2 Corinthians 7:8; But For a Season

2 Corinthians 7:8 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.

MacDonald observed well, “When the Corinthians first read his letter, it came as a rebuke to them, and they were pained. After sending the letter, the apostle anticipated their reaction to it, and this made him sorry. Not that he was conscious of having done any wrong; that is not the thought here at all. Rather he was sorry that in carrying out his work for the Lord, it was necessary that others should at times be cast into unhappiness temporarily in order that God’s purposes might be worked out in their lives.”

Christians typically think of repentance as something necessary for beginning the Christian life, but it should also be an activity that characterizes the Christian life. Like the pilot who continually makes slight course adjustments to keep his aircraft on track, repentance and renewal should characterize our daily walk with Christ. In this passage, Paul commends the Christians in Corinth for repenting when confronted with their sin, and in the process makes an important distinction between healthy and unhealthy remorse. In contrast to genuine contrition (“godly sorrow,” 7:10), which restores life, stands disingenuous, worldly sorrow, which is closer to resentment than repentance. This kind of sorrow regrets the discovery of the sin more than the sin itself and leads to bitterness and ultimately death (7:11).¹

Indeed, as I believe the Apostle Paul said well of God’s motive for chastisement and the benefit accorded to God’s children in  Heb. 12:5-11, “5 And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: 6 For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. 7 If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? 8 But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons. 9 Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live? 10 For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness. 11 Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.” Amen.

¹Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary, NewTestament – Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary on the New Testament – Romans to Philemon.