The Right Kind Of Sorrow
THE RIGHT KIND OF SORROW
2 CORINTHIANS 7:9-16
It is no good being sorry about our sins without doing anything about them. Real repentance puts things right.
More reasons follow for Paul’s encouragement when Titus met him in Macedonia (7:5-6). Not only had the church taken positive and courageous action, Paul’s own estimate of the Corinthians themselves had also been vindicated, as 7:4,14 make clear. He had confessed to Titus that he believed, deep in his heart, that all would be well, and now he has not been put to shame, but rather what he said is “found to be true” (7:14).
Titus also rejoiced (7:13), and his joy spills over to Paul. The way in which Paul’s delegate (commended in 8:23) had been received, and the prompt obedience the Corinthians had given to his words as the apostle’s representative, had endeared them to Titus (7:15); and so both apostle and delegate rejoice together. The crisis at Corinth is over, and Paul is confident that all is well (7:16).
The distinction drawn in 7:9-10 between two kinds of sorrow. The first type, although short-lived and brought about by the “severe letter,” was effective in leading to a true repentance which brought no regret (Hebrews 12:4-13). The other kind of sorrow is the kind that takes no account of God’s disciplinary chastisement and is more like remorse and self-recrimination. Judas’ action (Matthew 27:3) may be given as an illustration of a sorrow which produces only despair and death. One effect of the former “godly grief” is that as far as the Corinthians were concerned, they did not “suffer loss” (7:9). Probably this means that Paul would not have visited the church if it had remained hardened, and that would have been to their detriment.