(2) Receive us; we have wronged no man, we have corrupted no man, we have defrauded no man. (3) I speak not this to condemn you: for I have said before, that ye are in our hearts to die and live with you. (4) Great is my boldness of speech toward you, great is my glorying of you: I am filled with comfort, I am exceeding joyful in all our tribulation. (5) For, when we were come into Macedonia, our flesh had no rest, but we were troubled on every side; without were fightings, within were fears. (6) Nevertheless God, that comforteth those that are cast down, comforted us by the coming of Titus; (7) And not by his coming only, but by the consolation wherewith he was comforted in you, when he told us your earnest desire, your mourning, your fervent mind toward me; so that I rejoiced the more. (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. (9) 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. (10) For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death. (11) For behold this selfsame thing, that ye sorrowed after a godly sort, what carefulness it wrought in you, yea, what clearing of yourselves, yea, what indignation, yea, what fear, yea, what vehement desire, yea, what zeal, yea, what revenge! In all things ye have approved yourselves to be clear in this matter.
I see no reason to detain the Reader with any particular observations on these verses: at least in that part, of what the Apostle saith, with respect to the special state of the Corinthian Church, at the time he wrote to it. The trouble Paul felt, from some particular exercises he had, on their account, gave occasion for him to observe, the sweetness of divine comforts, which are administered by the Lord, as those exercises his people required. And I believe the Reader will find that in all the afflictions of the faithful, strength is suited to the day. Supposing a child of God be brought into soul, or body sorrow: and supposing the distress he ever so great, or in duration ever so long; yet, in exact proportion to what the state needs, Jesus gives the suited supply. It is very blessed to eye the Lord's hand in every appointment. And it is very blessed to discover the Lord's presence in the sorrow. A faithful soul, through grace, will find a strength imparted by such a contemplation, as will bear him up under the heaviest pressure, until the storm be past. And while a child of God can, and doth, wait the issue of things, with that patience which the Lord alone gives, and which Jesus bids his disciples to possess their souls; Luke 21:19, there will be an assured end, of holy triumph in Christ. It is a precious thing to have faith to give credit to God. Wherever this is found, God will crown that faith with success.
I detain the Reader to notice what the Apostle saith of godly sorrow, distinguished from the sorrow of the world, which worketh death. The sources, from whence they spring, being as opposite, as light and darkness: so must be their consequences. Godly sorrows comes from grace, in the ascension gifts of Christ. Worldly sorrow wholly from the world. The former, which comes from God, leads to God. The latter, ariseth from the world, and with the world perisheth forever. Lord Jesus! send down those immense blessings on thy Church and people, which as a Prince, and Savior, thou art exalted to give: and these will bring with them repentance to thy true Israel, and remission of sins., Acts 5:31; Zechariah 12:10.