"(For we walk by faith, not by sight)" (2 Corinthians 5:7)
THIS parenthesis is inserted between a repeated assertion that we Christians are always "of good courage". The implication is that we have every right to be so. No doubt we would like to be able to claim that we do not suffer like other men, that we are not perplexed about life as they are, nor struck down by those calamities which overtake men of the world. We would like to be able to reason that those who are redeemed are freed from the element of decay in the human body.
NONE of these is, of course, the case. These are not the advantages which men of faith have over unbelievers. What they do -- or should -- have is calm confidence of demeanour under every adverse circumstance. "We are always of good courage." We have a serenity which is unaffected even by the dark monster of death. We know that we are made for life. The Holy Spirit's presence is the guarantee of a glorious future. We are buoyed up at all times by the knowledge that if to live is Christ then to die is gain.
OUR parenthesis reminds us of the great antagonist of such holy cheerfulness. It is "sight", or rather trying to walk according to sight. We do not walk in this way -- "not by sight". One look around at things as they appear to merely human reasoning and we begin to sink beneath the waves of hopelessness. The apostle has already told us that the things seen are passing and unsubstantial; they can be more than that, for they can be robbers of a Christian's joy, disturbers of his peace. It is true that the Lord promised His disciples that they should see great things, but He did not mean that they should allow what they saw to govern their lives. We must not walk by sight. If we do, then our "good courage" will ebb away when God hides Himself, as He sometimes does.
THIS parenthesis is found in the midst of a passage which speaks of past trials and future perils. These were real enough, but Paul had found in Christ a hidden balance which more than compensated for them. He was able to march on triumphantly in spite of them all, and here he gives us the explanation of how he did so: "For we walk ... not by sight". He gives it in order that we who have similar experiences may share his good courage, for we share his certain hope.
THE fact that the apostle refused to walk by sight does not mean that he blundered on blindly. Far from it, he had his eyes wide open, so wide open that he was able to see the eternal things which are not visible to natural sight. He looked off unto Jesus; he endured as seeing the invisible. This is what he calls walking by faith. It means that every experience in life is subordinated to the lordship of Christ and made to yield to His absolute sovereignty. "We know," he affirmed elsewhere, "that for us God makes everything to work together for good." How did he know? By faith.
IN the context of this passage the apostle tells us something more that we know. It is related not to this life, but to eternity and it is that when this life terminates God has a heavenly home for us (5:1). This is certainly something we cannot see. We cannot even conceive in our minds what it will be like. Faith, however, assures us that this is the great reality of our Christian experience and that we are pilgrims here, always looking away from our immediate surroundings and discounting present values because we are moving on to a rich eternal inheritance. This is surely what it means to walk by faith and not by sight. It means that everything, even in the Lord's work, is looked at in the light of eternity where alone true and lasting values will be appreciated. The man who does that can always be "of good courage", and he will make it his aim always to be well-pleasing unto the Lord who is already there in the glory.
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