5:16 Paul now illustrated how Christ's love had changed his viewpoint. Since his conversion, he had stopped making superficial personal judgments based only on external appearances (cf. v. 12). Previously he had looked at people on a strictly physical basis, in terms of their ethnicity rather than their spiritual status. 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 origins, rejection, and humiliating death. Now he recognized Him for who He really was and what He really had done (cf. vv. 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).
5:17 Jesus Christ's death and resurrection (vv. 14-15) had had another effect besides altering Paul's viewpoint (v. 16).187Whenever a person experiences conversion, as Paul did, he or she really becomes a new person. It is not just his or her viewpoint that should change and can change, but many things really do change. Certain old conditions and relationships no longer exist (Gr. parelthen, aorist tense), and others take their place and continue (Gr. gegonen, perfect tense).
Obviously there is both continuity and discontinuity that takes place at conversion (justification). Paul was not denying the continuity. We still have the same physical features, basic personality, genetic constitution, parents, susceptibility to temptation (1 Cor. 10:14), sinful environment (Gal. 1:4), etc. These things do not change. He was stressing the elements of discontinuity: perspectives, prejudices, misconceptions, enslavements, etc. (cf. Gal. 2:20). God adds many new things at conversion including new spiritual life, the Holy Spirit, forgiveness, the righteousness of Christ, as well as new viewpoints (v. 16).
The Christian is a new creature (a new man, Rom. 6) in this sense. Before conversion we did not possess the life-giving Holy Spirit who now lives within us (Rom. 8:9). We had only our sinful human nature. Now we have both our sinful human nature and the indwelling Holy Spirit. This addition makes us an essentially new person since the Holy Spirit's effects on the believer are so far-reaching. We also possess many other riches of divine grace that contribute to our distinctiveness as believers.188
