Below
is the second part of a series of articles from several years back on the
difference between worldly sorrow and godly sorrow. Worldly sorrow is
characteristic of false repentance; godly sorrow is characteristic of true
repentance. If you are interesting in reading all four articles in one
sitting, here are the links: Part1 Part2 Part3 Part4. I'll also be posting one installment per day this week, if you
just want to read and digest one at a time. I hope these are helpful to
you.
_________________________________
Last
week I started a short blog series on the differences between godly sorrow and
worldly sorrow: how to know if repentance is genuine or if it is a cheap
counterfeit – penance. 2 Cor 7:8-11
are a key text for this topic. V11 outlines seven characteristics produced by
godly sorrow that can be used to determine whether or not our own sorrow over
our sin is true godly sorrow or self-centered worldly sorrow. We covered the
first three last time, so we’ll look at the other four today.
Fourth,
godly sorrow produces fear. Rather than the natural worldly fear of man, the
sorrow that leads to repentance is accompanied by the fear of God. This is a
reverence for both God’s holiness and His wrath against sin, which serves as a
deterrent for returning to one’s sin. Proverbs 16:6b says, By the fear of the
LORD one keeps away from evil. Someone characterized by this kind of sorrow
will not dare presume upon the grace of God, but will walk with a healthy dread
of the wrath of God as well as a reverence for His holiness.
Fifth,
godly sorrow produces longing. When the sinner truly understands his offense
against the Lord, his heart longs for reconciliation. This is a wholesale pursuit
of repair of one’s relationship with God and others. We see this in the life of
the apostle Peter. In Matt 26:75,
Peter is shown to be gripped with sorrow over his denial of Christ. That sorrow
proved to be godly sorrow in John 21:7, when Peter,
while fishing with John, learns that Jesus is at the shore, and casts himself
into the sea to swim to the Savior. The godly sorrow that leads to repentance
draws one with longing to the Lord.
Sixth,
godly sorrow produces zeal. This is defined as “intense positive interest in
something.” In other contexts, the word is translated “jealousy.” 2 Cor 11:2 speaks of
Paul’s “godly jealousy” for the church at Corinth since he betrothed her as a
bride to Christ. So there is a sense of zealous ownership to this word. The
person of godly sorrow has a passion for God as the One to whom the sinner
belongs. The person is captivated by his desire for the Lord.
Seventh,
godly sorrow produces avenging of wrong. This speaks of a person’s desire to
root out any vestiges of sin in his own life. Having been grieved by his sin
against God and indignant on God’s behalf, the sinner goes on the offensive
against other sin in his life so as to better serve and glorify the Lord. It is
important that this not be confused with attempting to punish oneself in order
to earn favor with God. That is penance. Rather this is simply the desire to
glorify God by abhorring and killing one’s own sin.
Paul
concludes v11 by writing, In everything you demonstrated yourselves to be
innocent in the matter. In other words, by these signs of godly sorrow the
Corinthians showed their repentance to be genuine. They were forgiven of their
sin. When we look at these products of godly sorrow together, we can see how it
is that godly sorrow leads to repentance. Each of the seven products speaks of
love for God and hatred for sin. Without explicitly stating it, Paul has hinted
at a biblical definition of repentance, that is, turning away from sin and
toward God.
Worldly
sorrow, on the other hand, rather than being centered on the glory of God and
leading to repentance, leads to death. If it is godly sorrow that produces the
characteristics in v11, then worldly sorrow must be devoid of these
characteristics. The old sinful man is still thriving. There is no diligence in
pursuing righteousness, no vindication of guilt, no indignation on God’s
behalf, no fear of God and deterrent from sin, no longing for Christ, no zeal
for His glory, or hatred for sin. The absence of all of these things points to
an absence of repentance and an absence of salvation, which means death. This
sorrow then is not a sorrow for sin committed against God, a grieving for an
offense to His holiness. Rather it is a self-centered sorrow, a sorrow that
comes from being caught. Worldly sorrow is concerned more with the consequences of sin than
with the glory of God.
I
encourage you to take this passage to heart and examine yourself. Are there any
areas of sin in your life which you cannot seem to overcome? Is it possible
that the sorrow you have felt over this sin is worldly sorrow rather than godly
sorrow?
Next
time we’ll look at another difference between true repentance and penance: faith.
Comments