must call upon the help of the Holy Spirit within us at every human encounter.
Christ died for us
while we still sinners.
So, how do we pilgrims view 2 Corinthians 5:16? Transforming our thinking to God’s thinking is a life-changing event. We will never succeed overnight; instead, it will take a lifetime of application. As we look at people, whatever the occasion, we must ask ourselves: Am I seeing this person through my biases or through Christ’s love? We remember our own story, our own encounter with the risen Jesus. Romans 5:8, “But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners”. We will meet many people who have been damaged by their life choices. The beggars sitting outside our supermarkets. The lonely person sitting on a park bench. The divorcee regretting their selfish ways. But in each case, God has not written them off. Through our witness, God can plant His seeds of restoration. There was a thief who was finally being executed for his lifetime of crime, and yet with his dying breaths He was restored to the man God intended him to be.
Our churches and fellowships are, or should be, communities where believers work out their Kingdom relationships. However, all too often we evaluate others from a human point of view. But when we begin to see people not as labels, but as lives in progress, people loved by God, pursued by grace, and capable of transformation, we find a glimpse of how God sees them. And perhaps most importantly, we remember how differently we now know Christ. That changed vision becomes the foundation for how we see everyone else.
Dear Lord, please renew our vision. Help us to see people as You do, through Your eyes of grace. Teach us to look beyond appearances and recognise Your image and Your work in every life. In Your precious name. Amen.
Being a Pilgrim 