2 Corinthians 5:6 - Exposition

Therefore we are always confident; literally, being of good courage . The sentence in the Greek is unfinished (an anacoluthon), but is resumed after the parenthesis by the repetition, "we are of good courage." Always ( 2 Corinthians 4:8 ). We are at home in the body. The tent is pitched in the desert, and even the pillar of fire can only shine through its folds. Yet the tent may become brighter and brighter as life goes on.

"To me the thought of death is terrible,

Having such hold on life. To you it is not

More than a step into the open air

Out of a tent already luminous

With light which shines through its transparent folds."

(Longfellow.)

Absent from the Lord ( John 14:2 , John 14:3 ). Christ is indeed with us here and always; but the nearness of presence and the clearness of vision in that future life will be so much closer and brighter, that here, by comparison, we are absent from him altogether.