2 Corinthians 7: What the Passage Says

The Chapter in a Sentence

Paul urges the Corinthians to cleanse themselves and to open their hearts to him, insisting that he and his co-workers have wronged no one. He then describes the relief he felt in Macedonia when Titus arrived with news that the church had responded well to Paul's earlier painful letter. Paul distinguishes the sorrow that leads to a change of heart from the sorrow of the world, lists the results that sorrow produced in the Corinthians, and closes by saying Titus's report has given him full confidence in them.

Claim by Claim

1. 7:1
   • Believers have these promises.
   • Paul addresses his readers as dearly beloved.
   • Paul calls on himself and them to cleanse themselves from every defilement of flesh and spirit.
   • Holiness is to be brought to completion in the fear of God.
2. 7:2
   • Paul asks them to make room for him and his companions.
   • Paul and his companions have wronged no one.
   • Paul and his companions have corrupted no one.
   • Paul and his companions have taken advantage of no one.
3. 7:3
   • Paul does not say this to condemn them.
   • Paul has said before that they are in his heart.
   • Paul says they are in his heart so as to die together and live together with them.
4. 7:4
   • Paul's boldness of speech toward them is great.
   • Paul's boasting about them is great.
   • Paul is filled with comfort.
   • Paul's joy overflows in all their affliction.
5. 7:5
   • When Paul and his companions came into Macedonia, their flesh had no rest.
   • They were afflicted on every side.
   • There were conflicts on the outside.
   • There were fears within.
6. 7:6
   • God comforts those who are cast down.
   • God comforted Paul and his companions by the coming of Titus.
7. 7:7
   • God comforted them not by Titus's coming only.
   • God also comforted them by the comfort with which Titus had been comforted concerning them.
   • Titus reported to them their longing.
   • Titus reported to them their mourning.
   • Titus reported to them their zeal for Paul.
   • As a result Paul rejoiced all the more.
8. 7:8
   • Paul made them sorry by his letter.
   • Paul does not regret having made them sorry.
   • Paul did at one time regret it.
   • Paul perceives that that letter made them sorry.
   • The sorrow that letter caused lasted only a short time.
9. 7:9
   • Paul now rejoices.
   • Paul does not rejoice because they were made sorry.
   • Paul rejoices because their sorrow led to repentance.
   • They were made sorry in a godly manner.
   • Their godly sorrow was so that they would suffer loss in nothing from Paul and his companions.
10. 7:10
    • Godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation.
    • That repentance is not to be regretted.
    • The sorrow of the world produces death.
11. 7:11
    • Their being made sorry in a godly way produced earnestness in them.
    • It produced a defense of themselves.
    • It produced indignation.
    • It produced fear.
    • It produced longing.
    • It produced zeal.
    • It produced punishment of the wrong.
    • In everything they have shown themselves to be pure in this matter.
12. 7:12
    • Paul wrote to them.
    • Paul did not write on account of the one who did the wrong.
    • Paul did not write on account of the one who suffered the wrong.
    • Paul wrote so that his care for them would be made clear to them.
    • This was to be made clear in the sight of God.
13. 7:13
    • Paul and his companions were comforted by their comfort.
    • They rejoiced exceedingly more at the joy of Titus.
    • Titus's spirit was refreshed by them all.
14. 7:14
    • Paul had boasted to Titus about them.
    • Paul was not put to shame by that boasting.
    • Paul and his companions spoke all things to them in truth.
    • Paul's boasting before Titus proved to be truth.
15. 7:15
    • Titus's inward affection is more abundant toward them.
    • Titus remembers the obedience of them all.
    • They received Titus with fear and trembling.
16. 7:16
    • Paul rejoices that he has confidence in them in all things.

Words Worth Explaining

Every language note in this chapter, gathered. These explain what a word meant, never what it means for the reader.

7:1

"These promises" points back to the string of Old Testament quotations Paul has just stacked up at the end of chapter 6, where God promises to live among his people and be a father to them. In KJV "filthiness of the flesh," flesh has its plain sense of the physical body. The Greek word behind "fear of God" covers the whole range from fright to reverence, which is why the rendering says awe.

7:2

KJV "Receive us" translates a verb meaning make room, give space, the picture being of clearing a place for someone. "Corrupted" in 1611 English meant ruined or spoiled in any sense, not specifically bribed. "Defrauded" means took financial advantage; Paul appears to be answering talk about money, since he was organizing a collection from his churches for the Christians in Jerusalem.

7:3

"To die and live with you" is a stock phrase of loyalty in Greek, the kind of thing said between close friends or political allies. The odd order, dying before living, belongs to the set expression and is not a sequence of events.

7:4

KJV "boldness of speech" translates parrhesia, the freedom to say everything openly: the speech of a free citizen rather than a flatterer. "Glorying" in 1611 English simply means boasting or taking pride in something, and has nothing to do with glory in a religious sense.

7:5

Macedonia was the Roman province covering the north of mainland Greece, including Philippi and Thessalonica. Paul had crossed over to it from Troas because he had missed Titus there and was desperate for news from Corinth. KJV "our flesh had no rest" means our bodies got no rest.

7:6

Titus was a Greek co-worker of Paul's. Paul had sent him to Corinth carrying a severe letter, and had been waiting anxiously to learn how the church there received it.

7:7

KJV "consolation" and "comforted" here render the same Greek word group, which means encouraging and putting strength into someone as much as soothing them. "Fervent mind toward me" means burning zeal on Paul's behalf.

7:8

KJV uses "repent" here in its older English sense of regret, wishing a thing undone, and the Greek word is a different one from the "repentance" of the next two verses. Paul is saying he no longer regrets sending the letter. The letter in question was a stern one sent to Corinth between the letter we call 1 Corinthians and this one. It has not survived as a separate document, though some readers think part of it is preserved in chapters 10 to 13 here.

7:9

"Repentance" translates metanoia, a change of mind that turns into a change of direction. It is not primarily a word about feeling sorry. KJV "that ye might receive damage by us in nothing" means so that you suffered no loss at our hands.

7:10

KJV "repentance to salvation not to be repented of" is as ambiguous in Greek as in English: the phrase meaning never regretted may attach to the repentance or to the salvation, and translators divide over which. "Worketh" means produces or brings about.

7:11

Several words here have shifted since 1611. "Carefulness" meant earnestness or diligence, not anxiety. "Clearing of yourselves" translates apologia, a spoken defense, the word for the case one makes when answering a charge. "Revenge" translates a word for justice being carried out against a wrong, and does not carry the modern sense of private payback. "Approved yourselves to be clear" means proved yourselves innocent, with "clear" in the sense of unstained.

7:12

Paul never says who the man who "had done the wrong" was, who suffered it, or what happened; something had occurred at Corinth serious enough to require discipline, and his first readers knew the details. KJV "for his cause" means on his account. The manuscripts also differ at the end of the verse: some read "our care for you" and others "your care for us," so Paul is either showing the Corinthians how much he cares for them or giving them a chance to see how much they care for him.

7:13

KJV "his spirit was refreshed" uses a word meaning given rest, the relief of a traveler or a laborer stopping to catch his breath.

7:14

Boasting is not automatically a vice in Paul's vocabulary; it means speaking proudly and openly about someone. He had staked his own credibility on the Corinthians in front of Titus before Titus ever met them.

7:15

KJV "inward affection" translates splanchna, literally the inner organs, which Greek speakers treated as the seat of strong feeling much as English uses "heart." "Fear and trembling" was a set phrase for anxious, deferential eagerness to do the right thing, not terror.