2 Corinthians 7:9, 10 Now I rejoice, not that you were made sorry, but that you sorrowed to repentance: for you were made sorry after a godly manner… Reference is to the distress which the more spiritual members of the Corinthian Church felt on the receipt of St. Paul's first letter. He had written severely, and, after sending his letter, almost regretted that he had expressed himself so strongly; but he now felt thankful to hoar that they had so well responded to his appeals, and sorrowed unto repentance and putting away of the evil in a manner that would be so certainly approved by God. "The series of emotional words in ver. 11 represent the apostle's estimate of what he had heard from Titus. There was (1) earnestness where there had been indifference to evil, and even approval of it (1 Corinthians 5:2); and this was shown (2) in the vindication of their conduct which they had sent through Titus; and (3) in their stern 'indignation' against the offender; (4) in their fear, partly of the supernatural chastisement which St. Paul had threatened, partly of the judgment of God which was against such things; (5) in the longing to have him once more among them, which mingled with their fear; (6) in their new zeal for the law of purity; (7) in their actual vengeance, i.e. their sentence of condemnation passed upon the offender." "The apostle rejoiced, not that the Corinthians sorrowed, but that they sorrowed unto repentance. Sorrow has two results - it may end in spiritual life or in spiritual death; and in themselves one of these is as natural as the other. Sorrow may produce two kinds of reformation: a transient or a permanent one; an alteration in habits, which, originating in emotion, will last so long as that emotion continues, and then, after a few fruitless efforts, be given up; a repentance which will be repented of; or again, a permanent change which will be reversed by no after thought - a repentance not to be repented of." Beza says, "The 'sorrow of the world' is the certain way to desperation, unless God prevent it, as appears from the horrid examples of Cain, Saul, Ahithophel, and Judas; but the written tears of David give the clearest example of the other kind of sorrow." I. THE DISTINCTION BETWEEN REMORSE AND REPENTANCE. The word "remorse" has in it the figure of "biting back," and it means going over our sins in thought, with a keen gnawing regret at having done them, but without any softened feelings such as belong to the penitent. Remorse is exactly that "sorrow of the world" which worketh death. Repentance is that humble, regretful spirit which sets a man ready to receive and to value the Divine forgiveness. II. THE TESTS OF GENUINE REPENTANCE IN THE INDIVIDUAL. They are: 1. Mental distress. 2. Humility and self-abasement. 3. Confession without attempt at excuses. 4. Earnest seeking of Divine forgiveness. 5. Resolute putting away of the evil. 6. Keen watchfulness over the circumstances that involve temptation to the sin. 7. And an attitude of simple and unquestioning obedience to the will of God, and submission to whatever judgments on the sin it may please him to appoint. "Sorrow has done its work when it deters from evil. In the sorrow of the world the obliquity of the heart towards evil is not cured; it seems as if nothing cured it; heartache and trials come in vain; the history of life at last is what it was at first. Sorrow avails only when the past is converted into experience, and from failure lessons are learned which never are to be forgotten." III. THE TESTS OF GENUINE REPENTANCE IN A CHURCH. These more especially are dealt with in the passage before us. Bengel says that the six results mentioned by the apostle fall into pairs. The first two relate to their feelings towards themselves, the next to their feelings towards the apostle, the last to their feelings towards the offender and his offence. The tests we notice are (1) clearings, earnest efforts to put away the wrong, and to show that they had no complicity in it, and would make no excuses for it; (2) anxiety for each other, that the membership may be quite purified, and no brother cherish even a secret sympathy with the wrong; (3) discipline on the wrong doer, by at least a temporary removal of him from the Church fellowship. The penitence of a Church will also find expression in united acts of confession and humiliation, and in prayer for Divine forgiveness and restoration. Perhaps much too little is made in these days of the united acts of the corporate Church life. There is a befitting Church penitence, a proper godly sorrow of a community, when, by any evil of its members, such a community has become defiled. - R.T. Parallel Verses KJV: Now I rejoice, not that ye were made sorry, but that ye sorrowed to repentance: for ye were made sorry after a godly manner, that ye might receive damage by us in nothing. |
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