5:6 {3} Therefore [we are] always {d} confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord:
(3) He concludes something here from verse four, and states it in the following way: Therefore, seeing that we know by the Spirit that we are strangers so long as we are here, we patiently suffer this delay (for we are now so with God, that we behold him only by faith, and are therefore now absent from him) but so that we aspire and have a longing always to him. Therefore also we behave ourselves in such a way that we may be acceptable to him, both while we live here, and when we go from here to him. 2Co 5:4
(d) He calls them confident who are always resolved with a quiet and settled mind to suffer any danger at all, not doubting at all that their end will be happy.
5:6 Therefore [we are] always confident. Because of what is stated in 2Co 5:5.
Knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord. Paul knew, when danger threatened, that to be at home in the body was to be absent from the Lord's presence, and that if he was slain and thus left the body, he would go at once to the presence of the Lord.
5:6 Therefore we behave undauntedly - But most of all when we have death in view; knowing that our greatest happiness lies beyond the grave.
5:1-8 The believer not only is well assured by faith that there is another and a happy life after this is ended, but he has good hope, through grace, of heaven as a dwelling-place, a resting-place, a hiding-place. In our Father's house there are many mansions, whose Builder and Maker is God. The happiness of the future state is what God has prepared for those that love him: everlasting habitations, not like the earthly tabernacles, the poor cottages of clay, in which our souls now dwell; that are mouldering and decaying, whose foundations are in the dust. The body of flesh is a heavy burden, the calamities of life are a heavy load. But believers groan, being burdened with a body of sin, and because of the many corruptions remaining and raging within them. Death will strip us of the clothing of flesh, and all the comforts of life, as well as end all our troubles here below. But believing souls shall be clothed with garments of praise, with robes of righteousness and glory. The present graces and comforts of the Spirit are earnests of everlasting grace and comfort. And though God is with us here, by his Spirit, and in his ordinances, yet we are not with him as we hope to be. Faith is for this world, and sight is for the other world. It is our duty, and it will be our interest, to walk by faith, till we live by sight. This shows clearly the happiness to be enjoyed by the souls of believers when absent from the body, and where Jesus makes known his glorious presence. We are related to the body and to the Lord; each claims a part in us. But how much more powerfully the Lord pleads for having the soul of the believer closely united with himself! Thou art one of the souls I have loved and chosen; one of those given to me. What is death, as an object of fear, compared with being absent from the Lord!
