2 CORINTHIANS CHAPTER 7
Paul’s Consolation and Joy because of the Corinthians. 2 Cor. 7, l–16.
Paul’s comfort because they had accepted his rebuke: V.5. For when we were come into Macedonia, our flesh had no rest, but we were troubled on every side; without were fightings, within were fears. V.6. Nevertheless God, that comforteth those that are cast down, comforted us by the coming of Titus; v.7. and not by his coming only, but by the consolation wherewith he was comforted in you, when he told us your earnest desire, your mourning, your fervent mind toward me, so that I rejoiced the more. V.8. For though I made you sorry with a letter, I do not repent, though I did repent; for I perceive that the same epistle hath made you sorry, though it were but for a season.
Paul here elaborates the thought of v.4, of his being filled with comfort. He had left Ephesus for Macedonia in a frame of mind which was anything but happy, and his anxiety was increased when he had not found Titus in Troas, chap. 2, 12. Even when he had crossed to Macedonia, therefore, his flesh, his poor, weak, harassed body, with its weak and anxious soul, had felt no relaxation of the strain.
His spiritual unrest was increased by the impatience of his flesh: But on every side we were afflicted; without were fightings, within were fears. In every way, on all sides, he was troubled; all circumstances seemed to combine against him, to make life miserable for him. On the outside were fightings, the oppositions of heathen, Jews, and false brethren; in his own mind and heart were fears, anxiety on account of the success of his epistle, “fears lest the severity of it should alienate their affections utterly from him; fears lest the party of the incestuous person should have prevailed; fears lest the teaching of the false apostles should have perverted their minds from the simplicity of the truth; all was uncertainty, all apprehension: and the Spirit of God did not think proper to remove the causes of these apprehensions in any extraordinary way.” 26)
At length, however, relief came: But he that comforts the downcast comforted us, even God, in the coming of Titus.
God had not permitted His servant to be tempted above his ability, 1 Cor. 10, 13, but had permitted Titus to come in time, to allay the fears of the apostle, for which fact he was duly thankful to the Lord, of whom he states that he make; it a business to comfort those that are in need of consolation, that are humble and downcast. Ps. 148, 6. The very fact of the coming of Titus gave Paul the relief which he needed and longed for: the very meeting was an occasion of such joy as people experience but seldom in a lifetime.
But the apostle was consoled, not only by the coming of Titus, but also by the comforting news which he brought. By the comfort wherewith he was comforted concerning you.
The conduct of the Corinthian congregation had been a source of consoling satisfaction to Titus, and this he had promptly transmitted to his fatherly friend: When he told us your longing, your mourning, your zeal concerning me, that I rejoiced the more.
The letter of the apostle had had the desired effect: the Corinthian Christians had immediately been filled with the earnest desire to see the apostle and to correct the evil state of affairs in their midst; they had been driven to lamentation and mourning by his rebuke of their laxity: they had been filled with new zeal for his person and authority, with energy to repair the injury they had done him, and thus to give him joy after all the sorrow they had caused him. Thus was his joy over the coming of Titus increased all the more.
The apostle now explains the feeling which he had at this writing: For even though I made you sorry with my letter, I do not regret it: although I did regret it (for I notice that that letter made you sorry, though but for a while).
He knew that his letter had made them sorry, and there had been times when he had felt inclined to regret his apparent harshness. But on the whole, he had no regrets, partly because their sorrow had been only temporary, until they had felt the love which prompted his severity, and partly because his object had been achieved. He had acted like a skilful surgeon, who regrets the necessity of resorting to a serious operation and would rather spare the patient the pain connected with it, but knows that the object he desires can be accomplished in no other way.