2 Corinthians 7:8-11 NASB or though I caused you sorrow by my letter, I do not regret it; though I did regret it—for I see that that letter caused you sorrow, though only for a while— [9] I now rejoice, not that you were made sorrowful, but that you were made sorrowful to the point of repentance; for you were made sorrowful according to the will of God, so that you might not suffer loss in anything through us. [10] For 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. [11] For 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.
The Corinthian church was a spiritual mess, and as their spiritual father, Paul was passionate to see them repent and once again start experiencing the life more abundant that salvation brings. Paul had written two letters to the Corinthians; one we have a record of, which is 1 Corinthians, and the second one we do not have a record of, but it is a letter written by Paul hand-carried by Titus and hope that the Corinthians would finally come to a place of repentance. Having heard from Titus that the Corinthians had responded positively with true repentance as a result of Paul’s second letter, Paul writes his third letter in response to their repentance, which is the book of 2 Corinthians.
I want to talk a little bit about the Gift of repentance. I use the word gift because twice in the book of Acts, we are told that repentance is something that is “granted” and that it leads to life (Acts 5:31
(Acts 11:18). Repentance is one of the great gifts of the grace of God, and the reason that it is such a great gift is because it does lead to life. In the verses I listed above from 2 Corinthians 7, we are told that true repentance brings a halt to suffering loss and leads a person back into the fullness of life that salvation brings. Unfortunately, often when people think about repentance, they think about it in terms of condemnation and guilt, but repentance, though preceded by godly sorrow, always brings life. When you repent, you are always trading up.
The word “repent” comes from two Greek words; “with,” or “after,” and “mind,” or “to think.” It means “to think with” or to “think after,” and it carries the idea of coming into agreement with the mind of Christ about any situation or any behavior. Often, we hear people tell us that repentance is to turn from something or to change our mind about the way we thought about something and, therefore, turn from it. There is certainly truth there, but repentance actually means to turn towards something and in doing so, you turn your back on something. I would go even further to say that repentance actually means to turn to someone and come into agreement with what they think about something, and in the process of turning to someone (God), we turn our back on something. Look at the Scripture from 1 Thessalonians 1:9; I believe you get a clear picture of what repentance is all about: “For they themselves report about us what kind of a reception we had with you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God,”
They turned from idols as a result of turning to God. Is repentance about sorrow? All true repentance is preceded by sorrow at some level, but the sorrow is meant to lead to repentance, which is simply thinking in line with God about a matter. It is hearing God, and then after hearing God, to think with Him instead of contrary to Him. That’s why repentance always brings life; it brings you into practical, experiential union with His mind, which always results in life. John the Baptist had a ministry which was to prepare the way for the Lord, and his message was 1 of repentance. Repentance is a gift that God initiates by speaking truth to us about a matter, and it prepares a way for the Lord in glory to be released in greater manifestation in our lives. Repentance is an encounter with God and prepares the way for a greater encounter of His life coming forth in and from us. We will talk more about this.