2 Corinthians 7:5 - Meaning and Application

There is clearly a link between this verse and 2 Corinthians 2:13, where Paul said he had no peace in his spirit when he did not find Titus at Troas. Paul loved the Corinthians deeply, and he was also troubled about their response to the man guilty of incest, so even while traveling, he still had no rest until he heard from them.

First, Paul tells how distressed he had been (2 Corinthians 7:5). He was troubled when he did not meet Titus at Troas, and then he was troubled again when he did not meet him for some time in Macedonia. This hurt him because he could not hear how Titus had been received at Corinth, or how their situation was developing. On top of that, he faced many other troubles, with constant storms of persecution. There were fights outside, meaning ongoing conflict and opposition from Jews and Gentiles, and there were fears inside, meaning deep concern for those who had believed in Christ, lest they be led astray, cause scandal, or be shaken themselves.

Then Paul explains how he was comforted (2 Corinthians 7:6, 2 Corinthians 7:7). The very arrival of Titus was a comfort to him. It was a joy to see the one he had long wanted and expected to meet, and Titus and his companions were dear to him, like his own son in the shared Christian faith (Titus 1:4). But the good news Titus brought about the Corinthians gave him even greater comfort. Titus himself had been encouraged by them, and this encouraged Paul even more, especially when he learned of their strong desire to make things right in the matters Paul had written about, their sorrow over the shame found among them, and their warm affection for the apostle who had faithfully corrected them. Solomon said something similar, that the person who rebukes another later finds more favor than the one who flatters with his tongue (Proverbs 28:23).

Paul says that all this comfort came from God as its source. It was God who comforted him through Titus, the God of all comfort, the one who comforts the downcast (2 Corinthians 7:6). We should look above every human helper and see God as the one who gives all the comfort and good we enjoy.

Paul then turns to the joy he felt over their repentance and the clear signs of it. He was sorry that his letter had caused them grief, and he was sorry if sincere believers among them were deeply troubled by what he had written, or if it had been necessary to make them sorry when he would rather have made them glad (2 Corinthians 7:8). But now he rejoiced because their sorrow had led them to repentance (2 Corinthians 7:9). Their sorrow itself was not what made him glad, but what that sorrow produced, repentance that leads to salvation (2 Corinthians 7:10). So Paul could see that they had not been harmed by his letter in any lasting way.

Their sorrow was only for a time, and it turned into joy that lasted. True repentance begins with godly sorrow. That sorrow is not repentance itself, but it prepares the heart for repentance and in a sense brings it about. The offender was deeply grieved, almost overwhelmed with too much sorrow, and the church itself had been greatly grieved after being proud before. Their sorrow was godly, or according to God, meaning it matched God’s will, honored God, and was worked by God’s Spirit. It was sorrow over sin as an offense against God, as unthankfulness, and as a loss of his favor. This is very different from worldly sorrow. Godly sorrow leads to repentance and change, and it ends in salvation. Worldly sorrow leads to death. The grief of worldly people over worldly things shortens life, and a sorrow over sin like Judas had can end in ruin, as it did for him.

Repentance goes with salvation, so true repentant people will never later regret that they repented, or regret anything that helped lead them there. Humbling oneself and feeling godly sorrow are necessary before repentance, and both come from God, who gives all grace. Paul then points to the fruits of true repentance (2 Corinthians 7:11). Where the heart is changed, life will change too. The Corinthians showed that their sorrow was godly because it produced deep concern to avoid sin and please God, a clearing of themselves not by defending their sin, but by removing the wrong and refusing to excuse it, indignation against sin, against themselves, and against the one who tempted them, fear that made them careful and watchful, earnest desire for a full return to what was right and for peace with God, zeal for duty and against sin, and a kind of revenge against sin and their own foolishness by doing all that was needed to repair the wrong.

In all this, they proved themselves clear in the matter. That does not mean they had been innocent, but that they had repented, and so God would forgive them and not punish them. Because of that, men should no longer keep accusing or reproaching them for something they had truly turned from.