Original Meaning

JUST AS PAUL’S experience of waiting for Titus in 2:12–13 introduced his apologetic in 2:14–7:1, so too the resolution of this narrative in 7:2–16 introduces the next major section of Paul’s letter in 7:2–9:15: The Application of Paul’s Apologetic to the Repentant in Corinth.

Because of the controversy still raging in the church, in 2:12–7:1 Paul addressed the Corinthians as a whole, focusing primarily on his self-defense. Most of the church, however, had already repented in response to Paul’s previous letter (cf. 1:23–2:4; 7:5–16). Thus, in 7:2–9:15 Paul addresses this majority, focusing primarily on their responsibilities as Christians. Whereas in the first section Paul was the apologist defending the faith, here he is the pastor admonishing his flock. Hence, while his previous arguments were based largely on his legitimacy as an apostle, his arguments in 7:2–9:15 are derived largely from the legitimacy of the Corinthians’ life as believers (see comments on 7:3 and 4). Beginning in 7:2 we have the legitimate minister speaking freely to those he knows to be legitimate believers. In his turning to his church, now restored in fellowship with him, we see what is often called “the pastor’s heart.”

Paul’s Command to the Repentant (7:2–3)

PAUL’S ADMONITION IN 7:2–3 form the main point of 7:2–16, with 7:4–16 presenting an extended argument in support of this command. Although the division of the NIV supports this reading, most commentators argue that 7:2–3 (or 4) belongs to what precedes, not to what follows, or that it is a transitional text forming a bridge between the two sections.

This is not a moot point. How one decides this issue is decisive not only for interpreting chapter 7, but also for understanding the flow of the argument in chapters 6–8 as a whole. The difficulty is deciding whether 7:2–3 (or 4) provides the concluding exhortation to what precedes, so that 7:4 or 5 begins a new unit of thought, or whether the new unit begins already in 7:2–3, being supported by what follows. What makes this decision difficult is that the exhortation of 7:2–3 seems unnecessary or out of place if Paul is addressing the repentant of 7:4–16, especially in view of the positive description of them in 7:6–12. Paul’s admonition in 7:2, “make room for us in your hearts,” seems parallel to 6:13, which was given to those who were withholding their affection from Paul (cf. 6:11–12). Yet 7:7–16 pictures a people who are filled with longing, zeal, and obedience regarding their apostle. Why would they need such a command and reminder of Paul’s legitimacy?

This confusion is resolved if we keep in mind that Paul’s concern in 6:14–7:1 was that the “believers” in Corinth should “open wide their hearts” to the apostle (6:13) by separating from those still in rebellion against him (see comments on 6:14–7:1). This is still the case in 7:2, where once again the way in which one “makes room” for Paul is by separating from the unbelievers. But in 6:11–13 Paul was speaking “as to my children,” in the hope that they would respond as such, whereas in 7:2–16 Paul is speaking to those who have already proven themselves to be among God’s people by their repentance. For this reason, Paul’s vocabulary is different in 7:2 than in 6:13 (“open wide” versus “make room for us”¹). While 6:13 was a call to repentance to the church as a whole (cf. 6:11–12), 7:2 is aimed at those whose hearts are already “opened wide.” Finally, the thematic links between 7:2–4 and their support in 7:5–16 confirm that 7:2–4 look forward to verses 5–16 rather than backward to 6:11–7:1.²

In 6:11–7:1, Paul gave the church as a whole the means to demonstrate that they accepted him and his gospel. In 7:2, he calls on those who have in fact repented to follow through on it, thereby effecting the separation he has just commanded. The content of the commands has remained the same, but their audience has changed. Since believers should open their hearts to Paul and his gospel (6:13), in 7:2 Paul singles out the repentant within the church because he is confident that they will obey in the present, even as they have obeyed in the past (cf. 7:15–16).

In making the transition from addressing the church as a whole in 6:11–7:1 to addressing those whom Paul knows to be believers within it, Paul is simply drawing out the implications of what it means for the believers in Corinth to be his true “spiritual children” (cf. 6:13; 12:14–15; also 1 Cor. 4:14–15). Making room for Paul will necessitate cleaning out those who are still in rebellion against him. The two cannot coexist in the affections of the Corinthian believers (6:11–13) or in the church as a whole (6:14–7:1). Those whom Paul knows to be Christian he calls to be Christian. Paul’s heart is for the purity of his people.

Paul supports his command with a threefold assertion (7:2b). The Corinthians should make room for Paul because it should be clear by now that he has “wronged no one … corrupted no one … exploited no one.” These staccato-style statements sharply summarize his argument thus far in response to the criticisms being raised against him.

Once again Paul’s use of the plural in 7:2 reflects his apostolic office, while his switch to the singular in what follows reflects his personal involvement in the situation (cf. the plural in 7:13a with the singular in the parallel statement of 7:16). Paul’s behavior has been above reproach, both personally (1:12–2:11; 5:12–13; and now 7:8–12; cf. 2:14–4:18; 6:3) and in terms of his handling of the collection (2:17; cf. 11:7–11; 12:13–18³). His concern for the Corinthians’ purity is matched by the purity of his own life before them.

In verse 3, Paul ensures the faithful that in giving this command he is not again condemning them, as he did earlier in his “tearful letter” (2:4). Unlike those addressed in 6:11–13, Paul has no doubt about their standing with him or his gospel (cf. 7:12–16). The reason for Paul’s confidence is given in 7:3b, which recalls his earlier affirmation in 3:2. Far from condemning them, Paul has already declared that the repentant Corinthians are “written on [Paul’s] heart” as his “letter of recommendation” (3:1–2). Here Paul reminds them that this “letter” is “read by all” in his willingness “to die and live” (lit. trans.) for their sake as their spiritual father (cf. the parallel between 7:3 and 3:2; cf. too 1:6; 6:11–12a).

Paul’s reversal of the normal order of “life and death” (note that the NIV reverses Paul’s order!) most likely alludes to the death and resurrection of Christ as they are being played out in Paul’s own suffering and endurance on behalf of the Corinthians (cf. 1:8–11; 4:10–12; 5:14–15; 6:3–10). His willingness to suffer for their sake expresses the depth of his love for the Corinthians as fellow believers who share a common destiny (cf. 2 Sam. 15:21; Rom. 8:38–39). Far from condemning them, Paul is simply drawing out the implications of what it means for the Corinthians to be his “spiritual children” (cf. 2 Cor. 6:13; 12:14–15; also 1 Cor. 4:14–15). Hence, just as Paul’s suffering shows his love for the Corinthians as their apostle (2 Cor. 2:17–3:3; cf. 11:7–11; 12:15), so too their willingness to break with his opponents will show their love for him as his people.

Paul’s Disposition Because of the Repentant: Comfort and Joy (7:4)

IN VERSE 4 Paul begins his extended argument in support of 7:3 by recounting his own disposition in response to the repentant in Corinth. He does so in a chain of inferences taken from his opening arguments that together form a topic sentence for what follows.⁴ Paul is not afraid to call the Corinthians to action because he is convinced of their genuine standing as Christians. Hence, as a mediator of the Spirit under the new covenant, he has “great confidence” (parresia, better, “boldness of speech”) toward them.⁵ As the parallel in 3:12 indicates, he is speaking boldly in 7:2–3 because he is convinced that those in whom the Spirit is at work will respond to the commands of the gospel (cf. 3:3–18; 5:17). In the end, nobody can do anything against the truth (cf. 13:8). This conviction is confirmed in regard to the Corinthians by Titus’s report (see 7:7–12).

Consequently, Paul’s boldness leads him to “great pride” (lit., “much boasting”) in the Corinthians, since they are the evidence of the Spirit-endowed character of his ministry (cf. 1:14; 3:3, 8; also 7:14; 8:24; 9:2–3; 10:12–18). The ability to boast in the Corinthians as a new creation leads Paul to be “greatly encouraged” (lit., “filled with comfort”) as a result of this public testimony to God’s resurrection power at work in and through his life.⁶ The outworking of Paul’s comfort is a life filled with joy (lit., “overflowing with joy”) in the midst of his afflictions, which itself is an expression of the same resurrection power (7:4d; cf. the exact parallel in 1:4; also 4:11, 15–18; 6:10; 13:9). Paul commands the Corinthians (7:2) because he loves them (7:3), and he loves them because of the confidence, pride, encouragement, and joy he has in them as his spiritual children (7:4).

Paul’s Comfort and Joy Because of God (7:5–7)

PAUL’S EXTENDED ARGUMENT in 7:5–15 supports 7:4 by detailing how God worked in the circumstances of the recent past to encourage him concerning the Corinthians. Specifically, the apostle returns to the story begun in 2:12–13 in order to show how God used his suffering as a means both to the Corinthians’ salvation and to his own happiness (cf. 1:3–6).

As we saw in 2:13, Paul’s anxiety over Titus’s delay in returning from Corinth had caused him to push on into Macedonia in hope of hearing about the church’s response to his “tearful letter.” Paul’s description in 7:5 of this same suffering expands on the lack of peace he experienced as he waited and searched for Titus. Paul’s restlessness was caused not only by external “conflicts” (cf. 2 Tim. 2:23; Titus 3:9), probably as a result of his struggles in Macedonia (cf. Phil. 1:30; 3:2), but also by internal fears concerning the fate of his coworker and the future of the Corinthians (cf. 11:28).

When Titus finally did arrive, it became evident that he was safe and that God had used Paul’s letter and Titus’s ministry for the good of the Corinthians. Hence, this double dose of good news, brought about by the divine hand, comforted Paul (7:6) and Titus (7:7; cf. 7:13–15). The comfort came through Titus, but its origin is God!

In spite of his suffering over Titus and the Corinthians (7:5), God used Titus’s arrival, and even more so the comfort Titus had received from the Corinthians because of their changed attitude toward Paul, to increase his joy more than ever (7:6–7). He experiences joy and comfort when others make progress in their faith (cf. 1:24), and through Titus’s ministry the Corinthians had just turned from rejecting Paul to longing for his return (cf. 7:11), having felt a deep sorrow over their past rebellion and a new zeal for his ministry. The full reason for this emphasis on Titus will become clear in 7:14 and in the transition from chapter 7 to chapters 8–9.

Paul’s description in 7:6 of God as the one “who comforts the downcast” is thus the ultimate reason Paul’s joy increased even more in response to the Corinthians’ repentance and Titus’s comfort. On the one hand, this description of God recalls Paul’s opening description in 1:3–4, which provided the framework for understanding his suffering as an apostle. God is the one who comforts the suffering righteous. On the other hand, the reference to “the downcast” (lit., “the humble ones”) recalls Isaiah 49:13, which points back to Paul’s earlier use of 49:8 in 2 Corinthians 6:2.⁷ Just as Isaiah summons all creation to rejoice over the “second exodus” deliverance of God’s people, so Paul rejoices that the majority of the Corinthians have shown themselves by their repentance to be part of this redemption.⁸ In heeding Paul’s earlier call to repentance, they have already responded to the “day of salvation” that is declared in 2 Corinthians for the sake of those still in rebellion.

The parallel between 7:6 and 6:2 on the one hand, and 7:6 and 1:3–4 on the other, reflects Paul’s conviction that his own suffering is the means by which the message of salvation announced by Isaiah and fulfilled by Christ is being made real among the Corinthians. Accordingly, Paul’s comfort and joy are not merely the expressions of personal relief over his friend and his church, though they certainly are that (cf. the parallels in 1 Cor. 16:17; 1 Thess. 3:6–7). More important, they are expressions of God’s presence and power, since Paul recognizes that God is the one behind the coming of Titus and the change among the Corinthians (2 Cor. 7:6; cf. 7:13a). For this reason, he rejoices even more, since he sees God as bringing about the redemption of the new creation declared in Isaiah 49:8–13. Paul’s joy in meeting Titus and in hearing about the Corinthians is a joy ultimately brought about by Paul’s theology.

Paul’s Comfort and Joy Because of the Corinthians (7:8–13b)

THE SECOND REASON for Paul’s increased joy is given in verses 8–15. Here Paul recounts the sending, sorrow, and sanctification brought about by the “tearful letter” he wrote in response to his “painful visit” (2:1, 4). In particular, verses 8–13a clarify his comfort over the Corinthians, while verses 13b–15 support his joy over Titus.

In 7:8–13b, Paul recounts how his joy increased all the more when he received word from Titus that his ministry had, in fact, born fruit among the Corinthians. Though his letter of rebuke was a reflex of his own anguish and love for the Corinthians (cf. 2:4), Paul initially regretted having sent its stark denunciation of their defiance, since he knew it would cause them sorrow (see 7:8). As part of his “fears within” (7:5), he wondered if he had been too severe and if, as he had boasted, the Corinthians really would respond. Moreover, those still in rebellion against Paul would likely interpret this letter as a hypocritical attempt to frighten the Corinthians and to “pull rank” over them (cf. 10:8–11). Nevertheless, his fears were unfounded. In response to his rebuke, the majority of the Corinthians had repented, as evidenced by their willingness to discipline the one who had led the charge against Paul (cf. 7:12 with 2:5–6).

Thus, in spite of the pain the letter caused, Paul no longer regrets sending it but rejoices (7:7, 9), since the sorrow it caused “for a little while” (7:8) was not an end in itself, but led to their repentance (7:9). “Repentance” includes both the remorse that comes from recognizing that one has wronged God and its consequent resolve to reverse one’s behavior as seen in the first steps in that new direction. Therefore, though its consequences are long-term, repentance is indicated by an initial change in both attitude and action.⁹

Paul is aware, however, that not all experiences of “feeling bad” lead to repentance. People feel guilty for all kinds of reasons. The reason the Corinthians’ remorse led to repentance was because they had “become sorrowful as God intended”—that is, experiencing the kind of genuine remorse that leads to a real change in one’s way of life (7:9b; cf. Rom. 8:27; Eph. 4:24 for the same expression used here). Being sorrowful as God intended is feeling the deep grief that comes from knowing that our attitudes and actions have harmed our relationship with God. “Godly sorrow” feels bad because it is missing out on God.

As an expression of their repentance, the Corinthians returned to Paul and “were not harmed [lit., suffered no loss] in any way by us” (7:9c). This does not refer to Paul’s concern over any emotional damage he may have done them (he knew his letter would cause them sorrow), but to the fact that their response had spared them God’s judgment, which threatens all those who “accept the grace of God in vain” (6:1; cf. 5:10–11; 7:1). Paul’s statement in 7:9 once again reflects the identity between the Corinthians’ relationship with Paul and their relationship with God (cf. 2:14; 3:3; 4:7–12; 5:13, 20; etc.). For “Paul considered their improper behavior toward him and his apostolate as an affront to God. To mistreat God’s representative placed the Corinthians in a precarious position because it involved a wrong attitude to the Gospel.”¹⁰ To oppose Paul, Christ’s ambassador, was to reject Christ (cf. 5:18–6:2).

Verses 10–12 support Paul’s declaration in verse 9c that the Corinthians will be spared God’s judgment (of which Paul himself is an instrument; cf. 2:15–16a; 13:2; also 1 Cor. 4:21; 5:3–5; 16:22). The reason is given in 2 Corinthians 7:10a: Their repentance toward Paul leads to salvation because it was not a death-producing “worldly sorrow.” Worldly sorrow is the grief that comes about because one’s actions result in missing out on something the world has to offer. Worldly sorrow feels bad because it wants more of the world. Such sorrow causes us to focus even more on how hurt we are, thereby helping to bring about the death that comes from living for self rather than for Christ (cf. 5:15). At stake in the Corinthians’ earlier rebellion, however, were not their feelings or their fortunes, but their future with God.

Paul cared deeply about the Corinthians’ relationship with him not merely because he had grown fond of them, but because he was their spiritual father in the gospel. So just as their rebellion had caused him great pain, their repentance brought him great joy, since his primary goal as an apostle of the new covenant is not to bring God’s judgment, but the joy of experiencing God’s righteousness (cf. 1:24; 3:9; 13:9–10). As an apostle, Paul’s happiness was bound up in the redemption of those to whom God had sent him. By their repentance, the Corinthians had shown themselves to be part of this number.

Paul’s confidence that the Corinthians have indeed experienced a “godly sorrow” leading to repentance is not based on wishful thinking but on the sevenfold expression of their repentance outlined in 7:11. Heading the list and of most significance for Paul’s argument is the Corinthians’ renewed “earnestness” (spoude) in regard to his ministry.¹¹ What one desires is a sure sign of who one is. The Corinthians’ other responses are all corollaries to this earnestness, including their indignation against the offender and against themselves for having supported him, their fear (“alarm” in the NIV is too weak) of God’s judgment (cf. 5:11, 20), and their zeal (“concern” in the NIV is too weak) for Paul and his ministry. The consequence of their earnestness is that they have “proved [themselves] innocent in this matter” (7:11c).

The expression “to prove/commend oneself” (synistemi heauton), used here to describe the Corinthians, is the same expression Paul used elsewhere to portray his own commendation of himself (cf. 4:2; 6:4). When used positively, as it is here, it refers to demonstrating the validity of one’s claims by virtue of one’s actions as the visible expression of God’s stamp of approval (cf. 10:12–18).¹²

Like Paul, the repentant in Corinth can point to their own attitudes and actions as evidence that God is at work in their lives. Having demonstrated genuine repentance, they prove themselves “innocent in this matter” (7:11c). The word translated “matter” (pragma) can be used in a technical sense to refer to a legal case (cf. 1 Cor. 6:1) and most likely carries such a “quasi-legal connotation in our present passage.”¹³ In their past rebellion against Paul, the Corinthians stood in danger of being condemned before God. But the majority has now demonstrated its “innocence” (7:11)—not on their own strength, but because of God’s provision on their behalf, first in sending Christ to the cross and now in bringing them to the repentance and reconciliation with God that leads to salvation from his wrath (5:16–6:2; 7:10).

Since it is “godly sorrow” that brings repentance, Paul knew that he had to confront the Corinthians for the sake of their own salvation (7:12). He did so by reminding them that they stood “before God,” i.e., in his presence as judge (cf. 2:17; 4:2; 5:10–11; 8:2; 12:19). Paul intervened in this way not because he recognized within the Corinthians a potential waiting to be realized.¹⁴ Rather, he did so because such a confrontation for the sake of Christ, which necessarily contains a threat of God’s judgment, is the way of testing the genuineness of faith. The call to repentance in view of the judgment of God is the divinely ordained means of bringing about repentance among those in whom God is at work.

It was Paul’s confidence that God was at work among the Corinthians, not his confidence in the Corinthians themselves, that led to his writing of the “severe letter.” Paul wrote it because he had reason to believe it would provide the stimulus needed to prove their genuineness before God, while at the same time exposing their true colors to themselves (7:12, 14). His concern was not with the fate of the one who had wronged him (cf. 2:5)¹⁵ or with his own status as the offended one, but with the salvation of the Corinthians (cf. 2:4). The issue at stake was not his popularity but the apostolic gospel, which explains his switch to the “apostolic plural” in 7:12.

In the end, Paul’s confidence in the Corinthians is confirmed. They have passed the test. As a result, he is encouraged in the midst of his afflictions (the “this” of verse 13a not only refers back to verse 12, but also picks up verses 5–6, thereby creating an inclusio back to the beginning of this larger unit of thought).

Paul’s Comfort and Joy Because of Titus (7:13b–15)

JUST AS PAUL’S description of his comfort and joy over the repentance of the Corinthians in 7:8–13a unpacks 7:6, so too the recounting of his comfort and joy over the happiness of Titus in 7:13b–15 unpacks 7:7. In this way, the theme of Paul’s comfort leading to his joy is repeated at each of the major transitions in this chapter (cf. vv. 4, 6–7, and 13). Moreover, the three transitions are interrelated. Verses 6–7 and 13 explicate the general topic statement in verse 4, in which it becomes clear that Paul’s comfort through the Corinthians on the one hand, and through Titus on the other, ultimately comes from God. So each major section of the chapter is marked by an emphasis on Paul’s joy as a result of the encouragement he received from God’s work in the lives of the Corinthians and, even more so, in the life of Titus (vv. 2–4, 4–5, 8–13a, and 13b–15).

The reason for Paul’s increased joy over Titus is given in 7:13b–15. In 7:13b Paul emphasizes, as he did in verse 7, that his joy increases “even more” (NIV, “especially”) over Titus than over the Corinthians in and of themselves. At first such an emphasis on Titus is puzzling. The reason becomes clear, however, in 7:14, where we learn that Paul had put himself on the line for the sake of the Corinthians. He had risked embarrassment by declaring in advance that they would respond positively to his “tearful letter” and to Titus’s ministry, even though Titus himself had reservations about taking the letter to Corinth. Yet, Paul’s “boasting … to Titus”¹⁶ proved true. In addition, Paul’s joy has increased because the Corinthians’ response of obedience to him (cf. 2:9) and their reception of Titus as Paul’s emissary “with fear and trembling” also increased Titus’s affections for them (7:15).

In regard to the former response, the “obedience that comes from faith” is a key Pauline description of the goal of his ministry among the Gentiles (cf. Rom. 1:5; 15:18; 16:19). The Corinthians’ obedience is the outward manifestation of their genuine trust in Christ; it is impossible to have one without the other. In regard to the latter response, Paul is the only New Testament author to use the expression “with fear and trembling” to describe the believer’s reaction to being part of God’s great salvation. He uses this expression in Philippians 2:12 and Ephesians 6:5 in connection with the believer’s obedience, and in 1 Corinthians 2:3 to describe his own attitude in preaching the gospel. If obedience is the action that grows from the gospel having taken root, then “fear and trembling” is its corresponding attitude. Those who recognize that obedience is the fruit of genuine faith do not take sin lightly. Faced with God’s judgment (cf. 5:9–10), perseverance in faith is a matter of life and death.

The probable source of the phrase “fear and trembling” is Isaiah 19:16, which refers to the future dread that will come over Egypt when she realizes that God is raised up against her (cf. Ex. 15:16; Deut. 2:25; 11:25; Ps. 55:5). However, when God strikes the Egyptians in the days to come, it will not be to destroy them, but so that they “will turn to the LORD,” that he might “respond to their pleas and heal them” (Isa. 19:22; cf. Exod. 12:23). Unlike the first exodus, in which Moses was sent to judge Egypt, in this “second exodus” the Lord “will send them a savior and defender, and he will rescue them. So the LORD will make himself known to the Egyptians, and in that day they will acknowledge the LORD” (Isa. 19:20–21; cf. Ex. 9:14–16; 10:1–2; 14:4, 17, 31). In this great reversal, the Assyrians too will be included, thereby pointing forward to the great restoration of the nations after the Exile comes to an end (Isa. 19:23–24).

Paul’s use of Isaiah 19:16 in 2 Corinthians 7:15 continues to express his conviction that the ministry of the gospel fulfills Isaiah’s proclamation of this coming “second exodus” (cf. 2 Cor. 6:1–2; 6:17). God’s promised redemption of the nations, even of those nations that had oppressed Israel, is now being inaugurated in the Corinthians’ repentance and reception of Titus “with fear and trembling.”

In Conclusion: Confidence and Joy (7:16)

THE FOCUS THROUGHOUT this passage has been on Paul’s comfort and joy because of the Corinthians, especially as this resulted in Titus’s own comfort, happiness, and renewed affection toward the repentant. By way of summary, Paul’s declaration of joy in 7:16 as a result of his renewed confidence in the Corinthians marks a key turning point in the letter.

On the one hand, 7:16 restates 7:4, thereby concluding the argument of 7:4–16, while at the same time picking up the theme of joy from verses 7, 9, and 13 (7:4 and 16 are supported by vv. 5–15; 7:4 and 16 support 7:2–3). On the other hand, 7:16 provides the transition to chapters 8–9 by making clear that the reason for the emphasis on Titus throughout this passage is not due only to his role in judging Paul’s confidence in the Corinthians (7:14), but also to his upcoming role in the collection for Jerusalem. Titus is the one who will now bear the responsibility for completing the collection that began in Corinth over a year ago, but had stalled as a result of the intervening problems between Paul and his church (cf. 8:6). Now that a majority of the Corinthians has been reconciled to Paul, the collection can resume.

Paul’s regained confidence in the Corinthians has rekindled his determination to complete the collection (cf. 7:11, 12, 16 with 8:6, 24; 9:3). The admonitions of the letter we call “Second Corinthians” are now replacing those of the “tearful letter” as the next opportunity for the Corinthians to display their faith. Just as they were obedient in response to the tearful letter (7:12, 15), so too they will manifest their faith by being obedient concerning the collection. Hence, Paul’s joy as he contemplates Titus’s return to Corinth to arrange for the collection foreshadows the joy he anticipates having on the Day of Judgment, when the Corinthians’ deeds demonstrate, once and for all, that they have not received God’s grace in vain (cf. 1:14; 5:10; 6:1–2).

Bridging Contexts

SINCE THIS PASSAGE in many ways restates the issues raised in 2:12–13 and 2:14–3:3, the reader should consult those passages for the principles involved in bringing this passage to the twenty-first century. Five additional points come to the fore in applying this particular passage.

(1) Most important, Paul’s account of his recent history with the Corinthians highlights the fact that confronting sin and calling God’s people to repentance are the primary instruments of sanctification in the life of a Christian. In our pluralistic, therapeutic, and privatistic culture, this kind of intervention is uncomfortable and increasingly uncommon. Paul’s argument makes clear, however, that such a prophetic stance is an essential aspect of the gospel and that the courage to take such a stance is a fundamental expression of Christian love and leadership. Paul is a mediator of the Spirit, not a salesman. He is a proclaimer of the gospel, not a motivational speaker. God’s Word, not self-help tips, is the tool of his trade.

(2) Paul’s argument in this passage highlights once again the functional parallel between God’s work of redemption and Paul’s ministry of reconciliation, the former being effected through the latter. In sharing his feelings with the Corinthians, Paul is not speaking as a therapist, but as an apostle. His goal is not to empathize with the Corinthians, but to show them just how serious their sin has been. Barnett has put this point well in commenting on 7:8–12:

Significantly, the Corinthians’ reaction to Paul in this matter is inextricably connected with their relationship with God and his salvation. To have rejected Paul’s authority in this matter would have been, in an ultimate sense, to have rejected their salvation … repentance and reconciliation in regard to Paul cannot be separated from their restoration to God….Once again we are confronted with the closeness of relationship between the gospel and the apostle who proclaimed it….To reject the apostle—as the Corinthians were effectively doing by their passivity toward the offender—was nothing less than to live as if the “day of salvation” had not come [cf. 5:18–6:2]. But repentance toward Paul, God’s coworker and Christ’s ambassador (5:20; 6:1), and therefore repentance toward God, confirmed the Corinthians in their salvation.¹⁷

Though we are no longer in the “apostolic age,” the gospel still comes embodied in those who proclaim it. Nevertheless, Barnett correctly cautions us not to make the link between Paul and the modern preacher too direct.

Hermeneutically … it is to be doubted whether Paul’s authority (10:8; 13:10) carries over in quite the same way to subsequent generations of ministers of the gospel. To be sure, a rejection of the word of God may involve rejection of the bearer of that message, as appears to be the case with the Corinthians. Let ministers and pastors be careful, however, that it is the word that is being rejected and not, in reality, some fault in them. Such rationalization is not unknown. In any case, Paul was an apostle of Christ (12:12), a revelator of the glory of God (4:2, 6), in a way that cannot be true of others outside that generation. A pastor’s authority is derived from the apostles, and qualified to that extent.¹⁸

This high calling, together with its caution, is of importance both for those whom God has called to minister in his name and for those to whom they are sent. It is not Paul as a person whom we follow, but Paul as an apostle of Jesus Christ. The Corinthians obeyed Titus not because he was personally appealing, but because he represented Paul. In the same way, in appropriating Paul’s message today, ministers must also appropriate his example of leadership by “practicing what they preach,” since, as it was for Paul, the gospel is on the line in their lives. This means that they must not pervert their ministry into personality contests. Nor may ministers claim the same intrinsic authority that Paul carried. Ministers today carry apostolic authority only to the degree that they represent the apostolic gospel. Though parishioners must honor those who proclaim the gospel, they must not confuse the person of the minister with the message.

(3) Paul’s analysis of the situation in Corinth highlights the power of the gospel. Paul does not minimize the fact that the rebuke of his “tearful letter” caused the Corinthians personal, emotional pain. But 7:8 makes clear that he is not offering an apology. Nor is Paul speaking as a counselor who is concerned with the feelings of the Corinthians and willing to share openly his own emotions by way of example.

Central to applying this passage in our contemporary “therapeutic culture” is coming to grips with the Pauline distinction in 7:10 between “godly sorrow” and “worldly sorrow.” The former is that heartfelt grief over our rebellion against God that leads to a decisive turnaround in our orientation and behavior (i.e., repentance). It is a grief that leads us to view our lives the way God does and to change accordingly. Godly sorrow refers not to God’s using our heartaches, but to the heartache that comes from recognizing our sin.

In contrast to godly sorrow is the sorrow that is of the world…. This sorrow is a type that included pain and regret, similar to godly sorrow. However the result in this case is not repentance, but death…. Worldly sorrow comes about because of the unwelcome consequence of sin. The person who exhibits this response of worldly sorrow may indeed seek to avoid similar future actions and their consequences. But in no instance is the person driven to God, for that individual feels no deep-seated remorse over actions taken against God. Rather it is more a regret that one has acted foolishly or been discovered in a lapse, like king Saul’s admission, “I have played the fool, and erred exceedingly” (1 Sam. 26:21). Repentance involves the whole person—knowing, feeling, willing … and is more than an emotional reaction…. “Recognition of sin by itself is not repentance; it may be defiance. Nor is sorrow for sin repentance, if it be alone in the mind; it may be remorse or despair. Abandonment of sin, by itself, may be no more than prudence.”The criterion in evaluating the worth of an individual’s “sorrow” lies in its effect.¹⁹

To appreciate Paul’s approach, we must therefore grasp his goal. It is not to give advice about how to get along better in this world, as if the message of Christ were the spiritual equivalent of technology. Note how Paul describes the world elsewhere as having been sold into the slavery of sin. Nor is his goal to help people sustain better self-esteem so that they can get along better with themselves, as if the gospel were the spiritual equivalent of therapy. Apart from Christ, Paul insists that people are slaves to sin. Rather, the goal of the gospel is to bring about a reconciled life with God that creates a godly life (1:22; 3:18; 4:4–6; 5:17; 7:1).

“Death,” for Paul, is fundamentally an alienation from God that keeps one in the throws of sin and “blinded” to his glory, both now and in the age to come (4:2, 4). “Worldly sorrow,” with its focus on the values and promises of this world, produces the same death from which it comes (2:16; 7:10b). In stark contrast, “godly sorrow” brings the repentance that leads to salvation because it has God as its source and thereby leads to life (2:16; 7:10a).

(4) The startling degree to which Paul’s joy dominates this section highlights once more the proper motivation for Christian life. Paul is filled with joy because of God’s work in the midst of his own afflictions (vv. 4, 16), because of Titus’s arrival (vv. 5–6), because of the Corinthians’ repentance and reconciliation (vv. 8–13a), and because of Titus’s joy (vv. 7, 13b–15). In relating Paul’s happiness to our cultural context, we must underscore, however, that Paul’s comfort and joy are not merely personal or circumstantial, but deeply theological. Just as the object of true sorrow over sin is God, so too Paul is filled with joy because of what God has been doing through his own circumstances of affliction, through his ministry to the Corinthians, and through Titus’s life and service (cf. 7:4, 6, 7, 13).

(5) Finally, Paul’s argument here reveals his conviction that God is sovereignly at work in and through the ups and downs of life to comfort and encourage his people. When Paul sees the world, he sees the hand of God. What transpired in Corinth was not merely the unfolding of circumstances, but the unfolding of God’s plan. For Paul, God is the ultimate actor in the Corinthians’ response to Paul’s letter (7:6–7, 9, 11; cf. Bridging Contexts of 1:3–11).

We miss the point of this passage if we miss Paul’s emphasis on God. Each of his statements about himself or the Corinthians ends up being a statement about God. Paul’s feelings of comfort are God’s comfort to him (7:6); the Corinthians’ sorrow is “godly sorrow” in accordance with God’s intention (7:9–11); the Corinthians’ new self-understanding takes place “before God” (7:12); and the Corinthians’ repentance is God’s instrument of encouraging Paul (cf. the “divine passive” in v. 13a).

For this same reason, since God is the one ultimately at work in his ministry, Paul could be confident concerning most of the Corinthians even before they received his letter of rebuke, so that he boasted to Titus in advance about their response. He was so confident

because he knew that, because they had received the word of God, the Spirit of God was active in them (1:18–22; 3:2–3, 18), and that Christ Jesus was “in” them (13:5). They had “received the grace of God” (6:1). Paul’s confidence, then, was not in the Corinthians, but in God who was so evidently at work in their lives through the Spirit.²⁰

Contemporary Significance

EMOTIONS. This text is filled with references to emotions—from confidence and affection to sorrow, grief, and longing. Initially, such an emphasis on emotions seems to relate easily to our contemporary sensibilities. Indeed, Roger Rosenblatt actually dubbed 1997 “The Year Emotions Ruled,” since “even relatively small and local events evoked or involved heightened group responses.”²¹ As he observed, “Every few weeks in the past 12 months, something happened to invite an emotional public reaction of mass grief, panic, or elation, often wildly disproportional to the significance of the event.”²² Such emotionalism, he wrote, was the result of the cultural pendulum swinging back as the century comes to an end:

Not all that long ago, alienation from self and others was so universally thought to be the bugaboo of modern life that it was becoming boring to mention it. To be emotionally numb to experience, to live depersonalized, was to be unhappy. Not lately. With the notable exception of religious fundamentalism, the past 25 years have seen an aggressive pursuit of depersonalization, a shutting off of the emotions at once so purposeful and complete that many people, the young especially, speak of envying machines—a far cry from those earlier generations that feared nothing so much as becoming machines….For at least two decades, to be cool was to be “cool.” And then, suddenly, it was not. As with all extreme cultural tendencies, something had to snap, and what began to show up in the mid–1990s was an insistent desire to feel passion again and show us you care. In 1995 psychologist Daniel Goleman published Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ. The best-seller was embraced in educational circles because EQ (emotional quotient) offered a way to counter IQ as a standard of intelligence. But it was also a signal that the public at large might be ready, indeed eager, to return to the flagrant emotionalism of the 1960s, though fired by new and different causes.What causes were available? There was no Vietnam War to protest, no sexual revolution or drug culture to adopt (live free and die), no generation gap worth exploiting. The Gap had become a clothing store, the counterculture reduced to a few average hysterics who thought it exciting to proclaim God dead and the family expendable. As for opposing technology, it seemed out of the question. A decision had already been made to join our machines rather than beat ’em.With no glaring cause to display mass emotions, anything that happened could qualify.²³

Yet the contrast between the emotions described in our passage and the “hysterical packs”²⁴ Rosenblatt observed at the end of our century could not be more pronounced. Starved for the true joy born of godly grief and repentance (Paul’s own version of the “religious fundamentalism” that Rosenblatt exempted from the recent pursuit of depersonalization), our culture increasingly lurches for whatever stimulus to emotion we can find. Our drive to protect ourselves by being detached did not deliver what it promised, producing instead an isolation and loneliness that made the cure worse than the disease.

All too often the church is likewise emaciated when it comes to experiencing deep and lasting joy in the midst of adversity because we no longer gain our identity by living within the community of faith. What we love, and therefore what we get excited about, is no longer wrapped up with the progress of God’s people. The basis of our contentment is not the growing Christ-likeness of our church, but the comfort level of our personal circumstances. Conversely, we are famished when it comes to feeling grief over sin because what we hate, and therefore what we feel remorse about, no longer revolves around the reality of who God is in our midst. What makes us sad is no longer the sting of our sin, but the frustration of our failed dreams and the lack of freedom to get whatever we want.

Joy. Against the bleak landscape of modern emotions, it is striking how many times Paul refers to his own happiness and that of Titus in this passage. But it should not be that striking. As Rosenblatt observed, “religious fundamentalists” (i.e., those who hold that what they believe is true not only for them, but for everyone) are marked by their emotional engagement with life. It is natural to be emotional when life has meaning.

What is surprising is that Paul seems more concerned about what Titus thinks and about how they both feel about the Corinthians than about the fate of the Corinthians themselves. Such a reaction simply reveals how far we are from Paul’s perspective. Today we find it hard to believe that someone’s own happiness could be so wrapped up in the welfare of others that to talk about their situation naturally leads to talking about one’s own grief or gladness. Paul and Titus’s own joy coalesced with the condition of the Corinthians. The focus of this text is on the joy that comes about because of another person’s participation in salvation. As Jonathan Edwards summarizes this biblical logic:

In some sense the most benevolent, generous person in the world seeks his own happiness in doing good to others, because he places his happiness in their good. His mind is so enlarged as to take them, as it were, into himself. Thus when they are happy, he feels it; he partakes with them, and is happy in their happiness.²⁵

This is the miracle of a changed heart brought about by Christ. As John Piper puts it:

The miracle of Christian Hedonism is that overcoming obstacles to love by the grace of God has become more enticing than every form of self-confidence. The joy of experiencing the power of God’s grace defeating selfishness is an insatiable addiction.… When a person delights in the display of the glorious grace of God, that person will want to see as many displays of it as possible in other people. If I can be God’s means of another person’s miraculous conversion, I will count it all joy, because what would I rather see than another display of the beauty of God’s grace in the joy of another person? My joy is doubled in his.… Love is the overflow of joy in God that meets the needs of others. The overflow is experienced consciously as the pursuit of our joy in the joy of another. We double our delight in God as we expand it in the lives of others. If our ultimate goal were anything less than joy in God, we would be idolaters and would be no eternal help to anyone. Therefore, the pursuit of pleasure is an essential motive for every good deed. And if you aim to abandon the pursuit of full and lasting pleasure, you cannot love people or please God.²⁶

This radical recognition that “full and lasting pleasure” is to be found ultimately only in the enjoyment of God’s glory and grace is not natural. It comes about only as the result of a supernatural transformation (cf. 3:18; 5:17). The believer has been converted to God as the source of real joy. Moreover, since our own well-being is secure in God, the outward expression of this conversion is the pursuit of our own happiness in the well-being of others. Because of God’s loving commitment to meet our needs in himself (so that we love God by trusting him to do so), we are free to love our neighbor by pursuing their welfare.

Hence, in passages such as Romans 15:1–3; 1 Corinthians 10:24, 33; 13:5; and 2 Corinthians 5:15, Paul “does not mean we shouldn’t seek the joy of edifying others, but that we should let this joy free us from bondage to private pleasures that make us indifferent to the good of others. Love does not seek its own private, limited joy, but instead seeks its own joy in the good—the salvation and edification—of others.”²⁷

This is especially important since, as Paul himself experienced in Corinth, love is often painful and costly, full of risk and filled with self-denial. But there is never a “sacrifice” in loving others. In giving to others, we can never outgive God, since God has given us nothing less than himself. As Paul’s experience testifies, when we love God with everything we are and our neighbor as ourselves, “the gain outweighs the pain.”²⁸

The obstacle that keeps us from obeying the first (vertical) commandment is the same obstacle that keeps us from obeying the second (horizontal) commandment. It is not that we are all trying to please ourselves, but that we are all far too easily pleased. We do not believe Jesus when he says there is more blessedness, more joy, more lasting pleasure in a life devoted to helping others than there is in a life devoted to our material comfort. And therefore the very longing for contentment which ought to drive us to simplicity of life and labors of love contents itself instead with the broken cisterns of prosperity and comfort.… A life devoted to material comforts and thrills is like throwing money down a rathole. But a life invested in the labor of love yields dividends of joy unsurpassed and unending.²⁹

Thus Paul, like Jesus, had a “holy greed for joy in God” that led him to endure the suffering for the sake of others that is so often wrapped up in love.

Grief. The joy described in this passage is the reflex of repentance. Ironically, the joy born of repentance thus owes its very existence to the grief that motivates this change of attitude and action. In turn, the source and goal of such a “godly sorrow” is God (7:9–11). “Godly” is much more than an adjective thrown in for effect. The chain of Christian experience stretches back from joy to repentance to grief to God. Whether or not God is the qualification of our grief makes all the difference in the world—and in eternity. Unfortunately, the downsized view of God that permeates so much of modern theology makes it increasingly difficult to discern whether our grief is genuine remorse for our offenses against a holy Lord or whether it is mere embarrassment or the transitory response to a temporary loss of opportunity.

This difficulty is compounded by our contemporary substitution of sentimentality for the grief that arises according to God. As a result of this confusion, the pastoral authority and intervention exhibited in this passage are passing from the scene. For example, the chair of a pulpit search committee recently asked me if I knew of anyone with a “certain skill set” that would enable him to “speak to the congregation” without giving the impression that he was telling them what to do. This is a teddy-bear view of the pastor as someone who dispenses comfort without confrontation, for whom the Scriptures contain merely historical information and helpful advice.

It is hard to believe that we have departed so dramatically from the biblical portrait of ministry reflected in our present passage, with its joy over repentance and sorrow over sin, with its integrity in the midst of controversy and comfort in the midst of adversity, and with its prophetic voice and loving heart, all driven by a commitment to proclaim the gospel even when it hurts. But it is easy to see why, given the powerful cultural forces behind the contemporary redefinition of the pastoral office. As Hauerwas and Willimon have insightfully described it:

One can readily understand why pastors are so ready to take up the general description of being one of the “helping professions.” After all, most of us professing Christians, from the liberals to the fundamentalists, remain practical atheists in most of our lives. This is so because we think the church is sustained by the “services” it provides or the amount of “fellowship” and “good feeling” in the congregation. Of course there is nothing wrong with “services” and “good feeling”; what is wrong is that they have become ends in themselves. When that happens the church and the ministry cannot avoid sentimentality, which we believe is the most detrimental corruption of the church today.Sentimentality, after all, is but the way our unbelief is lived out. Sentimentality, that attitude of being always ready to understand but not to judge, corrupts us and the ministry. This is as true of conservative churches as it is of liberal…. Without God, without the One whose death on the cross challenges all our “good feelings,” who stands beyond and over against our human anxieties, all we have left is sentiment, the saccharine residue of theism in demise.³⁰

It is no wonder, then, that in the midst of our hollow spirituality the twin pillars of Christian passion in this passage are so scarce. We seldom feel joy over the repentance of others because we so scarcely feel grief over sin. And to the degree that our grief remains self-directed when we do experience it, our joy remains saccharine sweet and on the surface. Consumed by our material circumstances, we find it hard to care enough about our real problems to feel the remorse that has God as its focus.

Repentance. Our only hope is that God will grant us a measure of his grace that we may recognize him and in so doing recognize our own sin so that we may repent. Our need, therefore, is to pray, even when prayer itself seems foreign—especially prayers of confession and repentance. We are so blind to our own faithlessness, and the vision of God’s holiness is so dim, that such prayers of “godly sorrow” are hard to imagine, let alone utter. Yet God is patient with his people. As our passage illustrates so clearly, God brings us to repentance by using the lives and words of others to instruct us.

One answer to our need for instruction, perhaps may thus be found in the opening words of the Anglican Book of Common Prayer. This “manual” for being Christian begins each day with a confession of sin, whose profound simplicity provides an antidote to our preoccupation with ourselves and a pathway to true and lasting joy. Its pattern and content remain instructive and a starting point to our own expressions of “godly sorrow”:

Almighty and most merciful Father,We have erred and strayed from thy ways like lost sheep,We have followed too much the devices and desires of our own hearts,We have offended against thy holy laws,We have left undone those things which we ought to have done,And we have done those things which we ought not to have done,And there is no health in us:But thou, O Lord, have mercy upon us miserable offenders;Spare thou them, O God, which confess their faults,Restore thou them that are penitent,According to thy promises declared unto mankind in Christ Jesus our Lord;And grant, O most merciful Father, for his sake,That we may hereafter live a godly, righteous, and sober life,To the glory of thy holy Name. Amen.³¹

God. It is significant that this confession from the Book of Common Prayer culminates with a prayer for God’s enabling power to repent. At the heart of “godly sorrow” is a recognition of our own inability, if left to ourselves, to please God. If we are going to live authentic Christian lives, we must share Paul’s confidence that God will graciously grant his people the repentance that leads “unto salvation” (7:9–10, 14). For in the end, only God can save us. The first step is his, not ours.

The transformation of our sentimentality into a “godly sorrow” over our sins and over the sins of others will take place only as God reveals to us the glory of his sovereign majesty and the reign of his righteousness. The conversion of our surface satisfaction into lasting joy can only take place as we encounter the contentment that comes from living in his presence. Paul’s consolation, sorrow, boasting, pride, joy, and confidence, like Titus’s refreshment and happiness and the Corinthians’ grief, longing, zeal, earnestness, and indignation, all owe their origin to God’s having invaded their lives (cf. 3:12–18).

Preaching. Finally, Paul’s reflections remind us that the divinely chosen vehicle for revealing God’s saving presence is the instruction, example, and concern of those called to proclaim his Word. God moved in Corinth through Paul’s preaching, whether in person or in his letters, backed up by his life and clothed in his love and concern. Inasmuch as we value our relationship with God through Christ, we will value those who make it possible through their patient study of the Scriptures, their struggle to live them out before us, and their willingness to confront our sin.

The passage before us makes it evident that the longing and zeal of God’s people are dependent on the high calling of pastor-teachers. It is only fitting, therefore, that we give Paul the last word. As for the pastor: “Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers” (1 Tim. 4:16). And concerning elders in general: “The elders who direct the affairs of the church well are worthy of double honor, especially those whose work is preaching and teaching” (5:17; see also 1 Thess. 5:12–13).