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, [1] 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; [2] 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, [3] 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. [4] (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. [5]

Footnotes

1 - See [39]p. 216.

2 - "C'est ... dire pour leur propre proufit et vtilite;" -- "That is to say, for their own profit and advantage."

3 - "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 endemosai and ekdemosai, 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; endemos is civis, incola, or indigena -- an inhabitant or native among this or that people; an ekdemos 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.

4 - "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.

5 - "Vn esprit bien pose, et deliure de trouble;" -- "A mind well regulated, and free from alarm."

We are confident - 2-Corinthians 5:6. We are cheerful, and courageous, and ready to bear our trial. Tyndale renders it: "we are of good comfort."
And willing rather to be absent from the body - We would prefer to die. The same idea occurs in Philippians 1:23. "Having a desire to depart and to be with Christ; which is far better." The sense is, that Paul would have preferred to die, and to go to heaven; rather than to remain in a world of sin and trial.
To be present with the Lord - The Lord Jesus; see the note on Acts 1:24; compare Philippians 1:23. The idea of Paul is, that the Lord Jesus would constitute the main glory of heaven, and that to be with him was equivalent to being in a place of perfect bliss. He had no idea of any heaven where the Lord Jesus was not; and to be with him was to be in heaven. That world where the Redeemer is, is heaven. This also proves that the spirits of the saints, when they depart, are with the Redeemer; that is, are at once taken to heaven. It demonstrates:
(1) That they are not annihilated.
(2) that they do not sleep, and remain in an unconscious state, as Dr. Priestley supposes.
(3) that they are not in some intermediate state, either in a state of purgatory, as the Papists suppose, or a state where all the souls of the just and the unjust are assembled in a common abode, as many Protestants have supposed; but,
(4) That they dwell with Christ; they are with the Lord (πρὸς τὸν Κυρίον pros ton Kurion). They abide in his presence; they partake of his joy and his glory; they are permitted to sit with him in his throne; Revelation 3:21.
The same idea the Saviour expressed to the dying thief, when he said, "today shalt thou be with me in paradise;" Luke 23:43.

We are confident - We are of good courage, notwithstanding our many difficulties; because we have this earnest of the Spirit, and the unfailing testimony of God. And notwithstanding this, we are willing rather to be absent from the body - we certainly prefer a state of glory to a state of suffering, and the enjoyment of the beatific vision to even the anticipation of it by faith and hope; but, as Christians, we cannot desire to die before our time.

We are (f) confident, [I say], and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.
(f) And yet we are in such a manner confident and do so pass on our pilgrimage with a valiant and peaceful mind, that yet nonetheless we had rather depart from here to the Lord.

We are confident, I say, and willing rather,.... We are cheerful in our present state, being assured of future happiness; though we choose rather
to be absent from the body; that is, to die, to depart out of this world. The interval between death, and the resurrection, is a state of absence from the body, during which time the soul is disembodied, and exists in a separate state; not in a state of inactivity and sleep, for that would not be desirable, but of happiness and glory, enjoying the presence of God, and praising of him, believing and waiting for the resurrection of the body, when both will be united together again; and after that there will be no more absence, neither from the body, nor from the Lord:
and to be present with the Lord. This was promised to Christ in the everlasting covenant, that all his spiritual seed and offspring should be with him. This he expected; it was the joy of this which was set before him, that carried him through his sufferings and death with so much cheerfulness; this is the sum of his prayers and intercession, and what all his preparations in heaven are on the account of. It is this which supports and comforts the saints under all their sorrows here, and which makes them meet death with pleasure, which otherwise is formidable and disagreeable to nature; and even desirous of parting with life, to be with Christ, which is far better.

willing--literally, "well content." Translate also, "To go (literally, migrate) from our home in the body, and to come to our home with the Lord." We should prefer to be found alive at the Lord's coming, and to be clothed upon with our heavenly body (2-Corinthians 5:2-4). But feeling, as we do, the sojourn in the body to be a separation from our true home "with the Lord," we prefer even dissolution by death, so that in the intermediate disembodied state we may go to be "with the Lord" (Philippians 1:23). "To be with Christ" (the disembodied state) is distinguished from Christ's coming to take us to be with Him in soul and body (1-Thessalonians 4:14-17, "with the Lord"). Perhaps the disembodied spirits of believers have fulness of communion with Christ unseen; but not the mutual recognition of one another, until clothed with their visible bodies at the resurrection (compare 1-Thessalonians 4:13-17), when they shall with joy recognize Christ's image in each other perfect.

Present with the Lord - This demonstrates that the happiness of the saints is not deferred till the resurrection.