What Does 2 Corinthians 5:9 Mean?
So we make it our aim, whether at home or away, to be well pleasing to him.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
Wherefore we labour, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him.THE KEY
The word translated “labour” means “make it your ambition,” revealing effort as a steady desire to be pleasing to him in every state.
THE MEANING
Your aim is to be pleasing to him, whether you are at home in your embodied life or away from it. Both states remain within the reach of that same aim.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that being pleasing to God depends on being in one particular state or place.
THE ROOT
φιλοτιμούμεθα
philotimoumetha
GROWS FROM
φιλέω (phileō) + τιμή (timē)
Love + honor or value; in this compound, aspiration or ambition.
“make it our aim” in this verse is philotimoumetha. The verb carries the sense of making something your ambition or aim. “Labour” can sound like strain alone, while the Greek also reveals what the effort is directed toward: what you esteem.
ALSO GROWS
timē: honor, value
τιμή
It supplies the honor and value element in the compound, pointing toward what is held worth pursuing.
philotimia: ambition, aspiration
φιλοτιμία
This related noun names the ambition behind the verb: making something your chosen aim.
philotimos: ambitious, eager for honor
φιλότιμος
It shares the compound and links aspiration with honor or value.
εὐάρεστοι
euarestoi
GROWS FROM
εὖ (eu) + ἀρέσκω (areskō)
Well + please; the word means pleasing or well-pleasing.
“well pleasing” in this verse is euarestoi. The Greek word rendered “accepted” also carries the sense of being pleasing to him. The verse describes a life oriented toward his pleasure, not merely a status attached to one moment.
ALSO GROWS
euarestos: well-pleasing
εὐάρεστος
This is the singular form of the adjective used here, making the verse’s aim being pleasing to him.
euaresteō: to be well-pleasing
εὐαρεστέω
This related verb expresses the same orientation as an ongoing way of being.
arestos: pleasing, agreeable
ἀρεστός
It shares the pleasing root and shows the core sense carried by the word.
ἐνδημοῦντες
endēmountes
GROWS FROM
δῆμος
dēmos
People or one’s district; in these compounds, being at home or away from home.
“at home or away” in this verse is endēmountes. The paired verbs picture being at home and away from home, rather than merely present or missing. The same ambition holds across both conditions.
ALSO GROWS
endēmeō: to be at home
ἐνδημέω
This is the verb behind “present,” giving the condition a sense of being at home.
ekdēmeō: to be away from home
ἐκδημέω
This is the verb behind “absent,” forming the other side of the home-and-away pair.
THE PATTERN
A life oriented toward what pleases God carries the same aim across changing conditions.
I delight to do what pleases you, O my God, and your instruction is within my inward parts.May he mend you in every good work to do his will, doing in you what is pleasing before his face, through Jesus the Anointed One, to whom let there be weight for the ages of the ages. Amen.Furthermore then, brothers, we ask you and urge you in the Lord Jesus, that as you took from us how you ought to walk and to please God, so you would overflow still more.THE THREAD
Therefore I urge you, brothers, through the compassions of God, to set your bodies beside God as a living sacrifice, set apart, well-pleasing to him, which is your true service.“Acceptable” here is εὐάρεστον (euareston), from the same word family as “accepted” in 2 Corinthians 5:9. Romans gives that shared root a bodily expression: life itself can be presented as what is pleasing to God.
This reading is from Selah Verse.
You can read any verse this way in the app, keep it as a card, and send it on.
A Bible app where you send verses from your keyboard and in Messages, and every verse has a Deep Dive.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us