What Does 2 Corinthians 5:8 Mean in the King James?

We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.

2 Corinthians 5:8 · KJV

The analysis reads the King James wording.

King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.

THE KEY

Leaving the body is described as arriving at home with the Lord, so absence has a direction and a belonging.

THE MEANING

Your confidence rests in a presence that does not depend on remaining in the body: being away from the body is named as being at home with the Lord. The paired verbs describe departure and arrival, so absence carries a direction and belonging.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

The belief that leaving the body means being cut off from all presence. This verse names bodily absence as presence with the Lord.

THE ROOT

ἐκδημῆσαι

ekdēmēsai

GROWS FROM

δῆμος

dēmos

A people or inhabited district; in these compounds, the sense becomes being away from home or being at home.

“absent / present” in this verse is ekdēmēsai. The two verbs are opposites built around the same homeward language: one means being away from home, the other being at home. English can make “absent” and “present” sound like mere distance, while these words picture departure from one dwelling and arrival at another.

ALSO GROWS

ekdēmeō: To be away from home; to be abroad.

ἐκδημέω

This is the verb behind being absent from the body: departure from one dwelling.

endēmeō: To be at home; to dwell in one’s own place.

ἐνδημέω

This is the verb behind being present with the Lord: that presence is described as homecoming.

THE PATTERN

Presence with the Lord is pictured as dwelling with God beyond the body’s present home.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.

Psalm 23:6 · KJVThe Lord’s house is named as the lasting dwelling where the speaker belongs.

And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.

John 14:3 · KJVBeing received to be where Jesus is is described as a place of lasting presence.

For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better:

Philippians 1:23 · KJVDeparture is directly paired with being with Christ.

THE THREAD

Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord:

2 Corinthians 5:6 · KJV

The same two Greek verbs appear here in reverse: the body is the present home, and the Lord is the one from whom the speaker is absent. Verse 8 turns the pair around, describing departure from the body’s dwelling as being at home with the Lord.

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