What is the context?
Because Christ’s death and resurrection change the direction of life, Paul also describes a changed way of regarding people. He no longer judges them according to the flesh. The surrounding contrast with outward appearances helps explain the point: ordinary measures of status are not the final measure of a person in Christ.
He includes his former way of regarding Christ in that change of perspective. This does not mean Christ’s bodily life ceased to matter. Paul has just grounded the new life in His real death and resurrection.
Anyone in Christ is a new creation. The old has passed away and the new has come. Paul places that newness in belonging to Christ, rather than merely adopting an improved public image.
The declaration gives a basis for a changed life, not a claim that believers instantly have no struggle or that their whole past must be denied. The next verses identify God as the source of this reconciling work.
How is this passage commonly understood?
Christians commonly understand the new creation as a real change through belonging to Christ, affecting both life and the way others are seen. Wesley’s notes on verses 16–17 emphasize a new outlook and pattern of life. The USCCB note on verses 16–17 likewise relates the new way of seeing to Christ’s death and the new order He brings.
Where does this fit in God's plan?
Ephesians 2:10–18 describes people created in Christ for good works and Jews and Gentiles brought near through His blood. Christ makes peace, reconciling them to God in one body.
That gives new creation a shared dimension as well as a personal one. God’s work in Christ forms a people whose life and relationships are changed. Old measures of distance and standing cannot be the last word where He has brought people near.
What is our position?
We don't have a position on this passage yet. When our study reaches a conclusion the text supports, it will appear here.