2 Corinthians 7:10

Godly sorrow, etc.] The contrast is between repentance and remorse, between sorrow for sin and sorrow for its consequences: cp. St. Peter and Judas.

Repentance to salvation] cp. 'Heart-sorrow and a clear life ensuing' (Shakespeare). The sorrow of the world] i.e. grief that regrets not the sin, but the fact of being found out.

Death] Moral and spiritual ruin.

11, 12. Paraphrase. 'Your own repentance is a case in point. Yours was a godly sorrow, as the results proclaim; for it made you earnest to amend your ways, anxious to clear yourselves, indignant that you had been misled, afraid of the results of your conduct, anxious to see me, zealous for truth and justice, resolute in purifying the Church. In every respect you showed that you had no share in the offender's guilt, and no desire to shield him. (12) And this was the very purpose of that severe letter, not to secure the punishment of the offender, or to satisfy the resentment of the injured, but to cause you to recognise before God the feelings of affection and devotion with which you really regarded me.'