¹⁰For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation, but the sorrow of the world produces death. ¹¹For behold what earnestness this very thing, this godly sorrow, has produced in you: what vindication of yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what longing, what zeal, what avenging of wrong! In everything you demonstrated yourselves to be innocent in the matter. ¹²So although I wrote to you, it was not for the sake of the offender nor for the sake of the one offended, but that your earnestness on our behalf might be made known to you in the sight of God.

“Sorry” doesn’t cut it, that is, just saying the word. We all know the tone a child uses when forced to apologize to his or her sibling. Adults may camouflage it better, but often we only go part way in our repentance. The apostle takes dead aim at this pseudo-spiritual effort at sounding contrite and humble, while not completely putting the “self” to death.

The stakes are high, salvation or death. This does not refer to eternal salvation of the soul, for Paul is writing to those who are already “sanctified” and in fact, he calls them “saints” (1 Cor. 1:1). Rather, he uses the broad understanding of salvation as being deliverance from that which enslaves us. Certainly the kind of repentance Paul writes to the Corinthians about began when we repented and turned to Christ for forgiveness and salvation. This is an example of what the apostles wrote elsewhere, “As you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him …” (Col. 2:6). The life of faith includes a life of genuine repentance; anything else results in a spiritual deadness, as though we were not even saved.

True sorrow for sin results in genuine repentance, for which there is no regret. Paul describes this result with a string of descriptors: the repentant life is earnest, godly, vindicated (our repentance becomes our defense against the accusations of Satan), indignant (we ourselves are repulsed by the behavior repented from), fearful (we fear falling into the same sin again), longing (desiring for greater sanctification), zealous (for what is good and pure), and avenging (willing to punish or recompense for our own wrongdoing). No wonder the apostle begins with “behold”! Genuine sorrow and repentance is truly a powerful, life-transforming thing.

They now could be said to have shown themselves to be “innocent” in the sense of having responded properly to Paul’s admonition, rather than to reject it and remain in their guilt. What was that, but the dealing with an offending Christian about whom Paul wrote earlier (2 Cor. 2:3, 9, 7:8)? While resolution of that conflict was important, more important was how the Corinthian church responded. And Paul commends them for their godly response.

Lord, help me to be truly sorry and repentant when I sin against You.