As I read this chapter, verse 16 stands out to me. “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!”
The human point of view is often de-humanizing. We often evaluate others in terms of their job, their wealth, their status, their power, their race, their looks, their car, their house, their education and the list goes on and on. Or worse, we see people as competitors, rivals, enemies, irritants, nuisances, frustrating, a sale and the list goes on and on. Although I don’t consciously try to do this, I think I often evaluate people based on what they can do for me – do they make me feel good, do they like me, can they give me status, and the list goes on. All of this is de-humanizing, but Paul says we “stopped” doing this.
Why did Paul stop evaluating others from a human point of view? The word “So” in the beginning of verse 16 points us backward to verse 15 – “He died for everyone so that those who receive his new life will no longer live for themselves. Instead, they will live for Christ, who died and was raised for them.” Christ died for everyone. A personal encounter with Christ changes everything, gives us new life, transforms us from living life for ourselves to living for God and others. If Christ died for everyone, how can we see anyone as anything less than an image bearer of the God?
Maybe the more important question is how did Paul stop de-humanizing others? Intellectually I know that Christ died for everyone, but I need the transformation that enabled Paul to stop judging others from a human point of view. I think verse 14 gives us a clue – “Christ’s love controls us”. And further down in verse 17 – “Anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life is begun”. Daily submission to Christ, and living into the spiritual reality that we are truly new people because of what Christ did (and not my performance) has the power to move me from the human point of view to the Godly point of view.
At the end of the chapter, Paul tells us that we have a wonderful message of reconciliation to share with the world. We are Christ’s ambassadors. God is making his appeal through us. And the only way we can be successful in carrying this message forward is to stop evaluating others from a human point of view. Instead, we need to let the love of Christ control us daily, remember that we have become new people in Jesus (even when we don’t feel like it) and that the message of reconciliation is for everyone everywhere.