From Share The Word, Wednesday, 7/9/2014

II Corinthians 7:8, “I do not repent, though I did repent...”

There are different reasons we repent. When about to get a spanking as a child, I could repent with the best of them. Mercy was begged for with the famous statement “I won’t ever do it again.” This was truly a “fleshly repentance.” Then there is a repenting because you are truly sorrowful for what you did. This fit me due to a vast number of mistakes needing to be repented of and I was truly sorry for them. This was a “godly repentance.” Then, there are those times when I repented because what I did brought sorrow to someone else; but, down deep I was made glad due to the final outcome. This was a “spiritual repentance.” You see, the Apostle Paul repented to the church at Corinth for sending them a letter of strong correction. He was not repenting for the necessity of the letter or for what it bore, but rather the sorrow it caused. This was all brought about by what Paul told them in II Corinthians chapter six:

1 - “Be ye not unequally yoked with unbelievers:”
2-  To not be companions with Belial or with an Infidel;
3-  Then, he told them that idols had no place in the temple of God.

All this brought about Paul saying “...I do not repent, though I did repent...”.

Many times God’s ministers have to preach a “hard saying” (see John 6:60) unto their congregations and it is not always received, even when the preacher is in the right spirit when doing so. The church at Corinth was brought to “godly repentance” because they “sorrowed to repentance.” When our preaching causes “godly sorrow” and then helps to bring about “godly repentance,” it is as it should be. God is honored. God is glorified. God is praised.

Paul completed his explanation of their repentance in verse 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.”