2 Corinthians 5:6 - Ellicott's Commentary On The Whole Bible

Bible Comments

Therefore we are always confident. — The Greek construction is participial: being therefore always confident; the sentence not being completed, but begun again with the same verb in 2 Corinthians 5:8. The two verbs for being “at home” and “absent” are not found elsewhere in the New Testament. The latter conveys the special idea of being absent from a man’s own home or country. The knowledge of the fact that follows is given as the ground of the Apostle’s confidence. It makes him long for the change; not wishing for death, but content to accept it, as it will bring him nearer to his Lord.

2 Corinthians 5:6

6 Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord: