What is the context?
This brief verse belongs inside 2 Corinthians 5:6–8. Paul contrasts present bodily life with being at home with the Lord and explains the confidence with which he awaits what he does not yet see.
Walking describes the way he lives in that interval. His confidence rests on the Lord and His promise, while the fullness of being with Him is still ahead. Read in its setting, the verse is about living by that trust rather than seeing the promised future already completed.
The wider application to trusting God matters, but it should not replace that immediate setting or turn faith into a rejection of careful thought and evidence.
How is this passage commonly understood?
Christians commonly understand the verse as present trust in the Lord before the fullness of the promised life is seen. Wesley’s note on verse 7 and the USCCB note on verses 6–9 both place it within the contrast between present life and being with Him.
Where does this fit in God's plan?
In John 20:24–31, the risen Jesus meets Thomas and blesses those who have not seen and yet have believed. John then explains that the signs recorded in his Gospel are written so readers may believe and have life in Jesus’ name.
This is a connection between trusting Christ without personally seeing Him and receiving the witness God has provided. It does not make faith belief without any basis: the written testimony points readers toward the same living Lord.
What is our position?
Our study Should We Seek Signs From God? applies this verse to faith that trusts what God has revealed without requiring a stream of new physical confirmations. We connect it with Jesus’ words to Thomas in John 20:27–29. Paul’s immediate setting remains the confidence of awaiting life with the Lord; the application does not remove that context.