by Arthur W. Pink
by Arthur W. Pink
Philologos Religious Online Books
Philologos.org
by Arthur W. Pink
May, 1940
GODLY SORROW.
“Now I rejoice, not that ye were made sorry, but that ye sorrowed to repentance: for ye were made sorry after a godly manner” (2 Cor. 7:9). In his former Epistle the Apostle had sharply rebuked the Corinthians for sins which had not only been committed by them but tolerated among them. Though it be far from a pleasant task, yet it is the bounden duty of the ministers of the Gospel to rebuke sin when it is found in those under their charge. “Preach the Word: be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine” (2 Tim. 4:2). In this instance it pleased God to bless the faithful admonition of His servant, so that those to whom he wrote had been brought to mourn over and right their wrongs. It is to this repenting of theirs that Paul here alludes, in the course of which he draws an important distinction between carnal and spiritual sorrowing over sin, a distinction which it is most essential we should duly note and take to heart.
“Now I rejoice, not that ye were made sorry, but that ye sorrowed to repentance.” The preacher takes no more delight when he witnesses the anguish of those who are under conviction of sin than does the surgeon when he inflicts pain on his patients. The servants of Christ experience no pleasure in looking upon the distress of their hearers: it is only because the sinner's sorrow is a hopeful sign of his return to God and of his future happiness as the outcome, that they rejoice at such fruits of their labours. A parent, when he sees his child weeping because of his offenses, sincerely rejoices however much he sympathizes in his grief. So, too, was the Apostle made happy when he perceived that the Corinthians had sorrowed to good effect, namely, unto repentance or reformation of conduct. Here is proof that evangelical repentance is not only a change of heart, but a transformation of life as well.
“Ye sorrowed to repentance” distinguishes two things which are often confounded. Sorrow for sin and repentance are by no means identical. Sorrow for sin may be awakened in a man, or even in an assembly, yet without any real or lasting benefit therefrom. There is a grief (from wounded pride) which produces resentment and anger against the one who reproves our wicked ways. There is a sorrow (aggravated by Satan) which results in nothing but melancholy and despair. Sorrow in itself is not repentance; neither is remorse, self-condemnation, nor external reformation. True, these are all the attendants and consequences; but repentance itself is a turning from sin to holiness. In the case here before us the Apostle rejoiced over a sorrow in the Corinthians which was followed by a putting away of those evils for which he had reproved them.
“Ye sorrowed to repentance.” Here, then, is a statement which supplies us with an invaluable criterion by means of which the quality of all real and lasting sorrow may be estimated. Grief may arise, and even reach a passionate extreme, and yet be as unproductive of any transforming effect upon its subjects as the summer dew upon the rock. Such is a self-allaying and not a self-abasing sorrow. There is a sorrowing over folly and its consequences which is nothing more than self-pity, and remorse is ever blind toward Heaven. The vital question, then, is, has our sorrow for sin issued in a genuine repentance? Evangelical repentance is a real change of heart, it is a radical change of views, feelings and aims, resulting in a complete and lasting change of life. Unless our sorrow causes us to put away the evils which formerly characterized us, then it is a repentance which needs to be “repented of,” for it is fruitless and valueless.
“For ye were made sorry after a godly manner.” This is explanatory of the previous clause, making known to us how it was that the Corinthians came to sorrow “to repentance.” How it behooves us, then, to diligently inquire as to exactly what is meant by this sorrowing “after a godly manner,” or as the margin gives it, “according to God.” Godly sorrow is one which has respect wholly to God, for it is one which He demands, one which He produces, and one which leads to Himself. First, it is such a sorrow as the thrice Holy One requires from those upon whom He would bestow pardon of their sins—true alike of our first conversion and of each subsequent recovery from backsliding: “repent ye therefore and be converted that your sins may be blotted out” (Acts 3:19). Though this godly sorrow to repentance is not the ground of our salvation, yet it is both a part of and a necessary condition to it. Those who repent are saved; the impenitent perish (Luke 13:5). It is that inward change in which salvation largely consists. Grief and humiliation for sin as sin—sin against God—are an essential part of those “fruits meet for repentance” (Matt. 3:8).
Second, this “godly sorrow” is produced by Divine power. It is essentially a supernatural grace. No man is born with godly sorrow in his heart as he is born with a tongue in his head. No, it is a seed of God's own setting, a flower of His planting. It is a heavenly offspring. “God maketh my heart soft” said holy Job (23:16), for none but He can make the heart tender under a sight and sense of sin. Nature can easily make one weep over worldly crosses and losses, but only Divine grace can move us to mourn over sin. That godly sorrow to repentance is produced by the immediate operations of the Lord is clear from the order in “Surely after that I was turned, I repented; and after that I was instructed, I smote upon my thigh” (Jer. 31:19): note well it is not “after I turned,” but “after I was turned.” That is the language of one who has just been renewed, quickened afresh by the Word, and who now sees light in God's light.
Third, it is such a sorrow as leads to God. All sin is a departing from God, and while the guilt of it remains upon the conscience we cannot be easy in His presence—witness Adam, who as soon as he heard the voice of the Lord God, sought to hide himself (Gen. 3:8). But when godly sorrow is wrought in the heart by God it is the means of recovery to Him, for it makes us conscious of our distance from God and of our having dishonoured and displeased Him. Necessarily so, for godly sorrow is “to repentance,” and repentance is a forsaking of sin so as to walk in newness of life. A contrite heart instinctively turns unto God, for it is the only one which possesses any title to His mercy: “A broken and a contrite heart, O God, Thou wilt not despise” (Psa. 51:17). Indeed He will not, for His promise is, “To this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at My Word” (Isa. 66:2). Such a sorrowing to repentance is approved by God, for it is the product of His own grace and accomplishes its end by restoring to Himself.—A.W.P.
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