Meaning of 2 Corinthians 5

“Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. For we live by faith, not by sight. We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord” (2 Corinthians 5:6-8).

The apostle Paul’s words tell us that there is something unique about people: they have bodies and souls. We see that when Paul speaks about wanting “to be away from the body and at home with the Lord.” But there is more to Paul’s words than that. In the apostle’s words we also see his longing for heaven.

When death takes place, the body and soul separate. The body remains on earth and, for the Christian, the soul goes to God’s presence in heaven. When Paul wrote that he longed “to be away from the body and at home with the Lord,” he meant that he looked forward to the time when the Lord would call him home. But, until that time, he was going to use his life to serve the Lord by serving others.

Paul speaks for us, doesn’t he? We sing in one of our hymns: “I’m but a stranger here; Heav’n is my home” (Christian Worship 417:1). We too recognize that, as Christians, our real home is with God. Death for the Christian, then, is a homecoming; it’s the arrival of the Christian’s soul in God’s presence in heaven.

On the last day God will reunite bodies and souls, glorify the bodies of Christians, and we will be with the Lord forever.  Praise God for that.