The Meaning of 2 Corinthians 7:10 Explained

2 Corinthians 7:10

KJV: For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death.

YLT: for the sorrow toward God reformation to salvation not to be repented of doth work, and the sorrow of the world doth work death,

Darby: For grief according to God works repentance to salvation, never to be regretted; but the grief of the world works death.

ASV: For godly sorrow worketh repentance unto salvation, a repentance which bringeth no regret: but the sorrow of the world worketh death.

KJV Reverse Interlinear

For  godly  sorrow  worketh  repentance  to  salvation  not to be repented of:  but  the sorrow  of the world  worketh  death. 

What does 2 Corinthians 7:10 Mean?

Study Notes

salvation (See Scofield " Romans 1:16 ")
world kosmos = world-system. Galatians 6:14 ; John 7:7 .
world
Kosmos, Summary: In the sense of the present world-system, the ethically bad sense of the word, refers to the "order," "arrangement," under which Satan has organized the world of unbelieving mankind upon his cosmic principle of force, greed, selfishness, ambition, and pleasure. Matthew 4:8 ; Matthew 4:9 ; John 12:31 ; John 14:30 ; John 18:36 ; Ephesians 2:2 ; Ephesians 6:12 ; 1 John 2:15-17 . This world- system is imposing and powerful with armies and fleets; is often outwardly religious, scientific, cultured, and elegant; but, seething with national and commercial rivalries and ambitions, is upheld in any real crisis only by armed force, and is dominated by Satanic principles.

Verse Meaning

The apostle then added a somewhat philosophical reflection on two possible responses to criticism and their consequences. The proper response, God"s will, results in a change of mind (repentance) that leads to deliverance from the bad situation (salvation in the temporal sense here) without later regret. The improper response, the world"s typical superficial response, does not result in a change of mind (repentance) but leads to resentment and bitterness (ultimately death in the temporal sense). Suffering in itself does not necessarily benefit us. It proves to be a good thing for us only as we respond to it properly (cf. James 1:2-4).

Context Summary

2 Corinthians 7:5-16 - The Joyous Effect Of Godly Sorrow
After dispatching his first Epistle, with the strong words of 2 Corinthians 5:1-21 and elsewhere, Paul's tender heart had been rent with anxiety lest the Corinthian church should resent its terms and be alienated from his friendship. But when Titus joined him in Macedonia, bringing the assurance of their deep repentance and unabated affection, he was profoundly comforted and gladdened. He felt also that their sorrow was of the true and genuine sort, which does not consist of mere mortification at being found out or of the dread of punishment, but which implies a profound hatred of sin as grieving the Holy Savior and unworthy of His precious blood. This sorrow does not need to be repented of; these tears do not require to be cleansed. Godly sorrow accepts rebuke meekly, puts away the wrong, and with chastened steps comes again into the way of the sacred Cross.
Titus had imbibed much of Paul's spirit. It is interesting to notice that though he was a companion and messenger of the Apostle, even his spirit could be in need of refreshment, 2 Corinthians 7:13; and Paul was pleased that his own anticipations had been realized in the response of his friends at Corinth. Here beats the heart of a true pastor, whose whole soul is wrapped up in the interests of his charge! [source]

Chapter Summary: 2 Corinthians 7

1  He proceeds in exhorting them to purity of life;
2  and to bear him like affection as he does to them
3  Whereof lest he might seem to doubt, he declares what comfort he took in his afflictions
6  by the report which Titus gave of their godly sorrow,
8  which his former epistle had wrought in them;
13  and of their loving-kindness and obedience toward Titus, answerable to his former boastings of them

Greek Commentary for 2 Corinthians 7:10

For godly sorrow [η γαρ κατα τεον λυπη]
“For the sorrow according to God” (God‘s ideal, 2 Corinthians 7:9). [source]
Worketh repentance unto salvation a repentance without regret [μετανοιαν εις σωτηριαν αμεταμελητον εργαζεται]
This clause alone should have prevented the confusion between mere “sorrow” It agrees with μετανοιαν — metanoian not σωτηριαν — sōtērian But the sorrow of the world (η δε του κοσμου λυπη — hē de tou kosmou lupē). In contrast, the kind of sorrow that the world has, grief “for failure, not for sin” (Bernard), for the results as seen in Cain, Esau (his tears!), and Judas (remorse, μετεμελητη — metemelēthē). Works out (perfective use of κατ — kaṫ) death in the end. [source]
But the sorrow of the world [η δε του κοσμου λυπη]
In contrast, the kind of sorrow that the world has, grief “for failure, not for sin” (Bernard), for the results as seen in Cain, Esau (his tears!), and Judas (remorse, μετεμελητη — metemelēthē). Works out (perfective use of κατ — kaṫ) death in the end. [source]
Sorrow - repentance [λύπη - μετάνοιαν]
Paul's words strike effectively at the popular identification of sorrow with repentance. [source]
Not to be repented of [ἀμεταμέλητον]
Construe with repentance. The Rev., in order to bring out this connection, amplifies the translation: a repentance which bringeth no regret. The oxymoron (see on Romans 1:20; Romans 4:18) is in the A.V. rather than in the Greek. It should be carefully observed that the two words, repentance, not to be repented of, represent different roots and different ideas: repentance ( μετάνοιαν ) denoting the moral change, and to be repented of denoting the sentiment of misgiving or regret (see on Matthew 21:29), and so answering to λύπη sorrowThe Rev. brings out the distinction by substituting regret for repentance. [source]
Sorrow of the world []
Antithesis with the sorrow which is according to God (A.V., godly sorrow ). Sorrow which is characteristic of the world; grief for the consequences rather than for the sin as sin. [source]
Worketh [κατεργάζεται]
Brings to pass. Notice that the simple verb ἐργάζετι is used in the previous clause, the distinction from this verb being obliterated by rendering both worketh. The difference is between contributing to a result and achieving it. [source]

Reverse Greek Commentary Search for 2 Corinthians 7:10

Matthew 3:2 Repent [μετανοεῖτε]
A word compounded of the preposition μετά , after, with; and the verb νοέω , to perceive, and to think, as the result of perceiving or observing. In this compound the preposition combines the two meanings of time and change, which may be denoted by after and different; so that the whole compound means to think differently after. Μετάνοια (repentance ) is therefore, primarily, an after-thought, different from the former thought; then, a change of mind which issues in regret and in change of conduct. These latter ideas, however, have been imported into the word by scriptural usage, and do not lie in it etymologically nor by primary usage. Repentance, then, has been rightly defined as “Such a virtuous alteration of the mind and purpose as begets a like virtuous change in the life and practice.” Sorrow is not, as is popularly conceived, the primary nor the prominent notion of the word. Paul distinguishes between sorrow ( λύπη ) and repentance ( μετάνοια )and puts the one as the outcome of the other. “Godly sorrow worketh repentance ” (2 Corinthians 7:10). [source]
Matthew 21:29 Repented [μεταμεληθεὶς]
This is a different word from that in Matthew 3:2; Matthew 4:17; μετανοεῖτε , Repent ye. Though it is fairly claimed that the word here implies all that is implied in the other word, the New Testament writers evidently recognize a distinction, since the noun which corresponds to the verb in this passage ( μεταμέλεια ) is not used at all in the New Testament, and the verb itself only five times; and, in every case except the two in this passage (see Matthew 21:32), with a meaning quite foreign to repentance in the ordinary gospel sense. Thus it is used of Judas, when he brought back the thirty pieces (Matthew 27:3); of Paul's not regretting his letter to the Corinthians (2 Corinthians 7:8); and of God (Hebrews 7:21). On the other hand, μετανοέω , repent, used by John and Jesus in their summons to repentance (Matthew 3:2; Matthew 4:17), occurs thirty-four times, and the noun μετάνοια , repentance (Matthew 3:8, Matthew 3:11), twenty-four times, and in every case with reference to that change of heart and life wrought by the Spirit of God, to which remission of sins and salvation are promised. It is not impossible, therefore, that the word in this passage may have been intended to carry a different shade of meaning, now lost to us. Μεταμέλομαι , as its etymology indicates ( μετά , after, and μέλω , to be an object of care), implies an after-care, as contrasted with the change of mind denoted by μετάνοια . Not sorrow for moral obliquity and sin against God, but annoyance at the consequences of an act or course of acts, and chagrin at not having known better. “It may be simply what our fathers were wont to call hadiwist (had-I-wist, or known better, I should have acted otherwise)” (Trench). Μεταμέλεια refers chiefly to single acts; μετάνοια denotes the repentance which affects the whole life. Hence the latter is often found in the imperative: Repent ye (Matthew 3:2; Matthew 4:17; Acts 2:38; Acts 3:19); the former never. Paul's recognition of the distinction (2 Corinthians 7:10) is noteworthy. “Godly sorrow worketh repentance ( μετάνοιαν ) unto salvation,” a salvation or repentance “which bringeth no regret on thinking of it afterwards” ( ἀμεταμέλητον )There is no occasion for one ever to think better of either his repentance or the salvation in which it issued. [source]
John 1:9 The world [τὸν κόσμον]
As in John 1:3, the creation was designated in its several details by πάντα , all things, so here, creation is regarded in its totality, as an ordered whole. See on Acts 17:24; see on James 3:6. Four words are used in the New Testament for world: (1) γῇ , land, ground, territory, the earth, as distinguished from the heavens. The sense is purely physical. -DIVIDER-
-DIVIDER-
(2) οἰκουμένη , which is a participle, meaning inhabited, with γῆ , earth, understood, and signifies the earth as the abode of men; the whole inhabited world. See on Matthew 24:14; see on Luke 2:1. Also in a physical sense, though used once of “the world to come” (Hebrews 2:5). -DIVIDER-
-DIVIDER-
(3) αἰών , essentially time, as the condition under which all created things exist, and the measure of their existence: a period of existence; a lifetime; a generation; hence, a long space of time; an age, era, epoch, period of a dispensation. On this primary, physical sense there arises a secondary sense, viz., all that exists in the world under the conditions of time. From this again develops a more distinctly ethical sense, the course and current of this world's affairs (compare the expression, the times ), and this course as corrupted by sin; hence the evil world. So Galatians 1:4; 2 Corinthians 4:4. -DIVIDER-
-DIVIDER-
(4) κόσμος , which follows a similar line of development from the physical to the ethical sense; meaning (a) ornament, arrangement, order (1 Peter 3:3); (b) the sum-total of the material universe considered as a system (Matthew 13:35; John 17:5; Acts 17:24; Philemon 2:15). Compare Plato. “He who is incapable of communion is also incapable of friendship. And philosophers tell us, Callicles, that communion and friendship and orderliness and temperance and justice bind together heaven and earth and gods and men, and that this universe is therefore called Cosmos, or order, not disorder or misrule” (“Gorgias,” 508). (c) That universe as the abode of man (John 16:21; 1 John 3:17). (d) The sum-total of humanity in the world; the human race (John 1:29; John 4:42). (e) In the ethical sense, the sum-total of human life in the ordered world, considered apart from, alienated from, and hostile to God, and of the earthly things which seduce from God (John 7:7; John 15:18; John 17:9, John 17:14; 1 Corinthians 1:20, 1 Corinthians 1:21; 2 Corinthians 7:10; James 4:4). -DIVIDER-
-DIVIDER-
This word is characteristic of John, and pre-eminently in this last, ethical sense, in which it is rarely used by the Synoptists; while John nowhere uses αἰών of the moral order. In this latter sense the word is wholly strange to heathen literature, since the heathen world had no perception of the opposition between God and sinful man; between the divine order and the moral disorder introduced and maintained by sin. -DIVIDER-
-DIVIDER-
[source]

Romans 7:8 Wrought [κατειργάσατο]
The compound verb with κατά downthrough always signifies the bringing to pass or accomplishment. See 1 Timothy 2:9; 1 Corinthians 5:3; 2 Corinthians 7:10. It is used both of evil and good. See especially Romans 7:15, Romans 7:17, Romans 7:18, Romans 7:20. “To man everything forbidden appears as a desirable blessing; but yet, as it is forbidden, he feels that his freedom is limited, and now his lust rages more violently, like the waves against the dyke” (Tholuck). [source]
Romans 11:29 Without repentance [ἀμεταμέλητα]
Only here and 2 Corinthians 7:10. See on repented, Matthew 21:29. Not subject to recall. [source]
Romans 11:29 Without repentance [αμεταμελητα]
See note on 2 Corinthians 7:10 for this word It is not αμετανοητον — ametanoēton (Romans 2:5) from α — a privative and μετανοεω — metanoeō to change one‘s mind. God is not sorry for his gifts to and calling of the Jews (Romans 9:4.). [source]
2 Corinthians 12:21 Have not repented [μὴ μετανοησάντων]
The only occurrence of the verb in Paul's writings. Μετάνοια repentanceoccurs only three times: Romans 2:4; 2 Corinthians 7:9, 2 Corinthians 7:10. [source]
Galatians 6:5  []
d Bear ye one another's burdens: every man shall bear his own burden. A kind of paradox of which Paul is fond. See Philemon 2:12, Philemon 2:13; 2 Corinthians 6:8-10; 2 Corinthians 7:10; 2 Corinthians 12:10. Paul means, no one will have occasion to claim moral superiority to his neighbor, for ( γὰρ ) each man's self-examination will reveal infirmities enough of his own, even though they may not be the same as those of his neighbor. His own burdens will absorb his whole attention, and will leave him no time to compare himself with others. [source]
1 Thessalonians 4:11 To be quiet [ἡσυχάζειν]
Note the paradox, strive to be quiet. For similar instances see Romans 1:20, unseen things clearly seen: Romans 1:22, wise, be fooled (comp. Horace, Od. 1,34, 2, insaniens sapientia ): 2 Corinthians 8:2, poverty abounded unto riches: 2 Corinthians 7:10, repentance, not to be repented of. The disturbances rebuked in the second Epistle may have begun to show themselves, so that there is a possible allusion to the idle busybodies of 2 Thessalonians 3:11. [source]
2 Timothy 2:25 To the acknowledging of the truth [εἰς ἐπίγνωσιν ἀληθείας]
More correctly, the knowledge. The formula PastoSee 1 Timothy 2:4(note); 2 Timothy 3:7. For εἰς untoafter μετάνοια repentancesee Mark 1:4; Luke 3:3; Luke 24:47; Acts 11:18; Acts 20:21; 2 Corinthians 7:10. [source]
2 Timothy 2:25 Oppose themselves [αντιδιατιτεμενους]
Present middle (direct) participle of αντιδιατιτημι — antidiatithēmi late double compound (Diodorus, Philo) to place oneself in opposition, here only in N.T. If peradventure God may give (μη ποτε δωιη ο τεος — mē pote dōiē ho theos). Here Westcott and Hort read the late form of the second aorist active optative of διδωμι — didōmi for the usual δοιη — doiē as they do in 2 Timothy 1:18. But there it is a wish for the future and so regular, while here the optative with μη ποτε — mē pote in a sort of indirect question is used with a primary tense δει — dei (present) and parallel with an undoubted subjunctive ανανηπσωσιν — ananēpsōsin while in Luke 3:15 μη ποτε ειε — mē pote eie is with a secondary tense. Examples of such an optative do occur in the papyri (Robertson, Grammar, p. 989) so that we cannot go as far as Moulton does and say that we “must” read the subjunctive δωηι — dōēi here (Prolegomena, pp. 55, 193). Repentance “Change of mind” (2 Corinthians 7:10; Romans 2:4). Unto the knowledge of the truth (εις επιγνωσιν αλητειας — eis epignōsin alētheias). Paul‘s word “full knowledge” (1 Corinthians 1:9). [source]
2 Timothy 2:25 Repentance [μετανοιαν]
“Change of mind” (2 Corinthians 7:10; Romans 2:4). Unto the knowledge of the truth (εις επιγνωσιν αλητειας — eis epignōsin alētheias). Paul‘s word “full knowledge” (1 Corinthians 1:9). [source]
James 4:9 Mourn [πεντησατε]
First aorist active imperative of πεντεω — pentheō old verb from πεντος — penthos (mourning, James 4:9), as in Matthew 5:4. Often in N.T. joined as here with κλαιω — klaiō to weep (Mark 16:10; Luke 6:25). A call to the godly sorrow spoken of in 2 Corinthians 7:10 (Mayor), like an O.T. prophet.Weep (κλαυσατε — klausate). First aorist active imperative of κλαιω — klaiō (γελως — gelōs). Old word from Homer down, only here in N.T. as γελαω — gelaō to laugh (opposite of κλαιω — klaiō), in N.T. only in Luke 6:21, Luke 6:25, but καταγελαω — katagelaō in Luke 8:53 (Mark 5:40; Matthew 9:24).Be turned Second aorist passive imperative of μετατρεπω — metatrepō old word, to turn about, to transmute, in Homer (not in Attic), here only in N.T.Heaviness (κατηπειαν — katēpheian). Old word from κατηπης — katēphēs (of a downcast look, from κατα — kata παη — phaē eyes), hanging down of the eyes like the publican in Luke 18:13, here only in N.T. [source]

What do the individual words in 2 Corinthians 7:10 mean?

The for according to God grief repentance to salvation without regret produces - and the of the world death produces
γὰρ κατὰ Θεὸν λύπη μετάνοιαν εἰς σωτηρίαν ἀμεταμέλητον ἐργάζεται δὲ τοῦ κόσμου θάνατον κατεργάζεται

κατὰ  according  to 
Parse: Preposition
Root: κατά 
Sense: down from, through out.
Θεὸν  God 
Parse: Noun, Accusative Masculine Singular
Root: θεός  
Sense: a god or goddess, a general name of deities or divinities.
λύπη  grief 
Parse: Noun, Nominative Feminine Singular
Root: λύπη  
Sense: sorrow, pain, grief, annoyance, affliction.
μετάνοιαν  repentance 
Parse: Noun, Accusative Feminine Singular
Root: μετάνοια  
Sense: a change of mind, as it appears to one who repents, of a purpose he has formed or of something he has done.
σωτηρίαν  salvation 
Parse: Noun, Accusative Feminine Singular
Root: σωτηρία  
Sense: deliverance, preservation, safety, salvation.
ἀμεταμέλητον  without  regret 
Parse: Adjective, Accusative Feminine Singular
Root: ἀμεταμέλητος  
Sense: not repentant of, unregretted.
ἐργάζεται  produces 
Parse: Verb, Present Indicative Middle or Passive, 3rd Person Singular
Root: ἐργάζομαι  
Sense: to work, labour, do work.
  - 
Parse: Article, Nominative Feminine Singular
Root:  
Sense: this, that, these, etc.
τοῦ  the  of  the 
Parse: Article, Genitive Masculine Singular
Root:  
Sense: this, that, these, etc.
κόσμου  world 
Parse: Noun, Genitive Masculine Singular
Root: κόσμος  
Sense: an apt and harmonious arrangement or constitution, order, government.
θάνατον  death 
Parse: Noun, Accusative Masculine Singular
Root: θάνατος 
Sense: the death of the body.
κατεργάζεται  produces 
Parse: Verb, Present Indicative Middle or Passive, 3rd Person Singular
Root: κατεργάζομαι  
Sense: to perform, accomplish, achieve.