2 Corinthians 5:16-20
16 Wherefore we henceforth know no man after the flesh: even though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now we know him so no more. 17 Wherefore if any man is in Christ, [h]he is a new creature: the old things are passed away; behold, they are become new. 18 But all things are of God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and gave unto us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 to wit, that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself, not reckoning unto them their trespasses, and having [i]committed unto us the word of reconciliation.20 We are ambassadors therefore on behalf of Christ, as though God were entreating by us: we beseech you on behalf of Christ, be ye reconciled to God. 21 Him who knew no sin he made to be sin on our behalf; that we might become the righteousness of God in him.
The renewed man acts upon new principles, by new rules, with new ends, and in a new company. The believer is created anew when he comes to Christ; his heart is not merely set right, but a new heart is given to him. He is the workmanship of God, created in Christ Jesus unto good works. Though the same as a man, he is changed in his character and conduct. These words must and do mean more than an outward reformation.
Your old name of sinner no longer defines you yet there are some that would believe or accept that the person they are now is a changed person.
Rahab was a harlot or prostitute who helped to shelter Joshua’s men to escape by climbing down the wall from a rope extended out of one of the windows of her home. Joshua 2 but we keep referring to her today as “Rahab the harlot”-James 2:25.
Even after receiving his sight, Bartimaeus is still referred to as Blind Bartimaeus. Mark 10: 46–52.
There are people who probably still see you and describe you by your old self-before you met Christ. This may be mostly due to the fact that there’s a lot of pretense in man, which makes it difficult for genuine change to be acceptable by large.
The way for us to be forgiven our sin by God is through Christ’s redemption. Christ died a vicarious death for our sin to be forgiven, 1 Corinthians 15:3. Therefore, in Christ, through Christ, and with Him we have been redeemed. 1 Peter 1:18-19. Based on Christ’s redemption, God no longer condemns us but justifies us, Romans 3:24, we should not allow anyone to keep seeing, treating, and calling us by our old man that has been done away at the cross.
Everyone knew Saul who went about terrorizing the people of the way but when Christ visited and caught him and turned him to Paul, he was still feared, treated, and referred to the man he was as Saul. Acts 9:1-19, 22.
We should no longer know any man after the flesh—that is, according to his mere worldly and external relations, 2 Corinthians 11:18, John 8:15, and Philippians 3:4, as distinguished from what he is according to the Spirit, as a “new creature” 2 Corinthians 5:17. For instance, the outward distinctions of Jew or Gentile, rich or poor, slave or free, learned or unlearned, are lost insight of the higher life of those who are dead in Christ’s death, and alive with Him in the new life of His resurrection. Galatians 2:6, and Galatians 3:28.
We must not know Christ anymore after the flesh like a lot still does—Paul when speaking about the Lord, Messiah said “Christ,” not Jesus: for he had not known Jesus personally in the days of His flesh, but he met Christ in the Messiah.
So, “to know someone according to the flesh,” really means to know them from the perspective of our natural thinking – which would be to view them from the perspective of natural humans. It would also mean that we know them based on their natural traits, personality, and fleshly characteristics. In other words, Paul is talking about relationships that exist fully in the natural realm, rather than ones that are based on the new creation in Christ.
Therefore know no one anymore after the flesh.