2 Corinthians 5:6

My Notes

What Does 2 Corinthians 5:6 Mean?

"Whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord." Paul describes the current Christian condition as a kind of exile: at home in the body means absent from the Lord's full presence. You can't be fully at home in both places simultaneously. The body is your current residence. The Lord's presence is your permanent address.

The word "absent" (ekdemeo — to emigrate, to be away from one's people) describes being in a foreign country. While you inhabit the body, you're an expatriate from your true homeland — the full presence of Christ. You function here. You make a life here. But you're not fully home.

The confidence Paul mentions (verse 6: "always confident") coexists with the absence. He's not depressed about being away from the Lord. He's confident despite it. The confidence comes from knowing that the absence is temporary and the homecoming is certain (verse 8: "to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord").

Reflection Questions

• 1.Do you live as an expatriate — present here but aware this isn't home?
• 2.How do you maintain confidence during the 'absence from the Lord'?
• 3.What does it look like to be fully present in the body without mistaking it for your permanent home?
• 4.What keeps you longing for the Lord's full presence rather than settling for the body's comfort?

Devotional

At home in the body. Absent from the Lord. You're an expatriate. Living in one country while your citizenship belongs to another. Making a life here while knowing here isn't home.

Paul describes the current condition of every believer: you're in the body, and the body is your temporary residence. You eat, sleep, work, love, and function here. But full presence with the Lord is somewhere else. You're home in one sense and away from home in another.

The word 'absent' isn't casual distance. It's emigration — being in a foreign land. The believer living in a physical body is an immigrant from heaven, functioning in a foreign country, doing good work but always carrying the knowledge that the real home is elsewhere.

The confidence — 'always confident' — is the remarkable part. Paul isn't miserable about the exile. He's confident. Because the exile has an end date. The absence is temporary. The presence will be permanent. The expatriate knows the homecoming is certain. The plane ticket is already booked.

This produces a specific quality of living: you function fully here (you don't check out of life) while longing fully for there (you don't mistake this for your destination). The both/and is the distinctive: fully present in the body, fully aware of the Lord's absence, fully confident about the future presence.

Are you fully present where you are while fully aware that you're not home yet?

Commentary

Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.

Cross References

Related passages throughout Scripture