2 Corinthians 5:16

Paul's declaration 'henceforth know we no man after the flesh; yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more' articulates a christological epistemology whose scope is total: the resurrection has transformed the cognitive categories through which all persons, including Christ himself, are known. The Greek kata sarka ('according to the flesh') denotes a mode of perception governed by pre-resurrection criteria — social status, ethnic identity, religious pedigree — all of which have been relativized by the new creation of verse 17. The verse does not deny that Christ had a historical existence ('though we have known Christ after the flesh') but insists that the resurrection is an epistemological event that reframes that history from a new vantage point. The passage is foundational for both the 'quest for the historical Jesus' debate and for theological anthropology's claim that all persons must be known within a new-creation horizon.