The word for links verse 7 to verse 6 by clarifying what it means to be “away from the Lord’s home.”

Here, as in 4.2, the verb walk is used figuratively and should probably be translated “live” (Barclay), or, making faith the subject, one may say “faith leads [or, guides] us, what we see does not.”

The nouns faith and sight refer not so much to the acts of believing and seeing as they do to “that which is believed” and “that which is seen.” The thought is parallel to that of 4.18.

Two interesting models for translating this brief verse are: “faith is our guide, not sight” (Revised English Bible) and “we live by what we believe, not by what we can see” (New Century Version).

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 .