2 Corinthians 7:8

2Co_7:8-11

For though I made you sorry with a letter I do not repent, though I did repent.

The spirit of apostolical rebuke

It was marked by--

I. Unflinching severity. St. Paul rejoiced in the pain he had inflicted, because the pain was transitory, while the good was permanent; because the suffering was in this world, but the salvation for eternity: for the sinner had been delivered to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit might be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. Learn the misfortune of non-detection. They who have done wrong congratulate themselves upon not being found out. Boys are disobedient; men commit crimes against society, and their natural impulse is to hush all up; and if they can do so they consider it a happy escape. It is not so. If this scandal at Corinth had been hushed up, then the offender would have thought it a fortunate escape, and sinned again. Somehow, like a bullet-wound, the internal evil must come out in the face of day, be found out, or else be acknowledged by confession. Let me ask then, who here is congratulating himself, My sin is not known, I shall not be disgraced nor punished? Think you that you will escape? Your sin is rankling in your heart: your wound is not probed, but only healed over falsely; and it wilt break out in the future, more corrupted and more painful than before.

II. By the desire of doing good. It is no rare thing for men to be severe in rebuke. They tell you of your faults, not for your reformation, but their own vainglory. Now St. Paul was not thinking of himself, but of the Corinthians (2Co_7:9; 2Co_7:11; 2Co_7:16). He was trying to save their souls. It is often a duty to express disapprobation strongly and severely, but then we do it not in St. Pauls spirit, unless it is done for the sake of amelioration.

III. By justice (2Co_7:12). His inference was no taking of a side, no espousing the cause of the injured, nor mere bitterness against the criminal, but a godly zeal, full of indignation, but not of vindictiveness. Now this is exactly what some of us find most difficult--those especially who possess quick, sensitive, right, and generous feelings. We can be charitable, we can be indignant, we can forgive; but we are not just. Again, this justice is most difficult when religious interests are involved: as, for example, in the quarrel between the Roman Catholic and the Protestant, who judges fairly?

IV. By joyful sympathy in the restoration of the erring, Very beautiful is the union of the hearts of Paul and Titus in joy over the recovered--joy as of the angels in heaven over one sinner that repenteth. (F. W. Robertson, M. A.)

Now I rejoice, not that ye were made sorry, but that ye sorrowed to repentance.--

Godly sorrow

I. The mental state here exhibited. This sorrow was not of an ordinary kind. He afterwards defines it as sorrow after a godly manner, or according to God. The emotion was connected with certain local circumstances and events; but it must be regarded as forming an integral part in those arrangements of Divine mercy which are associated with the transformation and the final well-being of the human soul.

1. It arises from the truth brought home to the mind with regard to the extent and spirituality of the Divine law. When we compare the character of the Divine law with our own characters and habits, we must perceive how infinitely we fall short of our obligations, and what a vast amount of transgression we have committed. Well will it be if such a contrast humbles you in the dust, and leads you in brokenness of heart to confess, Against Thee, Thee only have I sinned; and to supplicate, God be merciful to me a sinner.

2. It is also produced by the truth displayed and admitted to the mind respecting the awfulness of future punishment. What language will you find sufficient to depict the abomination which deprives man of his immortality of bliss?

3. It is also produced through the display and admission to the mind of the truth regarding the sufferings of Christ as all endured for sin, He was wounded for our transgression, etc. Some among you may recollect the history of the first mission of the United Brethren. They taught the duties of morality, and spoke of the sanction of a future world, without producing aught like conviction or repentance; but no sooner did they begin to lift up the Cross than the stony hearts were melted, and men began to inquire, What shall we do to be saved?

II. the connection existing between this mental state and the permanent constitution of the Christian character. In the original there are two different words translated by repentance, the former signifying mere regret. This is sometimes applied to God: The gifts and calling of God are without repentance, or regret. The Lord hath sworn, and will not repent. It is sometimes applied to man, in order to denote those imperfect notions in religion which have no connection with the salvation of the soul, and is the term used in regard to the repentance of Judas (Mat_27:3). The latter term, which signifies an enduring change which is always for the better, is that which we usually denote by the term evangelical repentance. Repent, and believe the gospel. Repent, and be converted. It is the one which is employed in the text. Though I made you sorry with a letter, I do not regret, though I did regret; I rejoice, not that you were made sorry, but that you sorrowed to repentance--your sorrow produced an enduring change for the better.

1. This verse is a graphic record of the practical nature of repentance, which is a change of mind from unbelief and alienation against God and His law, to faith and love towards both; and a change of habit and of life from the pursuit and practice of sin, to the pursuit and practice of holiness.

2. Its blessings. Godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation. Elsewhere it is mentioned as being repentance unto life, because connected with everlasting happiness (2Pe_3:1-18).

III. The ministerial emotions with which this mental state is viewed. The reasons why a minister may rejoice in the repentance of his hearers are--

1. Because of its bearing upon the holiness of men.

2. Upon the glory of God. The glory of God must rightly constitute an object of ministerial desire; and the glory of God, through our instrumentality, can alone be secured by the conversion of souls.

3. Upon the happiness of ministers themselves (2Co_1:12-14; 1Th_2:19-20).

Conclusion: Observe--

1. How much of encouragement there is for those who have been brought into this state.

2. How much of solemnity gathers round the state of those who have not been susceptible of this state at all. (J. Parsons.)

The power of sorrow

Distinguish between sorrow and repentance. To grieve over sin is one thing, to repent of it is another. Sorrow is in itself a thing neither good nor bad; its value depends on the spirit of the person on whom it falls. Fire will inflame straw, soften iron, or harden clay.

I. The fatal power of the sorrow of the world. It works death--

1. In the effect of mere regret for worldly loss. We come into the world with health, friends, and sometimes property. So long as these are continued we are happy, and therefore fancy ourselves very grateful to God; but this is not religion; it has as little moral character in it, in the happy human being, as in the happy bird. Nay more, it is a suspicious thing; having been warmed by joy, it will become cold when joy is over; and then when these blessings are removed we count ourselves hardly treated, as if we had been defrauded of a right; rebellious hard feelings come; people become bitter, spiteful, discontented. This is the death of heart; the sorrow of the world has worked death.

2. When sin is grieved for in a worldly spirit. There are two views of sin: as wrong, or as producing loss, e.g., of character. In such cases, if character could be preserved before the world, grief would not come. In the midst of Sauls apparent grief the thing uppermost was that he had forfeited his kingly character; almost the only longing was that Samuel should honour him before his people. And hence it comes to pass that often remorse and anguish only begin with exposure. A corpse has been preserved for centuries in the iceberg, or in antiseptic peat, and when air was introduced it crumbled into dust. Exposure worked dissolution, but it only manifested the death which was already there; so with sorrow.

3. When the hot tears come from pride. No two tones of feeling, apparently similar, are more unlike than that in which Saul exclaimed, I have played the fool exceedingly, and the publican, God be merciful to me a sinner. Now this sorrow of Sauls, too, works death; when once a man has found himself out, he cannot be deceived again. What on this earth remains, but endless sorrow, for him who has ceased to respect himself, and has no God to turn to?

II. The Divine power of sorrow.

1. It works repentance, change of life, alteration of habits, renewal of heart. The consequences of sin are meant to wean from sin. The penalty annexed to it is, in the first instance, corrective, not penal. Fire burns the child, to teach it one of the truths of this universe--the property of fire to burn. The first time it cuts its hand with a sharp knife it has gained a lesson which it never will forget. Sorrow avails only when the past is converted into experience, and from failure lessons are learned which never are to be forgotten.

2. Permanence of alteration. A steady reformation is a more decisive test of the value of mourning than depth of grief. The characteristic of the Divine sorrow is that it is a repentance not repented of. And in proportion as the repentance increases the grief diminishes. I rejoice that I made you sorry, though it were but for a time. Grief for a time, repentance for ever. And few things more signally prove the wisdom of this apostle than his way of dealing with this grief. He tried no artificial means of intensifying it. So soon as grief had done its work the apostle was anxious to dry useless tears--he even feared lest happily such an one should be swallowed up with overmuch sorrow.

3. It is sorrow according to God. God sees sin in itself: a thing infinitely evil, even if the consequence were happiness instead of misery. So sorrow, according to God, is to see sin as God sees it. The grief of Peter was as bitter as that of Judas. But in Peters grief there was an element of hope, because he saw God in it all. Despair of self did not lead to despair of God. This is the peculiar feature of this sorrow; God is there, accordingly self is less prominent. It is not a microscopic self-examination, nor a mourning in which self is ever uppermost; my character gone; the greatness of my Sin; the forfeiture of my salvation. The thought of God absorbs all that. (F. W. Robertson, M. A.)

Sorrow and sorrow

Time was when inner experience was considered to be everything, and experimental preaching was the order of the day. Now it is apt to be too much slighted. Introspection was formerly pushed to the extreme of morbid self-searching; yet it ought not now to be utterly abandoned. A correct diagnosis of disease is not everything, but yet it is valuable. A sense of poverty cannot by itself enrich, but it may stimulate. Now it is only believe. And rightly so: but we must discriminate. There must be sorrow for sin working repentance. Upon this point we must--

I. Remove certain erroneous ideas with regard to repentance and sorrow for sin. Among popular delusions we must mention the suppositions--

1. That mere sorrow of mind in reference to sin is repentance.

2. That there can be repentance without sorrow for sin.

3. That we must reach a certain point of wretchedness and horror, or else we are not truly penitent.

4. That repentance happens to us once, and is then over.

5. That repentance is a most unhappy feeling.

6. That repentance must be mixed with unbelief, and embittered by the fear that mercy will be unable to meet our wretched case.

II. Distinguish between the two sorrows mentioned in the text.

1. The godly sorrow which worketh repentance to salvation is sorrow for sin--

(1) As committed against God.

(2) Arising out of an entire change of mind.

(3) Which joyfully accepts salvation by grace.

(4) Leading to future obedience.

(5) Which leads to perpetual perseverance in the ways of God. The ways of sin are forsaken because abhorred. This kind of repentance is never repented of.

2. The sorrow of the world is--

(1) Caused by shame at being found out.

(2) Attended by hard thoughts of God.

(3) Leads to vexation and sullenness.

(4) Incites to hardening of heart.

(5) Lands the soul in despair.

(6) Works death of the worst kind. This needs to be repented of, for it is in itself sinful and terribly prolific of more sin.

III. Indulge ourselves in godly sorrow for sin. Come, let us be filled with a wholesome grief that we have--

1. Broken a law, pure and perfect.

2. Disobeyed a gospel, Divine and gracious.

3. Grieved a God, good and glorious.

4. Slighted Jesus, whose love is tender and boundless.

5. Been ungrateful, though loved, elected, redeemed, forgiven, justified, and soon to be glorified.

6. Been so foolish as to lose the joyous fellowship of the Spirit, the raptures of communion with Jesus.

Let us confess all this, lie low at Jesus feet, wash His feet with tears, and love, yea, love ourselves away. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

A twofold soul sorrow

1. The honest administration of gospel truth often inflicts sorrow on its subjects. The apostle made the Corinthians sorry with a letter. The gospel is a sword to cut, an arrow to pierce, a fire to burn.

2. The sorrow is of twofold distinct types. Let us contrast these sorrows.

I. The one is concerned with the principle of wrong; the other with the results.

1. Some groan under a sense of their sins because of the injuries which they have already inflicted and their ultimate doom. It is a selfish regret, an unvirtuous emotion.

2. But others mourn over the moral wrongness of the act; not because of the curse that has or wilt come upon them. The sorrow of Judas represents the one, the sorrow of Peter the other.

II. The one is concerned for others, the other for self. Godly sorrow seems to engulf all personal considerations. The claims of God, the interests of society, the good of the universe, these are the subjects that unseal its fountains.

III. The one improves the character, the other deteriorates it. Godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation, from all that is corrupt in thought and feeling, from all evil tendencies and habits. Moral sorrows, like waters, at once cleanse, refresh, and fertilise. But selfish sorrow contracts and hardens the soul. The man who selfishly broods over his own ill doings sinks into a miserable misanthrope.

IV. The one issues in blessedness, the other in misery. Godly sorrow need not be repented of, for it brings a consciousness of forgiveness, a sense of the Divine favour, and a direction of the whole soul to all that is useful and Divine. But the sorrow of the world worketh death. It leads only to remorse, despair, and utter ruin. (D. Thomas, D. D.)

Godly sorrow

1. The text carries us into the heart of a story eighteen hundred years old. The actors in it have long fallen on sleep; but forasmuch as the story has a place in the Bible, it can never die. It is written for our admonition. St. Paul has heard of a terrible scandal at Corinth. He hears that the Church is scarcely shocked by it. All the feeling is left to him. A man who has been caught up into the third heaven knows what a sin looks like in the vestibule of the Great King; and he has to communicate that aspect of it to the Church. The result we have in this chapter.

2. Luther tells how, while he was still ignorant of the gospel of grace, the word repentance was repulsive to him; but when once he had apprehended the revelation of a free forgiveness, all the texts about repentance began to charm and attract him. May it be thus with us. Note--

I. The worlds sorrow.

1. When St. Paul wrote the world stood out plainly enough to the Christian. The idea of the word in the Greek is order. As God sent it forth from His creative hand it was a system of exquisite adaptation and workmanship. But when sin entered and death by sin, there sprang up side by side a new organisation, from which God was left out. When Christ came He found this alien world almost co-extensive with the human universe. Out of it He called such as would listen. But still in the first days of the Church the other was the predominant one; and therefore it spoke for itself as to what was meant when St. John said, Love not the world, or our Lord, If ye were of the world, the world would love its own. The difficulty began when the world itself adopted Christianity for its religion, submitted itself to Christian baptism. But still there is a world, and a very real one, and its characteristic is just what it was--namely, an order and an organism, which leaves God out. It goes in and out amongst the Church, with which it claims to be synonymous. Wherever there is a life lived without God; wherever there is a society organised on the principle of being by itself untrammelled by thought of Him, there is the world in this evil sense.

2. The worlds sorrow fills a large page of life.

(1) For, of course, the world is not exempt from misfortune, from wounds in the house of its friends--from death, and deaths thousand perils and satellites. But there is something characteristic in the worlds way of taking each trouble; there is an astonishment, a resentment, a selfishness, a despair quite peculiar to the sorrow of the kosmos which has shut out God. How often has it been seen quite literally that the worlds sorrow has wrought death! How often has suicide itself been the worlds way of meeting misfortune!

(2) But, considering the context, we may suppose St. Paul to have had specially in his view the worlds sorrow for sin. Sin does touch with sorrow even the world. Sometimes the sin of others touches it; the loose life of a son may deeply wound a fathers love as well as a fathers pride and a fathers confidence. The world has to sorrow oftentimes for its own sin; it is often found out by it. There is a sorrow for the loss of character, for the blighting of a career, for the object of a guilty passion, deprived of all that makes life valuable. These are specimens of the worlds sorrow, which, however, only at last works death. The world being organised on the principle of shutting out God, and death, in its full and final sense, is the final signing and sealing of that exclusion of God.

II. The sorrow which is according to God.

1. This may mean--

(1) God-like--sorrowing for sin as God sorrows for it. Witness the Cross.

(2) As God would have it to be--a sorrow which is agreeable to the mind and will of the Holy One.

(3) As God works it by the powerful efficiency of His grace.

2. But none of these senses is entirely satisfactory. We would rather read it, the sorrow which has regard to God, in direct opposition to the worlds sorrow, that leaves out of it the thought of God. It would be unreal language to require that sorrow for sin should have no reference whatever to its bearing upon the sinner. God has arranged in mercy and wisdom that motives of fear and self-preservation shall powerfully influence us; but not until God has place in the sinners sorrow can that sorrow be more than ambiguous as to the sinners state and the sinners hope.

3. This Godward sorrow will have in it three ingredients.

(1) Against Thee, Thee, only have I sinned. As the godly-refraining from sin in it the thought, How can I do this great wickedness and sin against God? so the godly-sorrowing for sin has in it the thought, Against Thee, O God, yea, in comparison against Thee alone have I sinned.

(2) It does not isolate the particular sin; it sees it in its root, and in its connection. Behold, I was shapen in wickedness, and in sin did my mother conceive me.

(3) And thus it recognises a need far graver and more serious than that of forgiveness. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Repentance is not merely sorrow; it is the new mind which views altogether differently from before the two lives of sin and of holiness, and the two objects, self and God. (Dean Vaughan.)

Godly sorrow

I. Its nature--Sorrow according to God.

1. It is sorrow for sin as an offence against God. Not that the penitent is unaffected with the evil of sin as respects his fellow-creatures and his own soul. It is, however, as an offence against God that he chiefly laments it; he views it as rebellion against God, as transgression of His law, a disbelief of His truth, a rejection of His grace, ingratitude for His goodness, and insensibility to His love. Against Thee, Thee only, have I sinned, and done evil in Thy sight. A consideration of his sins, as what occasioned the sufferings and death of Christ, is what especially affects his heart. He looks upon Him whom he has pierced, and mourns for Him.

2. It is according to the will of God as revealed in Scripture. Not that God delights to see any of His creatures unhappy. He knows that godly sorrow is essential to our-happiness.

3. It is produced in the heart by the Spirit of God. Man, in his natural state, knows nothing of this sorrow.

4. It accords with the design of God respecting man. This is evidently none other than to bring us back to Himself.

II. Its effect. It worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of. Repentance signifies a change of mind; a change of the understanding from darkness to light, and of the will and affections from sin to holiness. Such a change is attended with the most happy results. We do not wonder, therefore, to hear the apostle declare that it is not to be repented of. Whether we consult Scripture or experience, whether we search the Church below or above, not a saint can we meet with that regrets his repentance or his salvation. Conclusion: But is this the case with the impenitent?

1. Is not the want of repentance to salvation often accompanied with such bitterness of reflection, even in the present world, and especially at the approach of death, as makes those who feel it unutterably wretched?

2. The sorrow of the world worketh death. Having no connection with the love and fear of God and faith in His mercy it never ends happily, whatever may be the causes which produce it, it terminates at no time in a change of heart and conduct. (D. Rees.)

True repentance is a godly sorrow

I. In speaking of the nature of godly sorrow we are led to remark that it is not only sorrow on account of sin, but sorrow of a peculiar kind. The sorrow of which the apostle speaks is godly sorrow which leads men to mourn with a right spirit, and has an eye towards God, against whom sin has been committed (Psa_51:4; Luk_15:18). Godly sorrow not only mourns before God for outward sins, but also for those evil thoughts which can be known only to Him who sees the heart. It will be also an increasing sorrow in proportion as the subject of this gracious repentance is led into all truth, as he is brought to know more of the depths of iniquity, and the evil of sin; as he is enabled to discern more of the workings of his heart, and more of the spirituality of the Divine law. But it will be a feeling accompanied with peace, because it will be recognised as an evidence of grace.

II. Some of the means by which this godly sorrow is excited, which will farther illustrate this truth. It is difficult sometimes to trace the immediate cause of godly sorrow, because the first workings of this principle are often silent and gentle in their operations.

1. Affliction. When men are at ease in their possessions, and are intoxicated with the bustle of worldly care, they can indulge in sin with little restraint, and neglect the salvation of their souls as a matter of little concern. The mercies of God seem only to supply fresh encouragement to sin. Hence He is sometimes pleased to awaken the sons of prosperity by means of afflictive dispensations.

2. Not unfrequently His goodness leadeth to repentance.

3. Another means which God is pleased to employ in producing godly sorrow is the reading or the preaching of His own Word. In some, as in the case of Josiah, the terrors of the law have prepared the way for spiritual peace. In others the effects have more nearly resembled those which were produced by the sermon of St. Peter on the day of Pentecost.

III. The effect of this godly sorrow. It worketh, saith the apostle, a repentance unto salvation not to be repented of either in this world or the next. Let it then be distinctly remembered that the blessing is not of a temporal character; but the salvation mentioned in the text has reference to higher blessings, and calls for increasing thankfulness because it respects the deliverance of the soul. (W. Mayors, A. M.)

Repentance

I. The remembrance of sin is the cause of godly sorrow in the heart of a true penitent. The sinner is to be considered in two different periods of time. In the first he is under the infatuation of sin; in the last, after-reflections on his sinful conduct fill his mind.

1. The sinner is affected with the number of his sins. When we reflect on our past lives sins arise from all parts and absorb our minds in their multitude.

2. The true penitent adds to a just notion of the number of his sins that of their enormity. Here we must remove the prejudices that we have imbibed concerning the morality of Jesus Christ; for here also we have altered His doctrine, and taken the world for our casuist, the maxims of loose worldlings for our supreme law. We have reduced great crimes to a few principal enormous vices which few people commit.

3. A third idea that afflicts a penitent is that of the fatal influence which his sins have had on the soul of his neighbour. One sin strikes a thousand blows, while it seems to aim at striking only one. It is a contagious poison which diffuseth itself far and wide, and infects not only him who commits it, but the greatest part of those who see it committed.

4. The weakness of motives to sin is the fourth cause of the sorrow of a penitent. Motives to sin are innumerable and various; but what are they all? Sometimes an imaginary interest, an inch of ground, and sometimes a crown, the conquest of the universe, the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them (Mat_4:10).

5. I make a fifth article of the penitents uncertainty of his state. For although the mercy of God is infinite yet it is certain the sinner in the first moments of his penitence hath reason to doubt of his state, and till the evidences of his conversion become clear there is almost as much probability of his destruction as of his salvation.

6. Perhaps hell.

7. In fine, the last arrow that woundeth the heart of a penitent is an arrow of Divine love. The more we love God the more misery we endure when we have been so unhappy as to offend Him. The union of all these causes which produce sorrow in a true penitent forms the grand difference between that which St. Paul calls godly sorrow and that which he calls the sorrow of the world, that is to say, between true repentance and that uneasiness which worldly systems sometimes give another kind of penitents.

II. St. Paul speaks of the effects of godly sorrow only in general terms in our text; he says it worketh repentance to salvation; but in the following verses he speaks more particularly.

1. The first effect of godly sorrow is what our apostle calls carefulness, or, as I would rather read it, vigilance--yea, what vigilance! I understand by this term the disposition of a man who, feeling a sincere sorrow for his sins, and being actually under the afflicting hand of God, is not content with a little vague knowledge of his own irregularities, but uses all his efforts to examine every circumstance of his life, and to dive into the least obvious parts of his own conscience in order to discover whatever is offensive to that God whose favour and clemency he most earnestly implores. The penitence of worldlings, or, as St. Paul expresseth it, the sorrow of the world, may indeed produce a vague knowledge of sin. Afflicted people very commonly say, We deserve these punishments, we are very great sinners; but those penitents are very rare indeed who possess what our apostle calls carefulness or vigilance.

2. What clearing of yourselves! adds St. Paul. The Greek word signifies apology, and it will be best understood by joining the following expression with it, yea, what indignation! In the sorrow of the world apology and indignation are usually companions; indignation against him who represents the atrocity of a sin, and apology for him who commits it. The reproved sinner is always fruitful in excuses, always ingenious in finding reasons to exculpate himself, even while he gives himself up to those excesses which admit of the least excuse. Now, change the objects of indignation and apology, and you will have a just notion of the dispositions of the Corinthians, and of the effects which godly sorrow produces in the soul of a true penitent. Let your apology have for its object that ministry which you have treated so unworthily, let your indignation turn against yourselves, and then you will have a right to pretend to the prerogatives of true repentance.

3. The apostle adds, yea, what fear! By fear in this place we understand that self-diffidence which an idea of the sins we have committed ought naturally to inspire. In this sense, St. Paul says to the Romans, Be not high-minded; but fear (Rom_11:20). Fear--that is to say, distrust thyself. Here you suffered through your inattention and dissipation; fear lest you should fall by the same means again, guard against this weakness, strengthen this feeble part, accustom yourself to attention, examine what relation every circumstance of your life has to your duty. There you fell through your vanity; fear lest you should fall again by the same means. Another time you erred through your excessive complaisance; fear lest you should err again by the same means.

4. What vehement desire! This is another vague term. Godly sorrow produceth divers kinds of desire. Here I confine it to one meaning: it signifies, I think, a desire of participating the favour of God, of becoming an object of the merciful promises which He hath made to truly contrite souls, and of resting under the shade of that Cross where an expiatory sacrifice was offered to Divine justice for the sins of mankind.

5. Finally, zeal is the sixth effect of godly sorrow, and it may have three sorts of objects--God, our neighbours, and ourselves.

III. St. Paul expresses himself in a very concise manner on this article; but his language is full of meaning; repentance produced by godly sorrow (says he) is not to re repented of--that is to say, it is always a full source of consolation and joy. Godly sorrow reconciles us to three enemies who, while we live in sin, attack us with implacable rage.

1. The first enemy who attacks us while we live in sin with implacable rage is the justice of God.

2. As godly sorrow reconciles us to Divine justice, so it reconciles us to our own consciences. It is repentance only, it is only godly sorrow that can disarm conscience.

3. In fine, godly sorrow reconciles us to death. (James Saurin.)

Sorrow according to God

The apostles summary of his preaching is Repentance towards God, and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. These two ought never to be separated. Yet the two are separated, and the reproach that the Christian doctrine of salvation through faith is immoral derives most of its force from forgetting that repentance is as real a condition of salvation as faith. Consider--

I. The true and the false sorrow for sin.

1. Now we have no more right to ask for an impossible uniformity of religious experience than we have to expect that all voices shall be pitched in one key, or all plants flower in the same month, or after the same fashion. Life produces resemblance with differences; it is machinery that makes facsimiles. Yet, whilst not asking that a man all diseased with the leprosy of sin, and a little child innocent of the great transgression, shall have the same experience; Scripture and the nature of the case assert that there are certain elements which, in varying proportions, will be found in all true Christian experience, and of these an indispensable one is godly sorrow.

2. Notice the broad distinction between the right and the wrong kind of sorrow for sin. Sorrow according to God is sorrow which has reference to God; the sorrow of the world is devoid of that reference. One puts sin by His side, sees its blackness relieved against the fierce light of the Great White Throne, and the other does not. There are plenty who, when reaping the bitter fruits of sin, are sorry enough. A man that is lying in the hospital, a wreck, is often enough sorry that he did not live differently. The fraudulent bankrupt that has lost his reputation, as he hangs about the streets, slouching in his rags, is sorry enough that he did not keep the straight road. Again, men are often sorry for their conduct without thinking of it as sin against God. Crime means the transgression of mans law, wrong the transgression of consciences law, sin the transgression of Gods law. Some of us would perhaps have to say--I have done crime. We are all of us quite ready to say,--I have done wrong; but there are some of us that hesitate to say, I have done sin. But if there be a God, then we have personal relations to Him and His law; and when we break His law it is more than crime, more than wrong--it is sin. It is when you lift the shutter off conscience, and let the light of God rush in that you have the wholesome sorrow that worketh repentance unto salvation. I believe that a very large amount of the superficiality and easy-goingness of the Christianity of to-day comes just from this, that so many who call themselves Christians have never once got a glimpse of themselves as they really are. I remember once peering over the edge of the crater of Vesuvius, and looking down into the pit all swirling with sulphurous fumes. Have you ever looked into your hearts in that fashion and seen the wreathing smoke and the flashing fire there? If you have, you will cleave to that Christ who is your sole deliverance from sin.

3. But there is no prescription about depth or amount or length of time during which this sorrow shall be felt. If you have as much sorrow as leads you to penitence and trust you have enough. It is not your sorrow that is going to wash away your sin, it is Christs blood. The one question is, Has my sorrow led me to cast myself on Christ?

II. Godly sorrow worketh repentance.

1. What is repentance? Many of you would answer sorrow for sin, but clearly this text draws a distinction between the two. The repentance of the Bible is, as the word distinctly expresses, a change of purpose in regard to the sin for which a man mourns. Let me remind you of one or two passages which may show that the right notion of the word, the gifts and calling of God are without repentance, i.e., without change of purpose on His part. Again, The Lord repented of the evil which He had said He would do unto them, and He did it not, i.e. clearly He changed His purpose. So repentance is not idle tears nor the twitchings of a vain regret, but the resolute turning away of the sinful heart from its sins. It is repentance toward God, the turning from sin to the Father.

2. This change of purpose and breaking off from sin is produced by sorrow for sin; and that the production of this repentance is the main characteristic difference between the godly sorrow and the sorrow of the world. A man may have his paroxysms of regret, but the question is: Does it make any difference in his attitude? Is he standing, after the tempest of sorrow has swept over him, with his face in the same direction as before; or has it whirled him clean round? My brother! when your conscience pricks, is the word of command Right about face! or is it, As you were?

3. The means of evoking true repentance is the contemplation of the Cross. Dread of punishment may pulverise the heart, but not change it; and each fragment will have the same characteristics as the whole mass. But the goodness of God leads to repentance, as the prodigal is conquered and sees the true hideousness of the swines trough when he bethinks himself of the fathers love.

III. Salvation is the issue of repentance.

1. What is the connection between repentance and salvation?

(1) You cannot get the salvation of God unless you shake off your sin. Let the wicked forsake his way, etc. It is a clear contradiction in terms, and an absolute impossibility in fact, that God should deliver a man from sin whilst he is holding to it.

(2) But you do not get salvation for your repentance. It is no case of barter, it is no case of salvation by works, that work being repentance. Could my tears for ever flow, etc.

2. What is the connection between repentance and faith?

(1) There can be no true repentance without trust in Christ. Repentance without faith would be but like the pains of those poor Hindoo devotees that will go all the way from Cape Comorin to the shrine of Juggernaut, and measure every foot of the road with the length of their own bodies in the dust. Men will do anything, and willingly make any sacrifice rather than open their eyes to see this--that repentance, clasped hand in hand with faith, leads the guiltiest soul into the forgiving presence of the crucified Christ, from whom peace flows into the darkest heart.

(2) On the other hand, faith without repentance in so far as it is possible produces a superficial Christianity which vaguely trusts to Christ without knowing exactly why it needs Him; which practises a religion which is neither a joy nor a security. These are they which heard the word, and anon with joy received it. Having no deep consciousness of sin, they have no root in themselves, and in tinge of temptation they fall away. If there is to be a life-transforming sin and devil-conquering faith, it must be a faith rooted deep in sorrow for sin. Conclusion: If, by Gods grace, my poor words have touched your consciences, do not trifle with the budding conviction! Do not let it all pass in idle sorrow. If you do, you will be the worse for it, and come nearer to that condition which the sorrow of the world worketh, the awful death of the soul. Do not wince from the knife before the roots of the cancer are cut out. The pain is merciful. Better the wound than the malignant growth. Yield yourselves to the Spirit that would convince you of sin, and listen to the voice that calls to you to forsake your unrighteous ways and thoughts. But do not trust to any tears, any resolves, any reformation. Trust only to the Lord that died for you, whose death for you, whose life in you, will be deliverance from your sin. Then you will have a salvation which is not to be repented of. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)

Godly sorrow and its precious fruit

I. Godly sorrow. Its nature.

1. Sorrow, the generic, is known to all; the specific, godly sorrow, needs definition and description. All understand what is meant by a flower: so we never define it. But there are some species which few have ever seen, and which accordingly have to be described. This is usually done by comparing and contrasting it with some common plant. It is thus that we must deal with godly sorrow, which is here contrasted with a commoner kind, the sorrow of the world. Now this is made up of many different kinds--the pain of a diseased body; the eating canker of a discontented mind; the loss of property or of friends. These and all other kinds of grief which have respect only to the present life are slumped together as the sorrow of the world. Alone, on the other side, stands that one peculiar species, sorrow towards God.

2. The expression intimates a changed and peculiar attitude of the soul. Away from the world, with its hopes and fears, the man must turn, and open his inmost being towards God. Now just as vapours rising from the ground and hanging in the atmosphere, change the white brightness of the sun into a jaundiced yellow or a fiery red, so passions, issuing like mists from the soul itself, darken the face of God, hiding His tenderness, and permitting only anger to glance through. And it depends on the work of the Spirit in the man whether the result of that shall be dislike of Gods holiness, or sorrow for his own sin. This is the very hinge of the difference between the carnal and the spiritual mind. The one is enmity against God for His righteousness; the other, sorrow for its own sin. The true wish of the one mans heart is that there were less of holiness in God; of the other, that there were more in himself. The two griefs and the two desires tie as far apart from each other as light and darkness--as life and death.

3. How it is produced. The series of cause and effect runs thus: goodness of God (Rom_2:4); godly sorrow; repentance. Sorrow for sin is not felt until Gods goodness aroused it; and that sorrow once aroused, instantly manifests true repentance in an eager effort to put sin away (verse 1). A fear of hell is not sorrow for sin: it may be nothing more than a regret that God is holy. As an instrument wherewith the peace of spiritual death may be disturbed, the Lord employs it, but it lies very low, and is worthless unless it quickly merge in the higher affection--sorrow for sin. When a man, touched by Gods goodness, takes Gods side with his whole heart as against himself in the matter of his own guilt--this is the turning-point. When Jesus looked on Peter, Peter went out and wept. Gods goodness, embodied in Christ crucified, becomes, under the ministry of the Spirit, the cause of godly sorrow in believing men.

II. The repentance which godly sorrow produces. It is a change of mind which imparts a new direction to the whole life, as the turning of the helm changes the course of the ship. This turning is--

1. Unto salvation. The mans former course led to perdition; it has been reversed, and therefore now leads to life.

2. Not to be repented of. The change is decisive and final. Your portion is chosen for life--for ever. When in godly sorrow you have turned your face to Christ, and consequently your back on all that grieves Him, you will never need to make another change; you will never repent of that repentance. (W. Arnot, D. D.)

The apostolic doctrine of repentance

I. The sorrow of the world.

1. It is of the world. There is an anxiety about loss, about the consequences of misdoing, about a ruined reputation, etc. Now sin brings all these things; but to sorrow for them is not to sorrow before God, because it is only about worldly things. Observe therefore--

(1) Pain, simply as pain, does no good; sorrow, merely as sorrow, has in it no magical efficacy; shame may harden into effrontery, punishment may rouse into defiance.

(2) Pain self-inflicted does no good. The hand burnt in ascetic severity does not give the crown of martyrdom, nor even inspire the martyrs feeling. The loss of those dear to us, when it is borne as coming from God, has the effect of strengthening and purifying the character. But to bring sorrow wilfully upon ourselves can be of no avail towards improvement. When God inflicts the blow, He gives the strength; but when you give it to yourself, God does not promise aid. Be sure this world has enough of the Cross in it; you need not go out of your way to seek it.

2. It works death.

(1) Literally. There is nothing like wearing sorrow to shorten life. When the terror of sorrow came on Nabal, his heart became a stone, and died within him, and in ten days all was over. When the evil tidings came from the host of Israel, the heart of the wife of Phinehas broke beneath her grief, and in a few hours death followed her bereavement.

(2) Figuratively. Grief unalloyed kills the soul. Man becomes powerless in a protracted sorrow where hope in God is not. The mind will not work; there is no desire to succeed. The wine of life is drawn.

(3) Spiritually. It is a fearful thing to see how some men are made worse by trial. It is terrible to watch sorrow as it sours the temper, and works out into malevolence and misanthropy. Opposition makes them proud and defiant. Blow after blow falls on them, and they bear all in the hardness of a sullen silence. Such a man was Saul, whose earlier career was so bright with promise. But defeat and misfortune gradually soured his temper, and made him bitter and cruel. Jealousy passed into disobedience, and insanity into suicide. The sorrow of the world had worked death.

II. Godly sorrow.

1. Its marks.

(1) Moral earnestness--carefulness (verse 11).

(2) Fear--not an unworthy terror, but the opposite of that light recklessness which lives only from day to day.

(3) Vehement desire, that is affection; for true sorrow--sorrow to God--softens, not hardens the soul. It opens sympathies, for it teaches what others suffer. It expands affection, for your sorrow makes you accordant with the still sad music of humanity. A true sorrow is that deep grief which humanises the soul; often out of it comes that late remorse of love which leads us to arise and go to our Father, and say, I have sinned against Heaven and in Thy sight.

(4) Clearing of themselves, i.e., anxiety about character.

(5) Revenge--indignation against wrong in others and in ourselves.

2. The results--Not to be repented of. No man ever regretted things given up or pleasures sacrificed for Gods sake. No man on his dying bed ever felt a pang for the suffering sin had brought on him, if it had led him in all humbleness to Christ. But how many a man on his death-bed has felt the recollection of guilty pleasures as the serpents fang and venom in his soul! (F. W. Robertson, M. A.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

2Co 7:8-11. For though I made you sorry — Caused you much distress and pain of mind by the letter I formerly wrote; I do not now repent — Of writing it; although I did repent — After it was sent away, fearing it might irritate some of you, and produce some ill effect. Or the meaning is, I felt a tender sorrow for having grieved you, till I saw the happy fruit of it. Now I rejoice not barely that ye were made sorry — By my letter, for that would rather still give me pain; but that ye sorrowed to repentance — To true and genuine repentance, attended with a change of heart and life; for ye were made sorry after a godly manner — With a penitential and humble regard to the honour of God: Greek, κατα Θεον, according to God, in the manner God requires. That ye might receive — Or so that ye received; damage by us in nothing — But on the contrary, as we intended, great benefit, by the severity we were compelled to use. For godly sorrow — A sorrow for having offended God, or sorrowing according to the will of God; worketh repentance — Productive of fruit worthy of repentance; so the word μετανοια, rendered repentance, implies, denoting such a change in a person’s mind or judgment, concerning some action, word, or disposition, as produces a change in his spirit and conduct for the better in time to come. Unto salvation — Issuing in eternal salvation; not — Never afterward; to be repented of — Or grieved for, as αμεταμελητον properly signifies. But the sorrow of the world — Sorrow that arises from worldly considerations; worketh death — Temporal, spiritual, and eternal. For behold this self-same thing — As if he had said, And it appears that your sorrow was godly, by the excellent fruits and effects thereof; that ye sorrowed after a godly sort — In a manner pleasing to God; what carefulness it wrought in you — Namely, to amend what was amiss; or what diligence, or earnestness, as ποσην σπουδην rather signifies, namely, diligence manifested in the following particulars. Some had been more, some less faulty, whence arose the various affections here mentioned. Hence their apologizing and indignation, with respect to themselves; their fear and desire with respect to the apostle; their zeal and revenge with respect to the offender: yea, and themselves also. What clearing yourselves — From either sharing in, or approving of his sin; indignation — That ye had not immediately corrected the offender; fear — Of God’s displeasure. or lest I should come with a rod; vehement desire — To see me again; zeal — For the glory of God, and the soul of that sinner; yea, revenge — Ye took a kind of holy revenge upon yourselves, being scarce able to forgive yourselves. In all things ye — As a church; have approved yourselves to be pure — That is, free from blame, since ye received my letter. Dr. Whitby here remarks, “That true repentance for sin clears us from the guilt of it, not only in the sight of God, but man; so that it is both uncharitable and unchristian to stigmatize or reproach any person for the sin we know or believe he hath truly repented of.”

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

7:8-13a Paul was sorry at first that he had sent his previous letter (see 2:3-4). Now he was not sorry, realizing that the pain had been worthwhile, for the severe letter had brought the church in Corinth to repentance. They had rebuked the offending person—perhaps too strongly (see 2:6-11).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

2Co 7:8. Ἐν τῇ ἐπιστολῇ) in the letter, he does not add, my: presently after, he removes himself further from it, when he adds, ἐκείνη, that [same epistle.]—εἰ καὶ) although: Paul had wished to remove, if possible, sorrow from the repentance of the Corinthians. He uses this particle thrice in one verse; also at 2Co 7:12. Observe his paternal gentleness, he all but deprecates [his having caused them sorrow].—βλέπω, I perceive) from the fact itself.—εἰ καὶ, although) in this clause, ὅτι ἡ ἐπιστολὴ ἐκείνη εἰ καὶ πρὸς ὥραν ἐλύπησεν ὑμᾶς, the words εἰ καὶ should have a comma either before and after them, or else neither before nor after them. The apostle explains the reason, why he does not repent of having caused sorrow to the Corinthians. The letter, he says, has made you sad only for a time, or rather not even for a time. Whence also Chrysostom in his exposition repeats the words, ὅτι πρὸς ὥραν ἐλύπησεν ὑμᾶς, in such a way as to omit εἰ καὶ. The particle εἰ καὶ, put absolutely, expresses much feeling [Valde morata est. end.] Sextus πρὸς ἀστρολόγον, says, Μεθʼ ἡμέραν οὐδὲν τῶν προειρημένων δυνατόν ἐστι παρασημειοῦσθαι, μόνα δὲ, εἰ καὶ ἄρα, τὰς τοῦ ἡλίου κινήσεις. By day none of the things previously mentioned can possibly be observed, but only the motions of the sun, if indeed even those; wherein εἰ καὶ ἄρα, as Devarius properly remarks, takes away the concession, that had been made, namely, that the motions of the sun only can be observed; if only, says he, viz., even the motions of the sun can be observed. See Devar. on the Gr. particles, in the instance, εἰ καὶ, also in the case of ἀλλʼ εἴπερ, and ἀλλʼ εἰ ἄρα, and Budaei Comm. L. Gr. f. 1390, ed. 1556, and, if you please, my notes on Gregor. Neocaes. Paneg., p. 174, on εἰ put absolutely. Luther very appropriately translates it Vielleicht. Others, without observing the force of the particle, have wondrously tortured this passage, which is most full of the characteristic ἦθος [end.] of the apostle. The οὐδὲ πρὸς ὥραν, Gal 2:5, is a kindred phraseology.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

2Co_7:8 f. Information regarding this μᾶλλον χαρῆναι, explaining the ground of it. With εἰ καὶ μετεμελόμην there begins a new protasis, the apodosis of which is νῦν χαίρω κ.τ.λ., so that the βλέπω γὰρ κ.τ.λ., which stands between, assigns parenthetically the ground of the protasis. For if I have even saddened you in my Epistle, I do not regret it; if I did regret it (which I have no wish to deny) formerly (and as I now perceive, not without ground, for I learn from the accounts of Titus that that Epistle, if even for a short time, has saddened you), now I am glad, etc. Comp. Luther; Rinck, Lucubr. crit. p. 162, and the punctuation of Lachmann and Teschendorf; also Kling. Only in this way of dividing and interpreting this passage does the explanatory statement advance in a simple logical way (1, I do not regret; 2, if I did previously regret, now I am glad), and the imperfect μετεμελ. stand in right correlation with the present νῦν χαίρω, so that μετεμελόμην applies to the time before the present joyful mood was reached. The common punctuation, adopted also by Osiander and Hofmann, which connects εἰ καὶ μετεμελ. with the previous words, and begins a new sentence with νῦν χαίρω, breaks asunder the logical connection and the correlation of the parts, and leaves βλέπω γὰρ κ.τ.λ. (which must be the reason assigned for οὐ μεταμέλομαι, as Hofmann also correctly holds, and not for ἐλύπησα ὑμᾶς, as Olshausen, de Wette, and others would make it) without any proper reference. Bengel, indeed, wishes to take εἰ καί before πρ. ὥρ elliptically: Contristavit vos, inquit, epistola tantummodo ad tempus vel potius ne ad tempus quidem. But it is not the bare εἰ καί which is thus used elliptically, but εἰ καὶ ἄρα, or more often εἴπερ ἄρα, even εἰ ἄρα (see Vigerus, ed. Herm. p. 514; comp. Hartung, Partikell. I. p. 440; Klotz, ad Devar. p. 521); further, πρὸς ὥραν must have logically stood before εἰ καί; lastly, the thought itself would be in the highest degree unsuitable, since Paul could not cast doubt on the genuine sadness of the readers (comp. ὀδυρμόν, 2Co_7:7, and see 2Co_7:9 ff.). The meaning would not be, as Bengel thinks, ἤθους apostolici plenissimum, but in contradiction with the context. Billroth would (and Chrysostom in a similar way) bring out a logical grounding of οὐ μεταμέλομαι by taking βλέπω as meaning: I take into consideration;[259] I take into consideration that it has saddened you, though only for a short time, as I had intended; by allowing yourselves to be saddened, you have shown that you are susceptible to amendment (2Co_2:2). But in this way everything, in which the probative force is supposed to lie, is imported. This is the case also with Hofmann, who makes (comp. Bengel above) εἰ καί form by itself alone a parenthetic elliptic sentence, but in a concessive sense, so that the import of the whole is held to be: Although the Epistle has saddened them, it is a temporary, not a permanent, sadness with which it has filled them. This the apostle sees, and he therefore does not regret that he has saddened them by it. Paul does not write in this enigmatical fashion; he would have said intelligibly: ἡ ἐπιστ. ἐκείνη, εἰ καὶ ἐλύπησεν ὑμᾶς, πρὸς ὥραν ἐλύπησεν, or, at any rate, have added to εἰ καί the appropriate verb (comp. 2Co_7:12). Such an elliptic εἰ καί is as unexampled as that which is assumed by Bengel, and both serve only to misconstrue and distort the meaning of the words. Rückert comes nearest to our view; he proposes to read βλέπων (as also Lachmann, Praef. p. xii., would), and to make the meaning: That I have thus saddened you I do not regret, but although I regretted it (εἰ δὲ καὶ μετεμελόμην) when I saw that that Epistle had caused you … sadness, still I am glad now, etc. But apart from the very weak attestation for the reading βλέπων, and apart also from the fact that εἰ δὲ καί would be although, however, not but although, βλέπων … ἐλύπησεν ὑμᾶς would only contain a very superfluous and cumbrous repetition of the thought already expressed in the acknowledgment εἰ καὶ ἐλύπησα ὑμᾶς, since βλέπων would not apply to the insight gained from the news brought by Titus. Ewald has the peculiar view, which is simply an uncalled for and arbitrary invention, that Paul intended to write: for I see that that Epistle, though it saddened you for a short time, has yet brought you to a right repentance; but feeling this to be unsuitable, he suddenly changed the train of thought and went on: I am now glad, etc. Neander has a view quite similar.

On πρὸς ὥραν, comp. Phm_1:15; Gal_2:5. The clause although for a short time is here a delicately thoughtful addition of sympathetic love, which has in view the fact that the sadness caused by it will only last up to the receipt of the present Epistle, which is intended to assure the readers of the apostles pardon and joy (comp. 2Co_2:4 ff.).

[259] Camerarius already took it as hoc intueor et considero. It is simply animadverto, cognosco (Rom_7:23). Comp. Jacobs, ad Anthol. II. 3, p. 203.

REMARK.

Some make an alteration in the meaning of εἰ καὶ μετεμελόμην: etiamsi poenituisset (Erasmus, Castalio, Vatablus, and others, including Flatt); or hold that poenitere is here equivalent to dolorem capere (Calvin, comp. Grotius); or suggest explanations such as: Non autem dolere potuit de eo quod scripserit cum severitate propter schismata …; hoc enim omne factum instinctu divino per θεοπευστίαν; sed quod contristati fuerint epistola sua et illi, quos illa increpatio adeo non tetigit, Calovius (comp. Grotius); or the more ingenious device of Beza: ut significet apostolus, se ex epistola illa acerbius scripta nonnullum dolorem cepisse, non quasi quod fecerat optaret esse infectum, sed quod clementis patris exemplo se ad hanc severitatem coactum esse secum gemens, eventum rei expectaret. But these are forced shifts of the conception of mechanical inspiration. The Theopneustia does not put an end to the spontaneity of the individual with his varying play of human emotions; hence Wetstein is so far right in remarking: Interpretes, qui putant, et consilium scribendi epistolam (rather of writing in so hard a vein of chastisement), et ejus consilii poenitentiam, et poenitentiae poenitentiam ab afflatu Spir. sancti fuisse profectam, parum consentanea dicere videntur. Not as if such alternation of moods testified against the existence of inspiration; but it attests its dependence on the natural conditions of the individual in the mode of its working, which was not only different in different subjects, but was not alike even in individuals where these were differently determined by outer and inner influences; so that the divine side of the Scripture does not annul the human, or make it a mere phantom, nor can it be separated from it mechanically. It is indissolubly blended with it.

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

2Co 7:8 . ὅτι εἰ καὶ ἐλύπησα κ . τ . λ .: for though I made you sorry with my epistle ( sc. , esp. 1Co 5 ; cf. Introd. , p. 14), I do not regret it; though I did regret it (for I see that that epistle made you sorry, though but for a season), yet now I rejoice , etc. We follow the punctuation adopted by Tisch., W.H. and the American Revisers, the second clause softening the apparent harshness of the first, and βλέπω γάρ … ὥραν being a parenthetic explanation.

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

An objection: But thou hast handled us roughly. The Apostle answereth that he used not this toughness without grief. And he addeth moreover, that he is also glad now that he drove them to that sorrow, although it was against his will, since it was so profitable unto them: for there is a sorrow not only praiseworthy, but also necessary, to wit, whereby repentance groweth by certain degrees, for the which repentance he praiseth them highly. And this is the fifth part of this Epistle.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

with a letter--Greek, "in the letter" namely, the first Epistle to the Corinthians.

I do not repent, though I did repent--Translate, "I do not regret it, though I did regret it." The Greek words for regret and repent are distinct. Paul was almost regretting, through parental tenderness, his having used rebukes calculated to grieve the Corinthians; but now that he has learned from Titus the salutary effect produced on them, he no longer regrets it.

for I perceive, &c.--This is explanatory of "I did repent" or "regret it," and is parenthetical ("for I perceive that that Epistle did make you sorry, though it was but for a season").

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 8. I do not repent, though I did repent] Though I had many doubts in my mind concerning the success of my letter; and though I grieved that I was obliged to write with so much severity, the case absolutely requiring it; yet now I am not sorry that I have written that letter, because I find it has completely answered the end for which it was sent.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

8. For though I grieved you. He now begins to apologize to the Corinthians for having handle them somewhat roughly in the former Epistle. Now we must observe, in what a variety of ways he deals with them, so that it might appear as though he sustained different characters. The reason is that his discourse was directed to the whole of the Church. There were some there, that entertained an unfavorable view of him — there were others that held him, as he deserved, in the highest esteem — some were doubtful: others were confident — some were docile: others were obstinate. In consequence of this diversity, he required to direct his discourse now in one way, then in another, in order to suit himself to all. Now he lessens, or rather he takes away altogether any occasion of offense, on account of the severity that he had employed, on the ground of its having turned out to the promotion of their welfare. “Your welfare,” says he, “is so much an object of desire to me, that I am delighted to see that I have done you good.” This softening-down is admissible only when the teacher has done good so far as was needed, by means of his reproofs; for if he had found, that the minds of the Corinthians still remained obstinate, and had he perceived an advantage arising from the discipline that he had attempted, he would, undoubtedly, have abated nothing from his former severity. It is to be observed, however, that he rejoices to have been an occasion of grief to those whom he loved; for he was more desirous to profit, than to please them.

But what does he mean when he adds — though I did repent? For if we admit, that Paul had felt dissatisfied with what he had written, there would follow an inconsistency of no slight character — that the former Epistle had been written under a rash impulse, rather than under the guidance of the Spirit. I answer, that the word repent is used here in a loose sense for being grieved. For while he made the Corinthians sad, he himself also participated in the grief, and in a manner inflicted grief at the same time upon himself. “Though I gave you pain against my inclination, and it grieved me to be under the necessity of being harsh to you, I am grieved no longer on that account, when I see that it has been of advantage to you.” Let us take an instance from the case of a father; for a father feels grief in connection with his severity, when at any time he chastises his son, but approves of it, notwithstanding, because he sees that it is conducive to his son’s advantage. In like manner Paul could feel no pleasure in irritating the minds of the Corinthians; but, being conscious of the motive that influenced his conduct, he preferred duty to inclination.

For I see. The transition is abrupt; but that does not at all impair the distinctness of the sense. In the first place, he says, that he had fully ascertained by the effect, that the former Epistle, though for a time unwelcome, had nevertheless at length been of advantage, and secondly, that he rejoiced on account of that advantage.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(8) For though I made you sorry with a letter.—Better, For even if, and, as the Greek has the article, with my letter. This Titus had told him; and commonly to have caused pain to others would have been a source of grief to him, but he cannot bring himself now to say, I regret. (This is, perhaps, better than repent. On the words, see Notes on Mat_21:29; Mat_27:3.) He owns, however, that there had been a moment, either on first hearing of their grief or in his previous anxiety, when he had half regretted that he had written so strongly. Now he sees that that grief was but transient, and he trusts that the good wrought by it will be abiding.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

8. with a letter] Rather, by the letter, i.e. the First Epistle.

though I did repent] “There was a moment in the Apostle’s life when he half regretted what he had done. To some persons this would be perplexing. They cannot understand how an inspired Apostle could regret what he had done: if it were done by inspiration, what room could there be for misgivings? And if he regretted an act done under God’s guidance, just as any common man might regret a foolish act, how could the Apostle be inspired? But this, which might perplex some, exhibits the very beauty and naturalness of the whole narrative. God’s inspiration does not take a man and make a passive machine of him. When God inspires, His spirit mixes with the spirit of man in the form of thought, not without struggles and misgivings of the human element Otherwise it would not be inspiration of the man, but simply a Divine echo through the man.” Robertson. Similar conflicts of the human with the Divine in the inspired writers maybe seen in Exo_4:10-14; Exo_6:12; Jer_1:6-9; Jer_14:13; Jer_20:7-9; Jer_20:14-18, and in the whole book of Jonah.

for I perceive that the same epistle hath made you sorry] There are a good many various readings here, and the editors have adopted various punctuations, possibly from the difficulty mentioned in the last note. But in truth there need be no such difficulty. The right course was that taken in the First Epistle, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. But after the Epistle was sent, the tender human heart of St Paul doubted whether he had done right, whether he had not given unnecessary pain, and the like, and his mind was not fully set at rest on the point until the arrival of Titus shewed him clearly the hand of God in the matter. Such self-questionings are constantly going on in the mind of every conscientious man, even when he has been acting most thoroughly under the guidance of God’s Spirit. The word here translated made sorry, which is owing to Wiclif, is the same word which in ch. 2 is rendered ‘caused grief’ and ‘grieved.’

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

For though I made you sorry with a letter,.... His former epistle, relating to the incestuous person:

I do not repent, though I did repent; not of writing the letter, which was wrote by divine inspiration; but of the sorrow occasioned by it, though now he did not repent of that:

for I perceive that the same epistle made you sorry, though it were but for a season; inasmuch as the sorrow was true, hearty, and genuine, though it was but for a time, the apostle was entirely satisfied, and the more pleased, because of its brevity, since it was sincere.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

8 For though I made you sorry with a letter, I do not repent, though I did repent: for I perceive that the same epistle hath made you sorry, though it were but for a season.

Ver. 8. Though it were but for a season] Gr. for an hour. In sin, the pleasure passeth, the sorrow remaineth; but in repentance, the sorrow passeth, the pleasure abideth for ever. God soon poureth the oil of gladness into broken hearts.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

For though I made you sorry ... - That is, in the First Epistle which he had sent to them. In that Epistle he had felt it necessary to reprove them for their dissensions and other disorders which had occurred and which were tolerated in the church. That Epistle was suited to produce pain in them - as severe and just reproof always does; and Paul felt very anxious about its effect on them. It was painful to him to write it, and he was well aware that it must cause deep distress among them to be thus reproved.

I do not repent - I have seen such happy effects produced by it; it has so completely answered the end which I had in view; it was so kindly received, that I do not regret now that I wrote it. It gives me no pain in the recollection, but I have occasion to rejoice that it was done.

Though I did repent - Doddridge renders this: “however anxious I may have been.” The word used here does not denote repentance in the sense in which that word is commonly understood, as if any wrong had been done. It is not the language of remorse. It can denote here nothing more than “that uneasiness which a good man feels, not from the consciousness of having done wrong, but from a tenderness for others, and a fear lest that which, prompted by duty, he had said, should have too strong an effect upon them.” - Campbell, diss. vi. part iii. section 9. See the meaning of the word further illustrated in the same dissertation. The word (μεταμέλομαι metamelomai) denotes properly to change one’s purpose or mind after having done anything (Robinson); or an uneasy feeling of regret for what has been done without regard either to duration or effects - Campbell. Here it is not to be understood that Paul meant to say he had done anything wrong.

He was an inspired man, and what he had said was proper and right. But he was a man of deep feeling, and of tender affections. He was pained at the necessity of giving reproof. And there is no improbability in supposing that after the letter had been sent off, and he reflected on its nature and on the pain which it would cause to those whom he tenderly loved, there might be some misgiving of heart about it, and the deepest anxiety, and regret at the necessity of doing it. What parent is there who has not had the same feeling as this? He has felt it necessary to correct a beloved child, and has formed the purpose, and has executed it. But is there no misgiving of heart? No question asked whether it might not have been dispensed with? No internal struggle; no sorrow; no emotion which may be called regret at the resolution which has been taken? Yet there is no repentance as if the parent had done wrong. He feels that he has done what was right and necessary. He approves his own course, and has occasion of rejoicing at the good effects which follow. Such appears to have been the situation of the apostle Paul in this case; and it shows that he, had a tender heart, that he did not delight in giving pain, and that he had no desire to overwhelm them with grief. When the effect was seen, he was not unwilling that they should be apprized of the pain which it had cost him. When a parent has corrected a child, no injury is done if the child becomes acquainted with the strugglings which it has cost him, and the deep pain and anxiety caused by the necessity of resorting to chastisement.

For I perceive ... - I perceive the good effect of the Epistle. I perceive that it produced the kind of sorrow in you which I desired. I see that it has produced permanent good results. The sorrow which it caused in you is only for a season; the good effects will be abiding. I have, therefore, great occasion to rejoice that I sent the Epistle. It produced permanent repentance and reformation 2Co 7:9, and thus accomplished all that I wished or desired.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

For though I made you sorry with a letter; the apostle doubtless meaneth the former Epistle to this church.

I do not repent, though I did repent: as to which, he saith, that although he was sometimes troubled, because (probably) he understood that some truly pious persons in this church were troubled at it, as thinking themselves intended in the reprehensions of it; for which effect, or mistake, (he saith), he was once sorry, being troubled that he should do any thing to grieve them, whom he so affectionately loved; yet now he tells them he was not sorry.

The same epistle hath made you sorry, though it were but for a season; and their sorrow was but a temporary sorrow, until they could reform those abuses, which they were made sensible of by that Epistle, and give the apostle that wrote it just satisfaction.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

8. A letter—Rather, the letter; namely, his first epistle.

I did repent—His human feelings, produced by disease, so subdued him that he regretted his having written even an inspired epistle. But God, who inspired, so overruled as to enable him to see that all was rightly done.

For—This sentence seems somewhat parenthetic.

I perceive—I now fully understand from the statement of Titus.

8. Now—Earnestly emphatic.

Now—After all that has past and I see the whole at a glance.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

With a letter; rather, with my Epistle. Probably the First Epistle, though some suppose that the allusion is to a lost intermediate letter. I do not repent, though I did repent; better, I do not regret it . Every one has experienced the anxiety which has followed the despatch of some painful letter. If it does good, well; but perhaps it may do harm. The severity was called for; it seemed a duty to write severely. But how will the rebuke be received? Might we not have done better if we had used language less uncompromisingly stern? As St. Paul thought with intense anxiety that perhaps in his zeal for truth he may have irrevocably alienated the feelings of the Corinthians, whom, with all their grave faults, he loved, a moment came when he actually regretted what he had written. He himself assures us that he had this feeling. Those who try all kinds of fantastic hypotheses and tortuous exegesis to explain away this phrase as though it were inconsistent with St. Paul"s inspiration, go to Scripture to find there their own a priori dogmas, not to seek what Scripture really says. The doctrine of inspiration is not the fetish into which it has been degraded by formal systems of scholastic theology. Inspiration was not a mechanical dictation of words, but the influence of the Holy Ghost in the hearts of men who retained all their own natural emotions. For I perceive, etc. There are various ways of taking this clause. Nothing, however, is simpler than to regard it as a parenthetic remark (for I see that that Epistle, though it were but for a time, saddened you). Though it were but for a season. (For the phrase, see Phm_1:15; Gal_2:5) He means to say that their grief will at any rate cease when they receive this letter, and he can bear the thought of having pained them when he remembers the brevity of their grief and the good effects which resulted from it.

Vers. 8-11.

Godly sorrow.

For though I made you sorry," etc. Three remarks here concerning the godly sorrow that was wrought on the minds of the members of the Corinthian Church.

I IT WAS PRODUCED BY A FAITHFUL REPROOF OF WRONG. There were, as we have seen, certain evils more or less prevalent in the Church at Corinth, such as schism, idolatry, unchastity, and abuse of the Lord"s Supper. These so affected the mind of the apostle that his letter abounded with strong reproof. Concerning the reproofs he administered to them, two facts are noteworthy.

1. They caused him much pain. "For though I made you sorry with a letter, I do not repent, though I did repent." Men, more or less malign in their nature, take pleasure in dealing out reproaches and reproofs, but to those whose natures are of the genial and the generous type, few things are more painful than the administration of reproofs. Paul no doubt felt it so; still it had to be done. Loyalty to his conscience and his mission demanded it. A loving nature recoils at the idea of giving pain to any one.

2. They were administered with the tenderest affection. In almost every reproving sentence contained in his letter there beats the pulse of affection, and it is evermore this love that invests reproof with a heart penetrating and melting power. With the tenderest love ministers should always reprove, admonish, and exhort.

II IT WAS ESSENTIALLY DIFFERENT TO THE SORROW OF THE WORLD, "Now I rejoice, not that ye were made sorry, but that ye sorrowed to repentance," etc. Great is the difference between godly sorrow and worldly sorrow.

1. The one is selfish, the other is generous. In the former the man regrets having done the wrong thing simply on account of inconvenience to himself; in the latter the anguish is in the wrong itself.

2. The one results in future regret, the other in future joy. All the sorrow that an ungodly man has felt will lead to some deeper, darker, more terrible distress.

3. The one leads to ruin, the other to salvation. See the results of worldly sorrow in Cain; (Gen_4:12) in Saul; (1Sa_31:3-6) in Ahithophel; (2Sa_17:23) in Judas. (Mt 28) See godly sorrow in the prodigal son; (Lu 15) in Peter; (Mt 26) in the converts on the day of Pentecost. (Act_2:44-47)

III IT WROUGHT GREAT RESULTS IN THE SOUL. It wrought:

1. Solicitude. "What carefulness it wrought in you!" Careful to resist the wrong and pursue the right.

2. Deprecation. "What clearing of yourselves!" How anxious to show your disapproval of the evil of which you have been guilty!

3. Anger. "What indignation!" Indignation, not against the sinner, butagainst the sin. This is a holy anger.

4. Dread. "What fear!" Dread, not of suffering, but of sin; not of God, but of the devil. This fear is, indeed, the highest courage. He who shrinks from the morally wrong is the truest hero.

5. Longing. "What vehement desire!" What longing after a better life! All these expressions mean intense earnestness, and earnestness, not about temporal matters, which is common and worthless, but about spiritual matters, which is rare and praiseworthy. Genuine repentance is antagonistic to indifference; it generates earnestness in the soul, it leads to the most strenuous efforts, to the most vehement cries to Heaven. "Sorrow in itself," says F.W. Robertson, "is a thing neither good nor bad; its value depends on the spirit of the person on whom it falls. Fire will inflame straw, soften iron, or harden clay; its effects are determined by the object with which it comes in contact. Warmth develops the energies of life or helps the progress of decay. It is a great power in the hothouse, a great power also in the coffin: it expands the leaf, matures the fruit, adds precocious vigour to vegetable life; and warmth, too, develops with tenfold rapidity the weltering process of dissolution. So, too, with sorrow. There are spirits in which it develops the seminal principle of life; there are others in which it prematurely hastens the consummation of irreparable decay.

Vers. 8-16.

True repentance and its effects; ministry of Titus.

There are reactions from our highest moods. There are reactions from our wisest deeds. Nor can it be otherwise under the present constitution of our nature. That St. Paul should have had these reactions was perfectly natural, the more so as his temperament made him liable, in an unusual degree, to their occurrence. If they did not appear in his writings we should be surprised, nor could their absence be explained but on the supposition that he was an exception in this respect to the ordinary laws of mind, and particularly to those laws as seen in men of his class. Some persons think it very strange that he should say, "Though I made you sorry with a letter, I do not repent, though I did repent." What was his inspiration, they ask, if he could "repent" of writing his former Epistle to the Corinthians? Whatever he meant by "repent," he did not mean moral self-reproach, nor indeed any permanent state of mind, but simply a transient emotional condition, due probably to excess of nervous sensibility. His inspiration from the Holy Ghost was the inspiration of a man. It did not set aside his temperament. It was in perfect harmony with the characteristics of his intellect, and quite likely intensified those characteristics as related to his physical peculiarities. Who has not had these seasons of experience in which things that were very clear a few days before have been suddenly darkened? Judgments were then formed, committals made, promises given, that now seem unwise or even rash; and bow gladly would we undo what was done! and that too in matters which were entered on after long and earnest deliberation, and which proved in the sequel to be eminently fortunate. Are the arguments that led us to certain conclusions less valid now than then? No; the arguments are the same, but nerves and brain are not in the same state, not in the same vigorous tension, and, consequently, we do not see the truth and the grounds of the truth as we did when we were in fuller possession of ourselves. The logic of nerves and brain is a very wayward and fitful thing, and a very different thing from the logic of the intellect. Pascal says, in the "Pensees," "To have a series of proofs incessantly before the mind is beyond our power." Now, in the instance under review, St. Paul would have been more or less than man not to have undergone precisely this temporary reaction. Ill health, an unusual combination of exciting circumstances, dangers of an extraordinary sort threatening the Church, a new and most promising sphere of labour and by far the greatest that had opened in his ministry overcast with sudden gloom, Titus still absent, suspense wearing upon a fortitude taxed already to the uttermost; what a lack of the human and of the genuine manliness of the human, if he had felt no uneasiness, no misgivings, no rebound! It was not weakness, but weakness struggling into strength, that led him to say, "I did repent." Let us take comfort from the apostle"s human nature and the grace manifested in its infirmities. Companionship in weakness aspiring to get the victory is very precious to honest souls. Men are never wanting to teach us the ideals of life. What is needed far more is to have traced in a distinct manner the progress of the soul towards perfection. Who in this respect can compare with the Apostle Paul? Who has delineated the Christian consciousness in all its various moods, in all its alternations, in its baffled endeavours, in its victorious strength, and done it in such a natural way that the lowliest heart feels at home in his fellowship and finds no language of its own so much its own as the words in which he tells how he sorrowed and how he rejoiced? Lest they should misunderstand his joy by supposing that he had any pleasure in their pain, he explains (ver. 9) why he was happy. They had "sorrowed to repentance." Instructed by the doctrinal truths he had unfolded in the First Epistle, moved by his entreaties, made conscious of their delinquencies, made ashamed of their gross inattention to discipline, they had repented of their backslidings and reformed their evil doings. A "godly sorrow" had they shown, and could anything "godly" be deplored? Least of all, could a "godly sorrow" over envy and jealousy, over strife and schismatic partisanships, over vices tolerated in the bosom of the Church could such a sorrow be regretted? It was "godly," indeed, for it had wrought out its true nature and was known by its fruits. Of course he gave it a doctrinal form, and, for all time, thus reads one of the most vital and solemn of all Christian verities: "Godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of." Well might he claim that they had received "damage in nothing." It was all gain, infinite gain. Notice the development of the thought. A true repentance is from God. Christ said that the Holy Spirit should come to rebuke "the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment." It is not our idea of sin, but God"s idea, that enables us to realize what sin is, and this proceeds from the Spirit. Think of it as we may, study its consequences, feel its enormity as far as we can, look at the paradise it blighted, read its records on the earth, picture the hell it has created; this is not that sense of the guilt of sin which leads to repentance. Not what sin is in our sight, but what it is in God"s sight, determines the estimate of the penitent. And just in the degree that this initial process is from the illumination and under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, in that same degree is the work genuine and profound. Large allowance must be made for individuality of character. Modes of thinking, habits of feeling, education and circumstances, must be taken into consideration, since men are very thoroughly personal when God comes to dear with their souls. Nevertheless, the truth cannot be stated too strongly, that repentance is a "godly sorrow" only so far as the Holy Ghost is concerned in the work. And, further, it is salutary. It works no "damage." Now, at this point, the apostle confesses that he had been anxious, and certainly there was ground for anxiety. To rebuke men for their sins is the most difficult and the most hazardous of all the functions devolved on a minister of the gospel. Happy the minister who can say that he has not done "damage," some time in his career, in this particular. But in the present case all had turned out well. The censure, the exhortation, the personal lovingness, he had put into his letter, had blended in one gracious influence, so that conscience had witnessed to conscience, heart to heart, energy on their part to decision and resoluteness on his part, and a result most blessed to him, to Titus, to the Church, had been effected. It was not the sorrow of the world that "worketh death." Instead of that, it had wrought life, a renewed and most hopeful life, a change so glorious that it would never be repented of. But he would particularize. If the repentance had been "godly," and therefore without "damage," he would show them the full meaning of these worsts. "Behold this selfsame thing." He would arouse their attention and concentrate thought on this manifestation of God"s mercy. To see it they must look within. What a transformation! Lately so careless, so insensible, so puffed up, even the Holy Communion shockingly abused; what save a "godly sorrow" could bring about a radical change? It was a sorrow to humble them, not to "damage" them. It was not the sorrow of the world, mortifying to pride and vanity, intensifying to selfishness, driving to desperation, and arming the soul in deadlier hostility to goodness. The proof of all this was at hand. Carefulness; activity and diligence in ferreting out evils and extirpating them. Clearing of themselves; anxiety to get rid of the stain on their Church character, and stand fair with the apostle. Indignation; not only against the incestuous man, but that feeling of self-vexation which arises when we see the folly and evil of our conduct. Fear; lest a heavier punishment should come from God than that already experienced. Longing; fervent desire to do better. Zeal; industrious effort in discharging their duties, and especially such duties as concerned Church discipline. Avenging the wrong done by punishment so as to evince their sincerity of amendment. Yea; repeated in every item, specified that each element of the sentence might maintain its proper degree of force. Finally, his hearty commendation; in every respect, approving themselves to be right minded in this matter. A word of justification for himself follows. Not for the sake of him who had done the wrong, nor for his sake who had suffered the wrong, had he written, but that their earnest care in his behalf might be manifested And his apostleship honoured. In the name of God he had called them to repentance, and they had promptly hearkened to the Divine message. Once more the power of the gospel had been vindicated, and "therefore we have been comforted." Throughout the affair he had been intensely personal, but had he been actuated by selfishness, or had any element of selfishness mixed with his motives, this personal intensity could not have assumed the form presented in his conduct. Yet in that hour of gladness there was an uppermost joy. A beautiful touch of nature it is when he says that he "joyed the more exceedingly" on account of his young associate Titus, "because his spirit was refreshed by you all." The long-continued trouble seems over now. The unrest, the fightings without and the fears within, Ephesus and Troas and Macedonia, pass out of presence, and the only spectacle left in the horizon of vision is Paul the apostle standing firmly on the historic soil he has won for Christ, with Titus at his side, in whose blooming spring time his eye reads the harvest not far off. "O ye Corinthians, our heart is enlarged." Can he express his gratification too often, too freely? Once again, "I rejoice therefore that I have confidence in you in all things. L.

Vers. 8-15.

Marks of true penitence.

I TRUE REPENTANCE IS IN CONTRAST WITH THE SORROW or THE WORLD. It is the fruit of "godly sorrow" (ver. 10). It is sorrow "after a godly sort" (ver. 9), or "according to God." It makes us see sin as against God. It is coming to the mind of God as to sin. It leads to salvation to eternal life. It is never the subject of regret, but of thankfulness. Thesorrow of the world is not because of sin, but because of its penal consequences. It issues in death because it still holds to the sin. It is a regret that sin in any stage should be so painful. It would reform hell by banishing its pains, not its wickedness.

II IT INVOLVES DEEP SOLICITUDE. (Ver. 11.) Opposed to prior indifference. The Corinthians had regarded their sin as of little importance, but now they feel far otherwise towards it. So unrepentant men boast that they have sinned so little. Job said, "I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes." When true penitence is begotten in the heart, the time for carelessness in respect of sin has gone, and the time of carefulness has come. Sin is no longer a light matter, but one most momentous and urgent.

III RENUNCIATION OF THE EVIL. Thus the Corinthians sought to clear themselves (ver. 11). Before, they had connived; now, they repudiated. True repentance involves a desire to be separate from the sin. The evil thing is renounced. To hold to the evil, whilst we profess to repent of it, is to demonstrate that we do not repent at all.

IV DETESTATION OF THE EVIL. (Ver. 11) We may renounce what we still love, but in true penitence the mind is enlightened, the true nature of sin is perceived, and the soul ceases to love and begins to loathe it. Sin is detested, and self is detested because self has sinned. The soul is roused against sin; there is "indignation.

V FEAR. (Ver. 11.)

1. Of the Divine wrath.

2. Of again sinning.

VI DESIRE FOR RESTORATION. (Ver. 11.)

1. To the approval of righteous men.

2. To peace with conscience.

3. Above all, to the favour of God.

VII ZEAL. (Ver. 11.)

1. In immediately taking a right course.

2. In seeking to remedy the effects of sin.

3. For God"s honour.

VIII CONVICTION THAT SIN DESERVES PUNISHMENT. (Ver. 11.) A sense of justice is aroused. It does not seem wrong for the sinner to be punished then, but right. Hearts unstirred by true penitence carp at and question sin-penalties. But "godly sorrow" gives to sin a tongue crying loudly for wrath. When sin is rightly apprehended it becomes an evil for sin not to be punished. This applies to ourselves; we condemn ourselves. This applies to others; we feel that they ought to be condemned. "Yea, what avenging!

IX A HUMBLE, TEACHABLE SPIRIT. (Ver. 15.) Godly sorrow breaks down pride. The Corinthians before had found fault with the teaching of Paul himself. Now they are willing to be taught by one of his disciples. H.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

I did repent - That is, I felt a tender sorrow for having grieved you, till I saw the happy effect of it.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

As if the apostle had said, Although in my former epistle I wrote somewhat sharply to you, by reason of the many abuses that were crept in amongst you; I do not now repent of that severity, because it produced a thorough and effectual reformation: Though at first I did repent of it, being unwilling to put you to grief; for I was troubled myself, because your sorrow was a godly sorrow, and wrought repentance, which is so necessary to forgiveness; so that my plain-dealing with you has evidently been no damage, but an advantage to you.

Learn hence, That the faithful ministers of Christ must by no means omit the duty of sharp reproof, nor neglect to bring the censures of the church upon notorious offenders, how ungrateful soever the work is either to themselves or others.

Learn, 2. That there is good ground to hope, that when the censures of the church are duly executed, they will have their desired effects, by bringing the offenders to repentance; and by repentance to remission and salvation: I rejoice, that ye sorrowed to repentance, for ye sorrowed after a godly sort.

William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

REPENTANCE

8. “Because if indeed I grieved you with a letter,” i. e., this was the first epistle in which he had designated their errors, irregularities and apostasies, and castigated very severely for the same. “I do not regret it, if indeed I did reject it: for I see that if indeed that epistle did grieve you for a time.

9. “Now I rejoice, not because ye were grieved, but because ye were grieved unto repentance: for ye sorrowed according to God in order that you might in nothing be damaged by us.

10. “For godly sorrow worketh repentance unto salvation not to be regretted, but the sorrow of the world worketh out death.” While the sorrow of the world which breaks the hearts of millions (for this world is really flooded with sorrow) actually works out physical death, frequently causing immediate suicide, and in countless instances shortening life and expediting physical death, bringing down myriad’s in sorrow to a premature grave, as the Scripture says, “The wicked shall not live out half their days”; yet it is an indisputable fact that the sorrow of the world is constantly working out the spiritual death of worldly people. How is this? Why, this awful, heart-crushing, worldly sorrow, for which there is no condolence with the wicked, is really a prelude of Hell torment, coming on Satan’s poor victims of death and damnation, and actually working out in them spiritual and eternal death. You will observe “repentance” occurring three times in this passage in the E.V., where I translate it “regret.” This is one of several instances in the E.V. where metamelomai is translated “repent.” All this is incorrect and illusory to the English reader, as metanoeoo, from meta, “to change,” and nous, “the mind,” is the only word used in the Greek Testament to denote “repentance.” The same mistake occurs in E.V. in case of Judas Iscariot, stating that he repented, which is not correct. The reason I so explicitly make this explanation and expose that error in the E.V., is not only because it is true, but because it is necessary to defend the Bible doctrine of repentance from a very egregious misunderstanding. Repentance is not only a grand and momentous reality in the gracious economy, but actually constitutes the foundation of a true Christian experience (Heb 1:6). It is a grandly significant fact that repentance is invariably the antecedent of justification, always putting the sinner on believing ground, where the exercise of faith is easy, salvation coming as certainly as the tide flows down the river. God never fails. John the Baptist preached, “Repent, for the kingdom of Heaven is at hand,” showing plainly that repentance qualifies everybody to walk right into the kingdom of God. To be sure, faith is the open door into the kingdom; yet repentance puts you on the threshold, where you have nothing to do but walk right in through the open door. If Judas had repented he would have been gloriously reclaimed, gone on and received the fiery baptism on the day of Pentecost, and then gone out with his apostolical comrades to preach the everlasting gospel. This word metamelomai, in the case of Judas and three instances in the passage now under discussion, means keen and pungent “regret,” and frequently, as in the case of Judas, intensifying into intolerable remorse, precipitating its hopeless victim into suicide. Metanoeoo, properly translated “repent,” has a meaning entirely different from metamelomai. It is from meta, “change,” and nous, “the mind,” and consequently simply means a change of mind. While the metaphysical meaning ‘of this word is rather weak, involving simply a change of purpose or plan, the spiritual meaning which is proper, pertinent and general in the Scriptures, is very deep, strong and comprehensive. When God created man in His own image and likeness, He invested him with the Divine mind. Satan maneuvered in the Fall to divest him of his Heavenly endowment, substituting in its place his own filthy, paltry mind, so enfeebling and beclouding man’s native intellect that it immediately became subordinated to his animal body, thus developing the carnal mind, which is actual enmity against God (Rom 8:7), “not subject to His law, neither indeed can be.” Hence the only remedy for it is utter extermination, all efforts to refine and subordinate it to the Divine will proving utter and hopeless failures, only ultimating in ruin and damnation. Hence the true meaning of repentance is the removal of the carnal mind out of humanity and the restoration of the Divine mind, the latter subordinated to God and the former to the physical body. Hence the complete work of repentance is only reached in a perfect and final consecration; the word in its ordinary use simply indicating the initial work, characteristic of every penitent sinner when he leaves Satan and all of his sins and comes to God. Hence John Wesley taught the repentance of believers, legitimately using the word in its higher Bible sense of entire consecration. The repentance and consecration are, therefore, generically identical, though specifically different; their identity consisting in a total abandonment, the sinner giving up al his bad things to the devil, to whom they belong, and leaving Satan and everything he possesses never to return, while in consecration the Christian gives up all his good things to God to be used for His glory forever. The common apprehension of repentance is that of godly sorrow, which is not correct. While godly sorrow is a normal and most potent antecedent to repentance, yet it is a different thing altogether. As you see above, “a godly sorrow worketh repentance not to be regretted.” This “godly sorrow” is the normal fruit of a true spiritual conviction, and the intermediate link connecting conviction and repentance. As all conviction, even the most potent, may be stifled and survived, and the sinner go right on his Hellward bound way, so of godly sorrow. It may be so awful as to drive away sleep and appetite for days together, and still the person not repent, as I have actually witnessed in many instances. Repentance simply means a change in mind, i. e., from the carnal mind to the mind of Christ. The experimental phase of it is simply for the sinner to turn on his heel, bid adieu to the devil and all of his sins, leaving Satan’s kingdom at once and forever. He may do that crying or laughing, at his own option. The salient fact is simply for him to do it. In that case God always forgives and saves.

11. “For, behold how great earnestness this same godly sorrow hath wrought unto you!” He means the grand and general rally down at the altar, unanimously and importunately seeking before God the reclamations and reformations and all the corrections specified in Paul’s first letter. “Apology.” They had vindicated themselves to Titus, giving satisfactory explanations and apologies for the matters of which Paul had accused them, and effecting with Titus a satisfactory reconciliation. “Clearing up.” This they had done with Titus, satisfying him of their innocence, loyalty and conservatism to the Pauline doctrine and experience, and everything involved in his letter. “Reverence.” They had shown to Titus a true reverence for Paul as their spiritual father unto God, notwithstanding the strenuous efforts made by certain preachers who had come from Judaea, denouncing Paul as an innovator and an interloper because he was not one of the original Twelve. They abundantly satisfied Titus that they had a true and sincere filial reverence for Paul as their spiritual father, fully accepting, endorsing and appreciating all the doctrines he had preached to them. “Longing.” This means a longing to see him again, and hear him preach, after an absence of three and a half years, assuring Titus that they had rather see him than anybody, and not only bid him a joyous welcome, but are actually longing to see him. “Zeal.” Titus certified to Paul that their zeal to punish the incestuous man, and to regulate all the irregularities and disorders among them, was really intense; that they were in perfect sympathy with everything Paul had written, and willing and anxious to enforce New Testament law in every particular. “Vindication.” This means that they unanimously approbated the vindication of law and order among them, and that there was a universal approval of all Paul had written or preached to them on these different subjects. “In everything ye have commended yourselves to be pure in the matter;” i. e., they had satisfied Titus fully that in the flagrant case of the adulterous man they were a unit with Paul in the enforcement of discipline.

12. “Then if indeed I wrote to you, it was not on account of him that did the wrong, nor on account of him that suffered the wrong; but in order that your zeal which is in our behalf towards you before God may be made manifest.” This verse shows that the father of the man who had his second wife was still living, which made the case so flagrant. Now that they have so nobly and unanimously received Paul’s castigatory letter, and, instead of dividing up, some taking sides with the offending member and others with Paul against him, they had without a dissenting voice responded a hearty amen to Paul’s condemnation and castigation in the matter. Besides, the whole church had come down in deep sorrow and wept before God over that dark blot which Satan had cast on the fair escutcheon of their church. Meanwhile the guilty man had done everything in his power to rescind and readjust the irregularity, being so penitent and broken-hearted over it that it seemed he would die of grief. Now that the matter has taken this happy turn, the original parties being all satisfied, he very adroitly changes the point of controversy and recognizes the value of his communication to them in reference to the aggravated case of immorality that it has resulted in the satisfactory manifestation of their mutual zeal in his behalf and his parental love toward them.

13-14. “Therefore we have been comforted. But, in addition to our consolation, we rejoice the more abundantly over the joy of Titus because his spirit has been refreshed by you all.” The truth of the matter was, Titus had not only succeeded in the mission on which he had been sent, i. e., to effect their unanimous acceptance and appreciation of Paul’s first epistle, but under his labors a glorious revival had broken out and swept along, which had also flooded him with a double consolation. Hence, when Titus brings the news to him up in Macedonia, Paul receives a double blessing, the one that of the good news from Corinth that they had received joyfully all the doctrines and disciplinary corrections in the letter he had sent to them, and the other was to see Titus himself so wonderfully revived up and inundated with the victory the Lord had given him in his ministry at Corinth. “Because if I have rejoiced in anything with him in your behalf, I was not ashamed, but as I spoke all things in truth to you, so also your rejoicing over Titus was true.

15. “And his heart is the more abundantly toward you remembering the obedience of you all how you received him with fear and trembling.

16. “I rejoice, because in everything I am assured by you.” At this point the letter becomes exceedingly complimentary and even eulogistic; so that it certifies that in everything he is fully assured among them. A couple of months after this writing he arrived among them, and doubtless enjoyed an exceedingly happy reception, and though we have no record of his ministry among them the ensuing three months, where he spent the winter preparatory to his last journey to Jerusalem the following spring, there is no doubt but it was a time memorable and glorious for the victories of truth and righteousness. During that time he wrote the letter to the Romans.

William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

For though I made you sorry with my epistle, I do not regret it: though I did regret it (for I see that that epistle made you sorry, though but for a season) ,

J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

8–11. I do not repent. “Regret,” as in the Revision. The Greek word rendered repent in this verse, is not the one rendered repentance in verses 9 and 10. The Revision preserves the distinction throughout. His first letter made them sorry, and at one time he regretted sending it, because he feared it would not work the result he wished, but since it had, he did not regret that he sent it.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

Connecting Statement:

Paul praises them for their godly sorrow, their zeal to do right, and the joy that it brought him and Titus.

General Information:

This refers to Paul's previous letter to these Corinthian believers where he rebuked them for their acceptance of a believer's sexual immorality with his father's wife.

when I saw that my letter

"when I learned that my letter"

not because you were distressed

This can be stated in active form. AT: "not because what I said in my letter distressed you" (See: Active or Passive)

you suffered no loss because of us

"you suffered no loss because we rebuked you." This means that although the letter caused them sorrow, they eventually benefited from the letter because it led them to repentance. AT: "so that we did not harm you in any way" (See: Idiom)

For godly sorrow brings about repentance that accomplishes salvation

The word "repentance" may be repeated to clarify its relationship to what precedes it and what follows it. AT: "For godly sorrow produces repentance, and repentance leads to salvation" (See: Ellipsis)

without regret

Possible meanings are 1) Paul has no regret that he caused them sorrow because that sorrow led to their repentance and salvation or 2) the Corinthians will not regret experiencing sorrow because it led to their repentance and salvation.

Worldly sorrow, however, brings about death

This kind of sorrow leads to death instead of salvation because it does not produce repentance. AT: "Worldly sorrow, however, leads to spiritual death" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)

translationWords

epistle

joy

repent

godly

suffer

save

world

die

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

8. βλέπω (BD, d e) rather than βλέπω γάρ (אCD2FGKLP, Syrr. Copt. Arm.), the γάρ being inserted to ease the construction. Comp. 2Co 5:21. Probably videns (Vulg.) preserves the true reading, βλέπων, ω̄, having been read as ω (WH. App. p. 120).

8. ὅτι εἰ καὶ ἐλύπησα ὑμᾶς ἐν τῇ ἐπιστολῇ, οὐ μεταμέλομαι. Because, though I made you sorry (2Co 2:2) in my letter, I do not regret it. Μεταμέλομαι (Mat 21:30; Mat 21:32; Heb 7:21) has less serious associations than μετανοέω (2Co 12:21 and often in Lk. and Rev.). Trench, Syn. § lxix. A colon or full stop should be placed at μεταμέλομαι.

εἰ καὶ μετεμελόμην. The δέ after εἰ, admitted by Weiss on the authority of B, may be ignored. Though I did regret it … I now rejoice. This is strong evidence that the painful letter alluded to here is not 1 Corinthians. It is difficult to believe that anything in 1 Corinthians ever made the Apostle regret, even for a time, that he had written it. He does not say that it had pained him to pain them, but that for a time he regretted having sent the letter that pained them, though he does not regret it now. We are therefore again (2Co 1:17, 2Co 2:3; 2Co 2:9) pointed to the hypothesis of a second lost letter, viz. one between 1 and 2 Corinthians, the other being that of 1Co 5:9, before 1 Corinthians. If 2 Corinthians 10-13 is part of this letter, there are passages there which he might at times regret having sent, and in the remainder of the letter there may have been things which he would be still more likely to regret.

βλέπω ὅτι … ἐλύπησεν ὑμᾶς. If βλέπω be the right reading (see critical note), it is best to take this clause as a parenthesis: Though I did regret it (I see that that letter, though but for a season, made you sorry), I now rejoice. The R.V. does not give this arrangement a place even in the margin; but the American Revisers prefer it. In the A.V. the change from ‘letter’ to ‘Epistle’ is unwarrantable, and to translate ἐλύπησεν ‘hath made sorry’ spoils the sense, by implying that the sorrow still continues.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

8-11.] He expresses his satisfaction at the effect produced on them, as superseding his former regret that he had grieved them.

8.] For (reason of the χαρῆναι) though I even grieved you in (by means of) my epistle, I do not (now) repent (having written it), though I even did repent it (before the coming of Titus). Erasm. al., take εἰ καὶ μετεμ. for ‘even supposing I repented it before, which was not the case:’ Calv., al. think ‘verbum pœnitendi improprie positum pro dolorem capere.’ The reason of these departures from grammatical construction and the meaning of words, is, for fear the Apostle should seem to have repented of that which he did under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. But there is no difficulty even on the strictest view of inspiration, in conceiving that the Apostle may have afterwards regretted the severity which he was guided to use; we know that Jonah, being directed by inspiration to pronounce the doom of Nineveh, endeavoured to escape the unwelcome duty: and doubtless St. Paul, as a man, in the weakness of his affection for the Corinthians, was tempted to wish that he had never written that which had given them pain. But the result shewed that God’s Spirit had ordered it well, that he should thus write: and this his repentance was repented of again.

βλέπω γὰρ κ.τ.λ.] For I see that that letter, though but for a time, did grieve you. This seems the only admissible rendering of the words. Chrys. sees in them the reason of οὐ μεταμέλομαι, and adds (Hom. xv. p. 543) τὸ μὲν γὰρ λυπηρὸν βραχύ, τὸ δὲ ὠφέλιμον διηνεκές. It appears then that he would render εἰ καὶ πρὸς ὥραν, ‘if even for a season,’ = ‘scarcely for any time.’ Rinck (lucubr. crit. p. 162) would begin a new sentence with εἰ καὶ μετεμελόμην, and parenthesizing βλέπω.… ὑμᾶς, regard νῦν χαίρω, κ.τ.λ. as the apodosis. But this is very unnatural, with so abrupt a beginning as εἰ καί. It would certainly have been εἰ δὲ καί: and the present, βλέπω, would give no reason for the past, μετεμελόμην, which had passed away. The best sense, as well as the most legitimate rendering, is to regard βλέπω.… ὑμᾶς as the epexegesis of ἐλύπησα, as above.

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

8. ὅτι εἰ καὶ ἐλύπησα ὑμᾶς ἐν τῇ ἐπιστολῇ, οὐ μεταμέλομαι. ‘Because, though I made you sorrowful (see on 2:2) in my letter, I do not regret it.’ That he pained them by what he wrote is treated as a fact; εἰ καί rather than καὶ εἰ: see on 4:3. The difference between μεταμέλομαι (Mat 21:30, Mat 21:21:32, Mat 21:27:3; Heb 7:21 from Psa 109[110]:4) and μετανοέω (12:21; Act 2:38, Act 2:3:19; etc.) is fairly represented by the difference between ‘regret’ and ‘repent,’ but no hard and fast line can be drawn, such as that the former refers to transitory feelings respecting details, while the latter implies moral choice affecting the whole life. Either verb is used either way. But, as the derivations show, μετανοέω has the richer and more serious meaning. Trench, Syn. § lxix.

εἰ καὶ μετεμελόμην. See crit. note below. Whether we read βλέπω or βλέπων, we may take νῦν χαίρω as the aposdosis of εἰ καὶμετ., and treat what lies between as a parenthesis. This is somewhat awkward when written, but might easily be given in dictation. ‘Though I was inclined to regret it—I see that that letter, though but for a time, made you sorrowful— now I rejoice.’ We may put it more smoothly thus; ‘I see that that letter gave you pain, though only for a while; at the time I was inclined to regret having written it, but now I am very glad.’ Ἐκείνη puts the letter away from him; it is remote from his present attitude. It is quite clear that he had written a letter about which he had had misgivings and regrets; he could have wished that he had not written it. It is difficult to agree with those who think that he could ever have had such feelings about 1 Corinthians. Could he for a moment have regretted having written such a letter? There must have been another letter of a much more painful character. See on 1:17, 2:3, 9. If 2 Cor. 10—13. is part of that letter, it is easy to point to passages which he might sometimes wish that he had never written.*

The arrangement given above is that of Tisch., WH., and the American Revisers, but RV. gives it no recognition, perhaps because of its apparent awkwardness. AV capriciously renders ἐπιστολή first ‘letter’ and then ‘Epistle,’ and treats ἐλύπησεν as a perf., as if the pain still continued, which the Apostle certainly did not mean to imply.

πρὸς ὥραν. The pain will not last; there is nothing that need rankle; the present letter will entirely extinguish it. Gal 2:5 and Phm 1:15 show that the expression may be used of either a short or a long time, either a few minutes or several months. The main point is that an end is certain. Cf. πρὸς καιρόν (1Co 7:5; Luk 8:13), πρὸς ὀλίγον (1Ti 4:8), and πρὸς καιρὸν ὤρας (1Th 2:17). It is possible that εἰ καὶ πρὸς ὥραν ἐλύπησεν ὑμᾶς should be taken together, ‘although it pained you for a season,’ and that the sentence is left unfinished. Perhaps some such words as ‘has had excellent effects’ ought to have followed. However we unravel the confused constr., the general sense is clear.

After ἐν τῇ ἐπιστολῇ D* E* F G, d e f g add μου. B inserts δέ between at and καί. א D2 E F G K L P, f g Syrr. Copt. inserts γάρ after βλέπω. In all three cases we may omit. Lachmann and Hort would follow Vulg. (videns) and read βλέπων, βλεπω̄ having been read as βλεπω. Videns, like the insertion of γάρ, may be an attempt to smooth the constr.

Only to those who believe in verbal inspiration in the most rigid sense, could this verse cause any difficulty, other than that of reading and constr. There is no need even to ask the question, “How could an inspired Apostle ever regret what he had written?” Such questions belong to views about Holy Scripture which criticism has demonstrated to be untenable. The Apostle himself would scarcely have understood what such a question meant. If he did, he might ask, “Do you suppose that I never make a mistake?”

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Repent [μεταμελομαι] . See on Mt 21:29. Rev., regret it.

Though I did repent. Punctuate as Am. Rev., I do not regret it : though (even if) I did regret it (for I see that that epistle made you sorry, though but for a season) I now rejoice.

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.