So: this verse begins in Greek with the word “Therefore” (so New American Bible and New International Version), which ties this verse to 4.16a and to 4.1, as well as to the immediately preceding verses.

Good courage translates a word that here carries the idea of quiet confidence. Revised English Bible, for example, has “we are always confident.” Some other renderings are: “this makes us confident” (Phillips); “we continue to be confident” (New American Bible); and “we always have courage” (Translator’s New Testament).

At home in the body means “alive here on earth.” Some other models may be “as long as we remain in this human body” or “as long as this body is our home” (Barclay).

We are away from the Lord: the Lord here is “the Lord Jesus Christ.” Paul is not stating that while we live on earth we have no spiritual relationship with the Lord. Anchor Bible inserts several words to make the sense clear: “while we are at home in the body we are away from our home with the Lord” (so also Good News Translation). Another way of saying this may be “while we are in this human body, we remain a long way from being in the presence of the Lord.”

Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellingworth, Paul. A Handbook on Paul’s Second Letter to the Corinthians. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1993. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .