reference to v. 1. ' We walk by faith, not by sight, neverthe- less we are not discouraged.' We are not only not despond- ing, but are so confident as to j^refer to be absent from the body. Death is not an object of dread, but of desire. That the phrase " to be absent from the body " means to die is evi- dent, not only from the import of the expression and from the parallel passage in Phil;JLL23, but also from the whole context, which treats of the apostle's experience in view of death. He was surrounded by dangers; he could scarcely bear up imder the load of his sufferings ; he was every day exposed to a violent death, vrhich he had escaped hitherto only, as it were, by miracle ; still he was not cast do^^m. He sustained his courage, and even desired to die. There can be no doubt that this verse is parallel with v. 4, wliere the apostle saj^s he desired to be clothed upon, i, e. with his house Avhich is from heaven. The object of desire is the same in both. It is also plain that in this verse it is absence from the body and presence with the Lord, not the being changed from cor- ruptible to incorruptible without dying, that he earnestly longed for ; and therefore this Axrse shows that the subject treated of in the context is the change which the believer experiences at death, and not that which those who are alive shall experience at Christ's second coming. The words ckSt;- /xew and evS7^/xe(o, here used as in v. 6, are best rendered ' from home ' and ' at home.' ' We would be from home as to the body, and at home with the Lord.' The Lord is of course Christ, the supreme Lord, who in virtue of the fulness of the Godhead is the rightful sovereign and possessor of the uni- verse, and in virtue of his d}ing for the redemption of his people, in a peculiar sense the sovereign and possessor of be- lievers. The Christian's heaven is to be with Christ, for we shall be like him when we see him as he is. Into his presence the believer passes as soon as he is absent from the body, and into his likeness the soul is at death immediately transformed ; and when at the resurrection, the body is made like unto his glorious body, the work of redemption is consummated. Awaiting this consummation, it is an inestimable blessing to be assured that behevers, as soon as they are absent from the body, are present with the Loed.
9. Wherefore we labour, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him.