51 For we know that if the earthly tent which is our house is torn down , we have a building from God , a house not made with hands , eternal in the heavens . 2 For indeed in this house we groan , longing to be clothed with our dwelling from heaven , 3 inasmuch as we, having put it on, will not be found naked . 4 For indeed while we are in this tent , we groan , being burdened , because e we do not want to be unclothed but to be clothed , so that what is mortal will be swallowed up by life . 5 Now He who prepared us for this very purpose is God , who gave to us the Spirit as a pledge . 6 Therefore , being always of good courage , and knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord -
Matthew Henry's Commentary on 2 Corinthians 5:1-6
Commentary on 2 Corinthians 5:1-8
(Read 2 Corinthians 5:1-8)
The believer not only is well assured by faith that there is another and a happy life after this is ended, but he has good hope, through grace, of heaven as a dwelling-place, a resting-place, a hiding-place. In our Father's house there are many mansions, whose Builder and Maker is God. The happiness of the future state is what God has prepared for those that love him: everlasting habitations, not like the earthly tabernacles, the poor cottages of clay, in which our souls now dwell; that are mouldering and decaying, whose foundations are in the dust. The body of flesh is a heavy burden, the calamities of life are a heavy load. But believers groan, being burdened with a body of sin, and because of the many corruptions remaining and raging within them. Death will strip us of the clothing of flesh, and all the comforts of life, as well as end all our troubles here below. But believing souls shall be clothed with garments of praise, with robes of righteousness and glory. The present graces and comforts of the Spirit are earnests of everlasting grace and comfort. And though God is with us here, by his Spirit, and in his ordinances, yet we are not with him as we hope to be. Faith is for this world, and sight is for the other world. It is our duty, and it will be our interest, to walk by faith, till we live by sight. This shows clearly the happiness to be enjoyed by the souls of believers when absent from the body, and where Jesus makes known his glorious presence. We are related to the body and to the Lord; each claims a part in us. But how much more powerfully the Lord pleads for having the soul of the believer closely united with himself! Thou art one of the souls I have loved and chosen; one of those given to me. What is death, as an object of fear, compared with being absent from the Lord!