The passage
      v6. The "earthly tent" (the body) may be fragile and ephemeral, but it does have an eternal end, guaranteed through the gift of the Spirit, v5. For this reason, "therefore", Paul is "confident" of his eternal inheritance, even though his body is weak. Paul doesn't actually get to say this until v8ff because he drifts a little in his argument and has to qualify his words in v7. He ends up saying he is confident because he knows that his present weak and limited body, in a sense, is not yet part of the glorious reign of Christ in heaven. This is not really the point Paul wants to make and in any case, it can be misunderstood.
      v7. Being away from the Lord doesn't mean that we are without the Lord. For the present, the believer exists by daily relying on the enlivening ministry of the indwelling Spirit of Christ, rather than on the full glory of the heavenly experience. The believer does not live in the presence of an objectively authenticated Christ, but none-the-less, we are in Christ and Christ is in us, and this "by faith."
      v8. Returning to the thought in v6, Paul restates his confidence, namely that although the body is a temporary and fragile thing it has an eternal end, to "be swallowed up by life." It is on the basis of the glory that awaits the believer that Paul is able to say he is "confident". Choosing his words a little more carefully, Paul makes the point he was trying to make in v6, namely, that his eternal confidence prompts an "otherness" in his life. The thought is well summed up in the old chorus, "this world ain't my I'm just passing through."
      v9. All that matters, whether living within the limitations of the present moment, or within the glory of eternity, is that we make it our ambition "to be acceptable to the Lord" (better than "please"). Acceptance in the sight of God is realized through faith in Christ, both now and for eternity.
      v10. In the end, every believer will be judged by Christ on the basis of their actions and recompensed good for good and evil for evil. The judgment Paul is referring is for believers; unbelievers are already judged and condemned on the basis of their response to the gospel. It is difficult to know exactly what the criterion is for this judgement and what the sentence might be. A loss of salvation seems unlikely, although if this is possible it can only be on the grounds of our turning away from Christ. Paul's reference to judgment here most likely concerns an examination of the faithfulness or otherwise of a believer's service to Christ. A worthless life of service will be exposed and declared irrelevant.

Confidence
      "We need to get away from economic melancholy. We may be fallen angels, but we do have wings that can carry us to heaven." These are the words of an economist and they are words we need to make our own.
      These are not confident times and so insecurity is rife. We see the world in turmoil. We are totally debilitated by terrorism, constantly fearing the worst. We see our nation drifting away from Christian values. We are unsure of the capacity of government to handle practical matters such as health and education, let alone matters of ethics. We see our church in decline. We see a loss of confidence in the shapes of the past. For example, even in the church we have set aside nearly all the children's choruses of our childhood, along with the great hymns of praise, and replaced them with dumbed down, banal reflections of pop culture. We worry for our own personal welfare and that of our children and grandchildren. Naturally, within this "melancholy" our personal faith takes on an air of insecurity.
      As Paul the apostle observed the weakness and mortality of his humanity in the face of the corrupted power of the Roman Empire, along with the intransigence of his fellow Jews and the lunacy of Christian churches out of control, he was able to affirm his confidence in an eternal future which transcended the fading shadows of his day-to-day life. His confidence rested on substantial truth:

          i] A believer is separated from Christ by their earthly existence, v6.
          ii] Yet, a believer does find union with Christ in the present, and this by faith, v7.
          iii] A believer's desire for complete union with Christ in eternity lightens the grip of this world's things, v8.
          iv] As a believer awaits eternity, it is expected that they will serve Christ in the present, as they will serve Christ in eternity, v9.
          v] The value of this service will be tested one day, v10.

v7
      gar "-" - for. Normally supplying a cause or reason for a previous statement, but that is unlikely here and so best left untranslated, as NIV.
      peripatoumen (peripatew) pres. "we live" - we walk about. The present tense indicating ongoing action, so "walking" rather than "walk"; "walking" in the sense of "conducting our lives." The issue of our living apart from Christ is not really what Paul wants to address and in any case, his words could lead to confusion. So, at this point he deals with the confusion and then returns to his subject in v8. A believer is apart from Christ when it comes to "the outward appearance of things", but not when it comes to reality. Christ is intimately with us through the indwelling Spirit, which reality is accessed through faith.
      dia "by" - through, by means of. "On the basis of faith", Barrett.
      eidouV (oV) "sight" - form, outward appearance. The word may be active, "seeing", as NIV, or passive, "on the basis of what is seen." Passive seems best with Martin concurring with Barrett; "we live by believing in the absent and invisible Christ, not by looking at visible forms." Here the form of "the glorious and exalted Christ", Thrall. "Not by the outward appearance of things", Barrett.

v8
      qarroumen (qarrew) pres. "we are confident, I say" - Paul now retraces his steps. A believer can be confident of being with the Lord, whether alive in body, asleep awaiting the day of resurrection, or in the heavenly assembly at the last day.
      eudokoumen mallon "would prefer" - we are well pleased, consent, enjoy more, rather. "We wish rather / we would prefer", cf. BAGD.
      ekdhmhsai (ekdhmew) aor. inf. "to be away [from]" - to leave home. The aorist indicating punctiliar action which probably indicates that Paul has in mind death. If it is a matter of preference, Paul would rather be out of the body and home with the Lord. The language is a bit strange given that Paul, like all of us, fears "nakedness" (death), but then he is expressing a principle rather than dealing with an actual life-threatening situation. "We would much prefer to leave our home in this body", Barclay.
      proV + acc. "[at home] with [the Lord]" - to, toward. Here the preposition contains both a linear sense of motion toward, as well as a punctiliar sense of arrival into, at rest in.

v9
      dio "so" - therefore. Introducing a logical conclusion; "for this reason", Barrett.
      filotimoumeqa (filotimeomai) pres. "we make it our goal" - we make it our aim, we are ambitious, we are aspiring, we set our goal, we devote ourselves zealously. "It is therefore our one ambition", Barclay.
      einai (eimi) pres. inf. "to [please him]" - to be. The infinitive of the verb to-be probably serves here to express purpose, "in order to."
      euarestoi adj. "[to] please" - acceptable, well pleasing. Used of a slave giving satisfaction to their master, and therefore of being acceptable, irrespective of whether the master feels happy about the slaves good service, cf. Tit.2:9. Although the sense of "pleasing the Lord" is dominant in translations, the idea that anything we do can be pleasing to God is somewhat far fetched. It is presumptuous to assume that God is pleased with us, that we make him happy. The sense "acceptable" is more likely, an acceptance in the sight of God which comes through faith in Christ. "Satisfy", Moffatt, possibly, but better "to be acceptable to him", REB.
      autw/ pro. "him" - he, she, it. The pronoun is either masculine or neuter, therefore either refers to "the Lord" = "him", or "the body" = "it". "We make it our ambition to be acceptable to the Lord."
      eite .... eite "whether [we are at home in the body] or [away from it]" - either [being at home] or [being away from home]. The two participles obviously refer to living in this present life and living in eternity, although it is not quite clear which is which. The NIV option seems best. Presumably both participles qualify "to be acceptable to him", as NIV word order, ie. a believer seeks to be acceptable to the Lord both now and in eternity.