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2 CORINTHIANS 5:7 “FOR WE WALK BY FAITH, NOT BY SIGHT.” (KJV, NKJV, NASB, ASV, RSV)
“We live by faith, not by sight.” (NIV)
“We know these things are true by believing, not by seeing.” (TLB)
How about an easy memory verse. Just eight words in this one…seven if you memorize it from the NIV. Plus, this is a very well known, often quoted verse that in many ways, is the foundation of our belief. We walk by faith, not by sight.
You absolutely must read the verses before and after verse seven to understand the context. Paul is teaching the Corinthians about the next life. As followers of Jesus, we have a home prepared for us when this life on earth is over. But, like a lot that we learn from the Word, this too is an idea we accept without having seen it. So much of our faith is like that.
Paul discusses some interesting, if not peculiar, ideas about the next life in verses 1-5. We have a place after this life…he calls it a “building from God, an eternal house in heaven.” He admits we long for heaven. He reminds us how much better it will be than this life. He even tells us the Holy Spirit is given to us as a deposit for what is to come. In the end, he tells us, believing in our eternal home, we long to be there much more than stay here. To be absent from this body will be to be present with the Lord. I’m looking forward to that!
My sweet mother, Doris, had very specific images of what her place in heaven was going to be like. She probably took the image of her “mansion, just over the hilltop” more literally than anyone else I ever knew.
We lost my next to youngest brother Duane at a very early age from cancer. Like the loss of any parents’ child, Mom and Dad missed Duane so much. Mom just knew that Duane was up in heaven, getting her mansion ready for her. We teased her that he was probably hammering on the shingles in her roof just like he had done many times here on earth. When Mom passed away in 2020, Dad swore that he knew Mom had not stopped hugging Duane since he got there.
We look forward to heaven a lot of times because it promises to be so great and who wouldn’t long to be there? Our mental images of the wonders of heaven fill our imaginations with wondrous beauty. But, without doubt, we truly accept the reality of heaven…even accept the truth Paul is telling us in Corinthians…because we believe it to be true. We haven’t seen it, but we believe it. Like so many other aspects of our Christian faith, we walk in them by faith, not by sight.
The disciple Thomas found the stories of Jesus’ resurrection so incredible that he said he wouldn’t believe Jesus had risen from the dead unless he could see Him with his own eyes. Jesus accommodated Thomas’ lack of faith (forever we will know him as “doubting Thomas”) by coming to him in the resurrected flesh and letting him touch Him. Thomas believed, but we are those Jesus said would be more blessed because we had not seen yet still believe. That is one of many outstanding definitions of FAITH.
Jesus calls us. We do not see Him, but through the Spirit who speaks to our spirit, we hear His voice. By faith, although we do not see, we believe and, as a result, receive eternal life. When we “believe on Him,” we have everlasting life (John 3:16). We learned in Hebrews 11:1 that our faith is “the evidence of things not seen.” The rest of that chapter tells us of scores of believers who walked in faith, even though they could not see the promise they were given.
Hebrews 11 amplifies what 2 Cor 5:7 teaches us by giving us example after example of what it means to “walk by faith,” in contrast to our natural desire to walk by sight. Abel offered a sacrifice without having to see why. Noah built an ark over one hundred years to save humanity from a flood without ever having seen one. Abraham left home to go to a promised place, “not knowing where he was going.”
Hebrews 11:13 tells us that all those “Heroes of the Faith” died in faith, “not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off were assured of them.” They saw them, but not with the vision of their earthly eyes. They also are promised, even as we are promised, a city that God has prepared for us (vrs 16). The Bible uses them as examples to us so we can understand and live that same life of faith. Not a faith that demands to see to believe, but one that sees with eyes of faith what our natural eyes cannot.
Earlier in that passage, Paul tells us quite plainly that without faith, it is impossible to please God! Verse 6 says that we must “believe that He is.” We quite literally must believe that God exists in the first place before we can demonstrate any kind of faith. Then, we are to believe (even sometimes without seeing) that He is “a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.”
One can understand the deep urge to demand that we see the proof before we believe the truth. Faith, however, is just the opposite. God wants us to believe the truth, even if we never see any proof, at least not in this life. As men born of flesh, we want to see everything, touch it, confirm it with our eyes, our hands and our senses before we say we believe it. God wants us to walk by faith and sometimes that means purposefully, not walking by sight.
I thank the Lord that I have never lost my vision. Those who are blind, through training, can be taught to walk without sight. You have seen those like the photo above. Through that training, they had to trust what those who could see told them about what they could do before they could walk “not by sight.” But, ultimately, anyone like them would have to have enough faith that what they learned would keep them out of danger before they could walk that way.
Here lately, as I have considered the truth in this statement about faith, I have tried to look at all that goes on around me through the lens of faith and not just how it all appears to be. Through my earthly eyes, it sure seems like the world is running as hard as it can toward destruction. Turning off my fleshly vision and trying to see through the eyes of faith, it kind of seems like I can occasionally see the Lord’s work as He prepares to return for his “bride” and fulfill the prophecies of Daniel and Revelation.
When a well-meaning acquaintance or friend of mine seems to be responding to me badly or acting like a jerk, I have started turning off the visual imagery they are impressing me with and start asking the Lord to show me why they are acting the way they are. When it appears that bad things are happening to me or why a particular sickness is affecting me or someone I love, I stop emphasizing the visual aspect of the situation and look for the faith-inspired reason why the Lord is letting me walk through this.
These are just a few of the ways I can walk by faith if I am willing to stop depending on everything making sense in the way I see it. Have you ever tried this? Maybe we all need to close our eyes to walking by sight from time to time and see what the Word means by “walking by faith, and NOT by sight.” Give it a try.
Questions to consider: God gave most of us great eyes, great vision. Why would He choose to expect us to believe in what we cannot see instead of having it proven to us by sight? How easily can what we see deceive us into believing things that are not true? Ever watch a magician? How does he make those things we see seem so incredible? What does faith and the Word tell us about heaven that makes is so desirable and believable to us even though we have not seen it? What kind of rewards have you received here on earth because you chose to believe God instead of what the world told you about things?
Other Scriptures to study: Matt 8:26 “You of little faith, why are you so afraid?” Matt 15:28 “You have great faith. Your request is granted.” Mark 10:52 “Your faith has healed you.” Luke 7:50 “Your faith has saved you. Go in peace.” Luke 18:8 “When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?” Romans 1:17 “The righteous shall live by faith.” (Galatians 3:11)
 
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