2 Cor. 7:7. so that I rejoiced even more.
I, he says, rejoiced both at the presence of Titus, but even more at the fact that he reported to me such news about you.
2 Cor. 7:8. Therefore, if I grieved you with my epistle, I do not regret it, though I did regret it,
Although I wrote to you in such a way, he says, that I exceeded the measure of reproach and ought to have repented of having censured you beyond measure, yet the great benefit arising from it does not allow me now to repent. He said this not because he had in fact censured them beyond measure, but in order to increase their praise.
2 Cor. 7:8. For I see that that epistle made you sorrowful, though but for a time.
2 Cor. 7:9. Now I rejoice, not that you were made sorrowful, but that you were made sorrowful unto repentance; for you were made sorrowful for God's sake,
The sorrow was temporary – for an hour, but the benefit was everlasting. "I rejoice," he says, "not because you were grieved" (for what benefit is your sorrow to me?), "but that you were grieved to repentance." Notice how he attributes the sorrow to repentance, and does not say that he brought them benefit – which would have been fair – but ascribes this matter to their virtue. You were grieved, he says, but you were grieved "for God's sake."
2 Cor. 7:9. So that you suffered no harm at all from us.
Having been reproved, he says, by us, you were grieved according to God, and henceforth you will suffer no harm from us in anything. For all of you, not excluding even the one who had fallen into the most extreme sin and fornication, have improved. A teacher causes harm to a student when he does not reprove the one who is sinning. For if he had been reproved, he would have received benefit.
2 Cor. 7:10. For godly sorrow produces steadfast repentance unto salvation, while worldly sorrow produces death.
He discusses sorrow and shows that sorrow is not always an evil, but only when it is according to the world, that is, over possessions, glory, or the dead. For such sorrow "produces death," assuredly already of the soul, and often of the body as well, for through this many have perished. But if someone voluntarily grieves over sins, he grieves "for God's sake"; for this remedy has been prepared for the case of this one disease alone, for the production of unchanging repentance (for none of those who grieve with it ever repented of doing so) and for the deliverance of man from the death of the soul.
2 Cor. 7:11. For this very thing, that you were made sorry in a godly manner, see what earnestness it produced in you,
Not from the example of others, he says, do I prove the benefit of godly sorrow, but from your own experience. For you not only did not regret that you were grieved, but you became more careful about yourselves.
2 Cor. 7:11. "what excuses,"
Apologies before me; for I have forgiven you, because you repented.
2 Cor. 7:11. what indignation against the guilty one,
Against the one who committed fornication.
2 Cor. 7:11. what fear,
Before me; for you corrected yourselves quickly anyway, because you were frightened.
2 Cor. 7:11. what desire,
"To me." When he spoke of fear, lest they think he was presenting himself as some kind of ruler, he immediately corrected himself by using the word "desire," which is a sign of love, not of authority.
2 Cor. 7:11. what zeal,
To God.
2 Cor. 7:11. what a penalty,
For the laws of God; for you punished those who transgressed them.