Verse 9
As we look forward to the realization of these good things our ambition must be to please God come life or death. The prospect of face-to-face fellowship with Jesus Christ should motivate us to please Him out of love (cf. Galatians 1:10; Philippians 1:20; Colossians 1:10; 1 Thessalonians 4:1). Paul did not mean that we can perform acts after we die that will please God (cf. 2 Corinthians 5:10), though we can. "At home or absent" is a figure of speech (merism) for always. In a merism two parts represent the whole (e.g., heaven and earth means the universe).
"To be well-pleasing to Christ is, indeed, the sum of all ambition which is truly Christian." [Note: Hughes, p. 178.]
". . . one always wishes to please the one he or she loves." [Note: Barnett, p. 273.]
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