Devine Scripture

2 Corinthians 7:10

What does 2 Corinthians 7:10 mean?

A plain-English look at 2 Corinthians 7:10 in WEB alongside six other public-domain English translations, with cross-references and chapter context.

What 2 Corinthians 7:10 means

Here Paul draws a vital contrast. God-centered sorrow produces repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no lingering regret, because grace meets the penitent and restores. This is not self-loathing but a Spirit-wrought grief that turns from sin to God. By contrast, worldly sorrow is self-centered and hopeless; it broods over consequences without changing course and ends in spiritual ruin. The Corinthians had the first kind, which brings life. Repentance is not the price of salvation but the pathway by which we receive and enjoy it. In Christ, sorrow becomes a doorway to renewal; apart from Him, sorrow collapses into deathly despair.

Parallel translations

WEB

World English Bible · 2000

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

KJV

King James Version · 1611

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

ASV

American Standard Version · 1901

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

BBE

Bible in Basic English · 1949

For the sorrow which God gives is the cause of salvation through a change of heart, in which there is no reason for grief: but the sorrow of the world is a cause of death.

YLT

Young's Literal Translation · 1862

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

DRA

Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · 1752

For the sorrow that is according to God worketh penance, steadfast unto salvation: but the sorrow of the world worketh death.

DBY

Darby Bible · 1890

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

Context

This theological statement explains why Paul rejoices over the Corinthians’ grief: its nature was godly, not worldly. Having established the principle, Paul will immediately point to the tangible evidence in their case (verse 11). The chapter’s logic moves from experience (their sorrow) to doctrine (two kinds of sorrow) and back to experience (the fruits that proved theirs was from God).

v.9I now rejoice, not that ye were made sorry, but that ye were made sorry unto repentance; for ye were made sorry after a godly sort, that ye might suffer loss by us in nothing.

v.10This passage

v.11For behold, this selfsame thing, that ye were made sorry after a godly sort, what earnest care it wrought in you, yea what clearing of yourselves, yea what indignation, yea what fear, yea what longing, yea what zeal, yea what avenging! In everything ye approved yourselves to be pure in the matter.

Cross references

Related passages from across Scripture, drawn from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge.

  • Proverbs 17:22

    A cheerful heart is a good medicine; But a broken spirit drieth up the bones.

  • 2 Samuel 12:13

    And David said unto Nathan, I have sinned against Jehovah. And Nathan said unto David, Jehovah also hath put away thy sin; thou shalt not die.

  • Jonah 4:9

    And God said to Jonah, Doest thou well to be angry for the gourd? And he said, I do well to be angry, even unto death.

  • 2 Samuel 17:23

    And when Ahithophel saw that his counsel was not followed, he saddled his ass, and arose, and gat him home, unto his city, and set his house in order, and hanged himself; and he died, and was buried in the sepulchre of his father.

  • Jonah 3:10

    And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil which he said he would do unto them; and he did it not.

  • 2 Timothy 2:25

    in meekness correcting them that oppose themselves; if peradventure God may give them repentance unto the knowledge of the truth,

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