2 Corinthians 5:8Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Do you see how, passing over the unpleasant names of death and departure, he replaced them with the most desirable name, "dwelling with God"? And conversely, leaving aside the name that seems pleasant, namely life, he used an unpleasant one, calling the life here "absence" from the Lord.

He did this so that no one should take delight in the present life, but rather feel it as a burden. Likewise, no one approaching death should grieve, but rather rejoice, because he is passing to better blessings.

But lest someone, hearing that while we are in this body "we are away from the Lord," should say, "What are you saying? Are we really far from Him while living here?" he forestalled this objection by saying, "we walk by faith, not by sight."

Here too we have knowledge of Him, but not so clearly. It is exactly "as through a glass darkly, in an enigma," as he says elsewhere (1 Cor 13:12).

"We are of good courage and desire." See where he has brought the discourse. He has brought it to a most intense desire for departure. For him the word "we are well pleased" means the same as "we greatly desire."

What do we desire? "To depart from the body and dwell with the Lord." This is what he always does, as I have noted before: he turns the words of his opponents in the opposite direction.

David says this: "With You I am a stranger while I am on the earth. For now I am not a resident of Your paradise." And he added by way of explanation: "a sojourner, as all my fathers were."

The Apostle Paul also revealed this, acknowledging that, while we remain in the body, we are away from the Lord (2 Cor 5:6). And even if faith is in us, still "we walk by faith, not by sight" (2 Cor 5:7). That is, we are not yet face to face as those present before the Lord. We still walk enigmatically, not in the truth. See 1 Cor 13:12.

"We are bold and firmly hope that it is better to depart from the body and dwell with the Lord" (2 Cor 5:8), the Apostle adds. "We are bold" is not an expression of recklessness, but of the hope of one who believes in God.

"We firmly hope" means this: we desire and strive for this by our own will. We are not defending the judgment of an all-knowing science, but rather inclining toward our own opinion. We desire that what we long for may be fulfilled, namely that we may draw near to God, from whom the distance between the present and the future separates us.

We are bold to be near Him, and therefore "we are zealous" (2 Cor 5:9). You understand that to be zealous means that a man is still striving to attain something, not that he has already attained it. It is a condition, not the result.

Ask about the very meaning of the Apostle's words. Rather, listen to the one speaking, or rather, listen to the one hesitating: "Therefore we are zealous, whether absent or present with Him, to be pleasing to Him" (2 Cor 5:9). While still absent, we are so by faith. When present, we shall already see Him.

Thus this may be understood: both here and there we wish to be pleasing to our Judge and the Redeemer of our souls. We must be present with Him in vision, so that each, when his lot is examined, may receive the recompense deserved for his deeds: rest for the righteous and torment for the impious.

"Give ear to my tears" (Ps 38:13), David weeps, because man came to earth as a stranger. He lingered far from his homeland, held by long exile.

Now consider with me Adam, cast out of paradise and dwelling in a place far from paradise, from which he was thrown down. He weeps bitterly, remembering what he lost and whence he fell.

Therefore let us give thanks to God, who freed us from eternal exile by opening the door through which we return to our homeland. The Apostle foresaw this: "Therefore you are no longer strangers and sojourners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of God's household" (Eph 2:19).

In Holy Scripture, through various enigmas, we see God clothed in flesh, and the word of God. Yet we do not yet behold, in thought, the bodiless and simple, the one and only Father. We behold Him as those who saw Him in thought in the bodiless, one, and only Son, according to what was said: "He who has seen Me has seen the Father," and, "I am in the Father, and the Father in Me" (Jn 14:9-10).

Therefore much understanding is needed. First we must pass through the veils of the sayings concerning the Word. Then, with a pure mind, we may behold Him standing naked and revealing Himself as man.

For this reason one who piously seeks God must not be bound by anything that has been said. Otherwise, in ignorance, he may take what is said about God for God Himself. That is, to his own stumbling, he may deceitfully love only what is said in Scripture in its literal sense instead of the Word.

Then the Word Himself withdraws from the mind which, while holding the garments, thinks it is holding the bodiless Word Himself. It is like that Egyptian woman who did not hold Joseph, but his garment (Gen 39:12). It is also like those ancient men who, captivated by visible beauty alone, in ignorance "served the creature rather than the Creator" (Rom 1:25).

When the mind casts off the many opinions about the words of truth lying upon it, then the clear word of truth appears to it. It gives the pledges of true knowledge and removes from its powers of vision the opinions it formerly accepted, as scales were removed from the divine and great Apostle Paul (Acts 9:18).

For opinions attached only to the sayings of Scripture, and partial contemplations in the sensible perception of visible things, are truly scales. They lie upon the soul's faculty of vision and prevent its passage to the pure word of truth.

For this purpose, both when we give ourselves to this life and when we rise above it and hasten toward the higher, heavenly life, we must constantly please God. This is also necessary because judgment awaits us all. It will be according to each one's works, and a spiritual-bodily recompense will follow, corresponding to our earthly bodily-spiritual activity.

In explanation of these verses Bishop Theophan says: "We feel that the body walls us off from God. Yet we must remain in the body until the time appointed by the Lord, so that we may be strengthened in this life, grow for the other, and prove our faithfulness before the Lord while He abides in hiddenness. Life in the body, even with a strong awareness of its inconveniences, has its attractions. One cannot become completely estranged from it without a sharp breaking of oneself. Such a breaking cannot take place without bold resolve. Therefore the Apostle said: we are bold and well pleased, that is, we boldly and manfully desire this."

"Therefore," says St. John Chrysostom, "do not think that mere removal from the body is enough for eternal life. Virtue is needed everywhere. Therefore, when speaking about the resurrection of bodies, he did not allow them to rest on knowledge of it alone, saying, 'provided that when clothed we shall not be found naked.' So too, when speaking about removal from the body, lest you think this alone is enough for salvation, he added that one must also become pleasing to God."

"Having stirred the zeal of the Corinthians by manifold blessings, the Apostle did not forget to move them also by fear of threatening evils. For our blessedness consists both in acquiring blessings and in avoiding evils, that is, in acquiring the kingdom of heaven and avoiding Gehenna. Yet the fear of torments works more powerfully upon us. For some, perhaps, might agree to be punished by exclusion from the inheritance of eternal blessings. But hardly anyone will agree to endure torments."

The words "for we walk by faith, not by sight" form an inserted statement. They explain by experience that the body truly sets us at a distance from the Lord.

Theodoret expresses the general meaning of these texts thus: "The Apostle does not say that we are alienated from the Lord, or strangers to the Lord, while still joined to this mortal body.

"Rather, he says that now we do not see Him with bodily eyes, but then we shall both see Him and be with Him. For now, he says, we do not see the very things awaited, but behold them only by faith.

"For this very reason we desire to depart from the body and enter in to the Lord." When the Apostle says, "we boldly know that, while living in the body, we are away from the Lord," he indicates that such knowledge requires a bold mind.

Likewise, by the words "we boldly consent to depart from the body and enter in to the Lord," he indicates that such willing desire requires a courageous spirit.

Indeed, to those who endured persecutions, afflictions, and continual dangers of death for the Lord's sake, outsiders could say: what are you doing? You suffer, yet you do not see Him for Whom you suffer.

Similar thoughts could also come to those who suffered. To such thoughts within, and to such words from others, a bold mind, winged by faith, could answer courageously.

Yes, we do not see Him. Nevertheless He is, and He is near. We do not see Him, but we perceive Him. The reason we do not see Him is this body of ours.

"While living in the body, we are away from the Lord." "Living," ενδημουντς, means sojourning as in a foreign land. "We are strangers and pilgrims in it" (Oecumenius).

"He did not say 'being,' οντες, in the body, but ενδημουντες, because we are in it like travelers in an inn" (Chrysostom). In the body we sojourn as in a foreign land.

Our fatherland and our home are there where the Lord is, or with the Lord. Thus, by sojourning in the body, we have naturally been separated from our native shelter and from the Father Himself, the Lord.

"The body has become a wall between us and the Lord" (Oecumenius). What then? Should we not break down this wall violently and by our own will? No.

It pleased the Lord Himself to establish this order, so that first we should live by faith. Then, having proved faithful to the Lord in all things by faith, we may enter the order of life where we shall walk before the Lord by sight.

There we shall abide with Him face to face. The present is such a period that we walk by faith, not by sight. It is not as though, having first been before the Lord, we then passed into the body as into a foreign house.

No. We are born by a way known to God alone. Then, already existing in the body, we become kin to the Lord through rebirth in the font of baptism, according to His image.

Having become so closely joined to Him, we feel that the body shuts us off from Him. Yet we must remain in the body until the time appointed by the Lord.

This is so that we may grow strong in this new life, mature for the other, and show our faithfulness before the Lord while He remains hidden from us.

Now by faith we know Him. By faith we draw near to Him and are guided to abide in spiritual and mystical communion with Him. Having borne ourselves as we ought during this period of trial and education under faith's guardianship, we shall enter another.

In that other period we shall abide with the Lord face to face. Nevertheless, we cannot be indifferent to that blessed moment when we go out of the body and stand before the Lord.

That moment is most desirable. Therefore, "knowing what entering in to the Lord brings, we boldly consent to depart from the body, or we desire this with all our soul" (Oecumenius).

"We are confident, I say, and are well pleased rather to depart from the body and to enter in to the Lord." He says "we boldly consent," because this kind of willing, eager, and joyful desire requires a courageous spirit.

Life in the body has its attractions, even when one is keenly aware of its inconveniences. To become completely alienated from it is impossible without a sharp breaking of oneself.

Such a breaking cannot take place without bold resolve. To keep oneself constantly in this disposition afterward also shows a soul inspired by courage. Therefore the Apostle said, "we are confident and well pleased."

That is, we desire this boldly and courageously. Reading the history of the martyrs, we cannot fail to see their confirmation of Saint Paul's words. They desired to depart to the Lord, and they desired it with irresistible striving and courage.

Chrysostom says on these words: "Do you see how the Apostle, passing over the unpleasant names of death and end, replaced them with the most desirable name, dwelling with the Lord?

"Conversely, passing over names of life that seem pleasant, he used an unpleasant one, calling the present life separation from the Lord. He did this so that no one should delight in the present, but rather be burdened by it.

"He also did it so that no one, drawing near to death, should grieve, but rather rejoice, because he passes over to the enjoyment of better things."