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6. Therefore we are always confident That is, as exercising dependence on the earnest of the Spirit; for, otherwise, we always tremble, or, at least, are courageous or alarmed by turns, and do not retain a uniform and even tenor of mind. Hence, that good courage of which Paul speaks has no place in us, unless it is maintained by the Spirit of God. The connecting particle and, which immediately follows, ought to be understood as meaning because, in this way: We are of good courage, Because we know that we are absent, etc. For this knowledge is the cause of our calmness and confidence; for the reason, why unbelievers are constantly in a ferment of anxiety, or obstinately murmur against God, is, that they think they will ere long cease to exist, and they place in this life the highest and uppermost summit of their felicity. ⁵¹⁷⁵¹⁷     See Calvin’s observations on the same point, when commenting on 1 Cor. 15:3, pp. 41, 42. — Ed. We, on the other hand, live in the exercise of contentment, ⁵¹⁸⁵¹⁸     “Nous viuous en paix, prenans tout en gre;” — “We live in peace, taking everything favourably.” and go forward to death with alacrity, ⁵¹⁹⁵¹⁹     “Ioyeusement;” — “Joyfully.” because a better hope is laid up for us.

We are absent from the Lord Scripture everywhere proclaims, that God is present with us: Paul here teaches, that we are absent from him. This is seemingly a contradiction; but this difficulty is easily solved, when we take into view the different respects, in which he is said to be present or absent. He is, then, present with all men, inasmuch as he upholds them by his power. He dwells in them, because

in him they live and move and have their being.
(Acts 17:28.)

He is present with his believing people by the energy of his Spirit; he lives in them, resides in the midst of them, nay more, within them. But in the mean time he is absent from us, inasmuch as he does not present himself to be seen face to face, because we are as yet in a state of exile from his kingdom, and have not as yet attained that blessed immortality, which the angels that are with him enjoy. At the same time, to be absent, in this passage, refers merely to knowledge, as is manifest from the reason that is afterwards added.

7. For we walk by faith (Εἰδος) I have here rendered aspectum, (sight,) because few understood the meaning of the word species, (appearance.) ⁵²⁰⁵²⁰     “Espece, ainsi qu’on a accoustumé de traduire en Latin ce mot Grec;” — “Species, as they have been accustomed to render in Latin this Greek word.” Those interpreters who have rendered εἴδος species, (appearance,) employ the word species to mean what is seen, as distinguished from what is invisible — what has a visible form. The term, however, (as Calvin hints,) is ambiguous, being frequently employed to denote appearance, as distinguished from reality. — Ed. He states the reason, why it is that we are now absent from the Lord — because we do not as yet see him face to face. (1 Corinthians 13:12.) The manner of that absence is this — that God is not openly beheld by us. The reason why he is not seen by us is, that we walk by faith Now it is on good grounds that faith is opposed to sight, because it, perceives those things that are hid from the view of men — because it reaches forth to future things, which do not as yet appear. For such is the condition of believers, that they resemble the dead rather than the living — that they often seem as if they were forsaken by God — that they always have the elements of death shut up within them. Hence they must necessarily hope against hope. (Romans 4:18.) Now the things that are hoped for are hid, as we read in Romans 8:24, and faith is the

manifestation of things which do not appear.
(Hebrews 11:1.) ⁵²¹⁵²¹     “Concerning the import of the original term ὑπόστασις, translated substance, (Hebrews 11:1,) there has been a good deal of discussion, and it has been understood to signify confidence or subsistence. Faith is the confidence of things hoped for; because it assures us, not only that there are such things, but that, through the power and faithfulness of God, we shall enjoy them. It is the subsistence of things hoped for; because it gives them, although future, a present subsistence in the minds of believers, so that they are influenced by them as if they were actually present. Thus the word was understood by some of the Greek commentators, who were the most competent judges of its meaning. ‘Since things which we hope for,’ says Chrysostom, ‘seem not to subsist, faith gives them subsistence, or rather it does not give it, but is itself their substance. Thus the resurrection of the dead is not past, nor does it subsist, but faith gives it subsistence in our souls.’ ‘Faith,’ says another, ‘gives subsistence to the resurrection of the dead, and places it before our eyes...’ The objects of faith are not only future good, but invisible things, both good and evil, which are made known by divine revelation; and of these it is the evidence, ἔλεγχος the demonstration or conviction... Being past, and future, and invisible on account of their distance from us, or the spirituality of their nature, they cannot be discovered by our senses, but the conviction of their reality is as strong in the mind of a believer, as if they were placed before his eyes.” — Dick’s Theology, volume 3. — Ed.

It is not to be wondered, then, if the apostle says, that we have not as yet the privilege of sight, so long as we walk by faith For we see, indeed, but it is through a glass, darkly; (1 Corinthians 13:12,) that is, in place of the reality we rest upon the word.

8. We are confident, I say He again repeats, what he had said respecting the confidence of the pious — that they are so far from breaking down under the severity of the cross, and from being disheartened by afflictions, that they are made thereby more courageous. For the worst of evils is death, yet believers long to attain it, as being the commencement of perfect blessedness. Hence and may be regarded as equivalent to because, in this way: “Nothing can befall us, that can shake our confidence and courage, since death (which others so much dread) is to us great gain. (Philippians 1:21.) For nothing is better than to quit the body, that we may attain near intercourse with God, and may truly and openly enjoy his presence. Hence by the decay of the body we lose nothing that belongs to us.”

Observe here — what has been once stated already — that true faith begets not merely a contempt of death, but even a desire for it, ⁵²²⁵²²     See p. 216. and that it is, accordingly, on the other hand, a token of unbelief, when dread of death predominates in us above the joy and consolation of hope. Believers, however, desire death — not as if they would, by an importunate desire, anticipate their Lord’s day, for they willingly retain their footing in their earthly station, so long as their Lord may see good, for they would rather live to the glory of Christ than die to themselves, (Romans 14:7,) and for their own advantage; ⁵²³⁵²³     “C’est ... dire pour leur propre proufit et vtilite;” — “That is to say, for their own profit and advantage.” for the desire, of which Paul speaks, springs from faith. Hence it is not at all at variance with the will of God. We may, also, gather from these words of Paul, that souls, when released from the body, live in the presence of God, for if, on being absent from the body, they have God present, ⁵²⁴⁵²⁴     “In this world,” says Howe, in a discourse on 2 Corinthians 5:8, “we find ourselves encompassed with objects that are suitable, grateful, and entertaining to our bodily senses, and the several principles, perceptions, and appetites that belong to the bodily life; and these things familiarize and habituate us to this world, and make us, as it were, one with it. There is particularly a bodily people, as is intimated in the text, that we are associated with, by our being in the body. The words ἐνδημὢσαι and ἐκδημὢσαι, in this verse, (and the same are used in 2 Corinthians 5:6 and 9,) signify there is such a people of which we are, and from which we would be disassociated; ἔνδημος is civis, incola, or indigena — an inhabitant or native among this or that people; an ἔκδημος is peregrinus, one that lives abroad, and is severed from the people he belonged unto. The apostle considers himself, while in the body, as living among such a sort of people as dwell in bodies, a like sort of people to himself, and would be no longer a home — dweller with them, but travel away from them, to join and be a dweller with another people. For also, on the other hand, he considers, ‘with the Lord,’ an invisible world where he resides, and an incorporeal people he presides over.” — Howe’s Works, (Lond. 1834,) p. 1023. — Ed. they assuredly live with him.

Here it is asked by some — “How then did it happen that the holy fathers dreaded death so much, as for example David, Hezekiah, and the whole of the Israelitish Church, as appears from Psalm 4, from Isaiah 38:3, and from Psalm 115:17?” I am aware of the answer, that is usually returned — that the reason, why death was so much dreaded by them was, that the revelation of the future life was as yet obscure, and the consolation, consequently, was but small. Now I acknowledge, that this, in part, accounts for it, but not entirely, for the holy fathers of the ancient Church did not in every case tremble, on being forewarned of their death. Nay more, they embraced death with alacrity, and with joyful hearts. For Abraham departed without regret, full of days. ⁵²⁵⁵²⁵     “Rassassi de iours, et sans regret;” — “Satisfied with days and without regret.” “In the Hebrew,” says Poole in his Annotations, “it is only full or satisfied; but you must understand with days or years, as the phrase is fully expressed in Genesis 35:29; 1 Chronicles 23:1; 1 Chronicles 29:28; Job 42:17; Jeremiah 6:11. When he (Abraham) had lived as long as he desired, being in some sort weary of life, and desirous to be dissolved, or full of all good, as the Chaldee renders it — satisfied, as it is said of Naphtali, (Deuteronomy 33:23,) with favor, and full with the blessing of the Lord upon himself and upon his children.” — Ed. (Genesis 25:8.) We do not read that Isaac was reluctant to die. (Genesis 35:29.) Jacob, with his last breath, declares that he is

waiting for the salvation of the Lord. (Genesis 49:18.)

David himself, too, dies peacefully, without any regrets, (1 Kings 2:10,) and in like manner Hezekiah. As to the circumstance, that David and Hezekiah did, each of them, on one occasion deprecate death with tears, the reason was, that they were punished by the Lord for certain sins, and, in consequence of this, they felt the anger of the Lord in death. Such was the cause of their alarm, and this believers might feel even at this day, under the reign of Christ. The desire, however, of which Paul speaks, is the disposition of a well-regulated mind. ⁵²⁶⁵²⁶     “Vn esprit bien pose, et deliure de trouble;” — “A mind well regulated, and free from alarm.”

9. Wherefore we strive. Having shown how magnanimous Christians ought to be in the endurance of afflictions, ⁵³¹⁵³¹     “Quelle constance et magnanimite doyuent auoir les Chrestiens en leurs afflictions;” — “What constancy and magnanimity Christians ought to have in their afflictions.” so that even in dying they may be conquerors over death, and that too, because by afflictions and death they attain to a blessed life, he now from the same source draws also another conclusion — that they must, by all means, make it their main desire to please God. And indeed it cannot but be, that the hope of a resurrection, and thoughtfulness as to the judgment, will awaken in us this desire; as, on the other hand, the true reason why we are so indolent and remiss in duty is, that we seldom, if ever, think of what ought to be constantly kept in remembrance, ⁵³²⁵³²     “Nous deurions auoir incessamment deuant les yeux et en memoire;” — “We ought to have unceasingly before our eyes and in our remembrance.” that we are here but lodgers ⁵³³⁵³³     “Nous sommes yci estrangers;” — “We are strangers here.” for a short time, that we may, after finishing our course, return to Christ. Observe, however, what he says — that this is the desire both of the living and of the dead, by which statement the immortality of the soul is again confirmed.

10. We must be manifested. Though this is common to all, yet all without distinction do not raise their views in such a way as to consider every moment, that they must appear before the judgment-seat of Christ. But while Paul, from a holy desire of acting aright, constantly sisted himself before the bar of Christ, he had it in view to reprove indirectly those ambitious teachers, who reckoned it enough to have the plaudits of their fellow-men. ⁵³⁴⁵³⁴     “Se contentoyent d’auoir l’applaudissement des hommes, comme feroyent ceux qui ioueroyent quelque rolle en vn theater;” — “Reckoned it enough to have the applause of men, like persons who act some part in a theater.” For when he says, that no one can escape, he seems in a manner to summon them to that heavenly tribunal. Farther, though the word translated to be manifested might be rendered to appear, yet Paul had, in my opinion, something farther in view — that we shall then come forth to the light, while for the present many are concealed, as it were, in the darkness. For then the books, which are now shut, will be opened. (Daniel 7:10.)

That every one may give account. As the passage relates to the recompensing of deeds, we must notice briefly, that, as evil deeds are punished by God, so also good deeds are rewarded, but for a different reason; for evil deeds are requited with the punishment that they deserve, but God in rewarding good deeds does not look to merit or worthiness. For no work is so full and complete in all its parts as to be deservedly well-pleasing to him, and farther, there is no one whose works are in themselves well-pleasing to God, unless he render satisfaction to the whole law. Now no one is found to be thus perfect. Hence the only resource is in his accepting us through unmerited goodness, and justifying us, by not imputing to us our sins. After he has received us into favor, he receives our works also by a gracious acceptance. It is on this that the reward hinges. There is, therefore, no inconsistency in saying, that he rewards good works, provided we understand that mankind, nevertheless, obtain eternal life gratuitously. On this point I have expressed myself more fully in the preceding Epistle, and my Institutes will furnish a full discussion of it. ⁵³⁵⁵³⁵     See Calvin on the Corinthians, vol. 1, pp. 303, 304; and Calvin’s Institutes, volume 2. When he says in the body, I understand him to mean, not merely outward actions, but all the deeds that are done in this corporeal life.