2 Corinthians 5:6-7 So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, 7 for we walk by faith, not by sight.
Knowing that the Holy Spirit is with us gives us assurance and hope. Hope brings courage to stand up to the trials, challenges, and even persecution that we face. We come to realize that this life is not all there is to our existence. There is something greater that draws us into the future and gives us confidence. Confidence and courage are built on hope. If there is no hope, why sacrifice what is needed to be courageous? It is only foolishness to give up one’s life for a cause if there is no hope for improvement. The improvement for believers is the hope of resurrection and eternal life.
This type of thinking leads Paul to a significant statement that has challenged theologians for centuries. What does it mean to be in the body and away from the Lord? What does it mean to be away from the body and with the Lord? Paul may be thinking in these verses of the face-to-face encounter with the risen and exalted Jesus. We are away from this encounter now while in the body because Jesus is sitting at the right hand of the Father in heaven. We experience both the Son and Father now through the Spirit. The Spirit’s presence gives us assurance that the gospel is true and that our hope is built on a sure foundation.
This assurance helps us to live by faith and not sight. The world operates on sight. We humans need proof that something is true. To walk by faith is to live the present guided by hope for a better future. Faith leads us to have confidence even in the midst of suffering and pain because we know there is something better awaiting us. Paul expressed this faith in Philippians 1:21: “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.” We can experience Christ now in this life through the Holy Spirit. When we die, the barriers of time and space will be removed. Meanwhile, as Paul earlier wrote to the Corinthians, “For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known” (1 Corinthians 13:12).
If we walk by sight, we will be distracted and disappointed because this life has so many empty promises. To walk by faith will require that we change the object of our focus. We no longer look to the world or self but to God’s revelation in Christ.
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