Bible Strands
2 Corinthians 5:7
For we walk by faith, not by sight.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Paul addresses the Corinthian church in the middle of a passage (5:6–8) about the tension between being "at home in the body" and being "away from the Lord." This verse is the hinge: it names the mode of life that holds that tension together.
The words — Peripatoumen (περιπατοῦμεν, "we walk") is present active, marking a continuous, habitual gait rather than a single decision. Dia (διὰ) with the genitive is instrumental: faith and sight are the means by which they navigate, not merely the objects they hold.
The thread — Hebrews 11:1 defines faith as certainty about what is not seen; 2 Corinthians 4:18 contrasts the seen (temporary) with the unseen (eternal); Romans 8:24 states that hope for what one already sees is no hope at all.
Why it lands — It asks the reader to accept that their present confidence in God's promises is sustained by trust, not by empirical confirmation, and that this is not a deficiency but the designed condition of the life they are living.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Greek words
King James Version
(For we walk by faith, not by sight:)
Cross-references
- Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is the assurance of what we hope for and the certainty of what we do not see.
- 2 Corinthians 4:18 So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
- Romans 8:24 For in this hope we were saved; but hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he can already see?
- 1 Peter 1:8 Though you have not seen Him, you love Him; and though you do not see Him now, you believe in Him and rejoice with an inexpressible and glorious joy,
- Hebrews 10:38 But My righteous one will live by faith; and if he shrinks back, I will take no pleasure in him.”
- Galatians 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.
- 1 Peter 5:9 Resist him, standing firm in your faith and in the knowledge that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kinds of suffering.
- 1 Corinthians 13:12 Now we see but a dim reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
- 2 Corinthians 1:24 Not that we lord it over your faith, but we are fellow workers with you for your joy, because it is by faith that you stand firm.
- Deuteronomy 12:9 For you have not yet come to the resting place and the inheritance that the LORD your God is giving you.