2 Corinthians 5:6

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

2 Corinthians 5:6, King James Version

2 Corinthians 5:6 in other translations

BSB	Therefore we are always confident, although we know that while we are at home in the body, we are away from the Lord.
WEB	Therefore we are always confident and know that while we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord;
ASV	Being therefore always of good courage, and knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord
YLT	having courage, then, at all times, and knowing that being at home in the body, we are away from home from the Lord, --
DARBY	Therefore we are always confident, and know that while present in the body we are absent from the Lord,
BBE	So, then, we are ever without fear, and though conscious that while we are in the body we are away from the Lord,
Webster	Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, while we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord:

What does 2 Corinthians 5:6 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown

6. Translate as Greek, "Being therefore always confident and knowing," &c. He had intended to have made the verb to this nominative, "we are willing" (rather, "well content"), but digressing on the word "confident" (2Co 5:6, 7), he resumes the word in a different form, namely, as an assertion: "We are confident and well content." "Being confident ... we are confident" may be the Hebraic idiom of emphasis; as Ac 7:34, Greek, "Having seen, I have seen," that is, I have surely seen. always--under all trials. Bengel makes the contrast between "always confident" and "confident" especially at the prospect of being "absent from the body." We are confident as well at all times, as also most of all in the hope of a blessed departure. whilst ... at home ... absent--Translate as Greek, "While we sojourn in our home in the body, we are away from our home in the Lord." The image from a "house" is retained (compare Php 3:20; He 11:13-16; 13:14).

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain

Barnes' Notes

Verse 6. Therefore we are always confident. The word here used θαρρουντες means, to be of good cheer; to have good courage; to be full of hope. The idea is, that Paul was not dejected, cast down, disheartened, discouraged. He was cheerful and happy. He was patient in his trials, and diligent in his calling. He was full of hope, and of the confident expectation of heaven; and this filled him with cheerfulness and with joy. Tindal renders it, "We are always of good cheer." And this was not occasional and transitory, it was constant, it was uniform, it always παντοτε existed. This is an instance of the uniform cheerfulness which will be produced by the assured prospect of heaven. It is an instance, too, when the hope of heaven will enable a man to face danger with courage; to endure toil with patience; and to submit to trials in any form with cheerfulness.

Knowing. 2Cor 5:1. This is another instance in which the apostle expresses undoubted assurance.

Whilst we are at home in the body. The word here used (ενδημουντες) means, literally, to be among one's own people, to be at home; to be present at any place. It is here equivalent to saying, "while we dwell in the body." 2Cor 5:1. Doddridge renders it, "sojourning in the body;" and remarks that it is improper to render it "at home in the body," since it is the apostle's design to intimate that this is not our home. But Bloomfield says that the word is never used in the sense of sojourning. The idea is not that of being "at home"--for this is an idea which is the very opposite of that which the apostle wishes to convey. His purpose is not at all to represent the body here as our home, and the original word does not imply that. It means here simply to be in the body; to be present in the body; that is, while we are in the body.

We are absent from the Lord. The Lord Jesus. Acts 1:24. Comp. Php 1:23. Here he was in a strange world, and among strangers. His great desire and purpose was to be with the Lord; and hence he cared little how soon the frail tabernacle of the body was taken down, and was cheerful amidst all the labours and sufferings that tended to bring it to the grave, and to release him to go to his eternal home where he would be present for ever with the Lord.

(*) "confident" "of good courage"

Albert Barnes, 1834 · public domain

Adam Clarke's Commentary

Verse 6 We are always confident - Θαρῥουντες ουν παντοτε· We are always full of courage; we never despond; we know where our help lies; and, having the earnest of the Spirit, we have the full assurance of hope. Whilst we are at home in the body, etc. - The original words in this sentence are very emphatic: ενδημειν signifies to dwell among one's own people; εκδημειν, to be a sojourner among a strange people. Heaven is the home of every genuine Christian, and is claimed by them as such; see Phi 1:23. Yet, while here below, the body is the proper home of the soul; but as the soul is made for eternal glory, that glory is its country; and therefore it is considered as being from its proper home while below in the body. As all human souls are made for this glory, therefore all are considered, while here, to be absent from their own country. And it is not merely heaven that they have in view, but the Lord; without whom, to an immortal spirit possessed of infinite desires, heaven would neither be a home nor a place of rest. We see plainly that the apostle gives no intimation of an intermediate state between being at home in the body and being present with the Lord. There is not the slightest intimation here that the soul sleeps, or rather, that there is no soul; and, when the body is decomposed, that there is no more of the man till the resurrection: I mean, according to the sentiments of those who do condescend to allow us a resurrection, though they deny us a soul. But this is a philosophy in which St. Paul got no lessons, either from Gamaliel, Jesus Christ, the Holy Ghost, or in the third heaven, where he heard even unutterable things.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on 2 Corinthians 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…

Read the full comment on 2 Corinthians 5:1-8 →

2 Corinthians 5:6 in the original Greek

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

ΘαρροῦντεςTharrountesbeing confidentG2292

οὖνounthereforeG3767

πάντοτεpantotealwaysG3842

καὶkaiandG2532

εἰδότεςeidotesknowing

ὅτιhotithatG3754

ἐνδημοῦντεςendēmountesbeing at homeG1736

ἐνeninG1722

τῷtōtheG3588

σώματι,sōmatibody,G4983

ἐκδημοῦμενekdēmoumenwe are absentG1553

ἀπὸapofromG575

τοῦtoutheG3588

κυρίου·kuriouLord;G2962

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for 2 Corinthians 5:6

Philippians 3:20-21
For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself.
2 Corinthians 5:1
For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.
Hebrews 13:14
For here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come.
Psalms 39:12
Hear my prayer, O Lord, and give ear unto my cry; hold not thy peace at my tears: for I am a stranger with thee, and a sojourner, as all my fathers were.
Hebrews 11:13
These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.
Hebrews 10:35
Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompence of reward.
Psalms 27:3-4
Though an host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear: though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident. One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to enquire in his temple.
Proverbs 14:26
In the fear of the Lord is strong confidence: and his children shall have a place of refuge.
2 Corinthians 5:8
We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.
1 Chronicles 29:15
For we are strangers before thee, and sojourners, as were all our fathers: our days on the earth are as a shadow, and there is none abiding.
Revelation 1:9
I John, who also am your brother, and companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ.
Isaiah 36:4
And Rabshakeh said unto them, Say ye now to Hezekiah, Thus saith the great king, the king of Assyria, What confidence is this wherein thou trustest?

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

we are always.
8; Ps 27:3,4; Pr 14:26; Isa 30:15; 36:4; Heb 10:35; 1Pe 5:1; Re 1:9
whilst.
1; 1Ch 29:15; Ps 39:12; 119:19; Php 3:20,21; Heb 11:13; 13:14

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

2 Corinthians 5:5
Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit.
2 Corinthians 5:6
Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord:
2 Corinthians 5:7
(For we walk by faith, not by sight:)

Read all of 2 Corinthians 5

2 Corinthians 5:6 in other languages

Spanish Reina-Valera 1909	Así que vivimos confiados siempre, y sabiendo, que entre tanto que estamos en el cuerpo, peregrinamos ausentes del Señor;
French Bible J.N. Darby 1885	Nous avons donc toujours confiance, et nous savons qu’étant présents dans le corps, nous sommes absents du Seigneur,
German Elberfelder 1871	So sind wir nun allezeit gutes Mutes und wissen, daß, während einheimisch in dem Leibe, wir von dem Herrn ausheimisch sind
Latin Clementine Vulgate	Audentes igitur semper, scientes quoniam dum sumus in corpore, peregrinamur a Domino