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.
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. |
|
ἡ | - |
Parse: Article, Nominative Feminine Singular Root: ὁ Sense: this, that, these, etc. |
|
τοῦ | the of the |
Parse: Article, Genitive Masculine Singular Root: ὁ 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. |
Greek Commentary for 2 Corinthians 7:10
“For the sorrow according to God” (God‘s ideal, 2 Corinthians 7:9). [source]
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]
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]
Paul's words strike effectively at the popular identification of sorrow with repentance. [source]
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]
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]
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
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]
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]
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]
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]
Only here and 2 Corinthians 7:10. See on repented, Matthew 21:29. Not subject to recall. [source]
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]
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]
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]
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]
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]
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]
“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]
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]