<p>5:9 <i>Therefore we make it our aim, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to him- </i>Our aim or focus (see on :7) is to be pleasing to Him at the day of His coming- I prefer AV &quot;we may be accepted of Him&quot;, because the next verse goes on to speak of the judgment seat of Christ. &quot;Whether at home or absent&quot; could mean 'Whether we are alive or dead at His return'. This would then connect with one possible view of :4 &quot;Not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed&quot;- which could mean 'We don't want to die before His return, our preference is that this mortal body be swallowed up into immortality at His return during our lifetimes'. This would mean that here in :9, being &quot;at home&quot; refers to being at home with the Lord now, and &quot;absent&quot; refers to being absent from the Lord in death. But in my note on :4 I have suggested an alternative interpretation. And we are never absent or away from the Lord, in death nor life, for all live unto Him. As explained on :6, we are now to be &quot;at home&quot; with the Lord and &quot;absent&quot; or to have quit the bodily, fleshly life. So Paul may well mean that he labours for the Corinthians, that whether they are currently at home in the bodily fleshly life or absent from it, spiritually weak or strong, they will still be accepted at the last day. And that fits to my mind more comfortably with Paul's whole attitude to the weak Corinthians and his labour for their final acceptance.</p><p>&ldquo;In this (body) we <i>groan</i>... we that are in this tabernacle do <i>groan</i>, being burdened... we are always <i>confident</i>... we are <i>confident</i>, I say... Wherefore we <i>labour</i> (are ambitious), that... we may be accepted of Him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ&quot; (2 Cor. 5:1-10 AV). Notice the designed repetition of the words &quot;groan&quot; and &quot;confident&quot;. The humdrum groaning of this life is related to our ambitious confidence that we really will be accepted at the day of judgment. The very thought of acceptance on that day requires real ambition, an ambition that will lift us right up out of the 'groaning' of this life.</p>