09.15.2015 New Testament: 2Co 7.8–9

To read the Bible in a year, read Second Corinthians 7 on September 15, In the year of our Lord 2015

By Don Ruhl

Paul loved the people to whom he wrote, but sometimes he had to rebuke them. You will see that he was sorry for having caused them grief, but he was glad to see them make the necessary changes,

For even if I made you sorry with my letter, I do not regret it; though I did regret it. For I perceive that the same epistle made you sorry, though only for a while. Now I rejoice, not that you were made sorry, but that your sorrow led to repentance. For you were made sorry in a godly manner, that you might suffer loss from us in nothing (2 Corinthians 7.8–9). 

Paul regretted that he had to make them sorry for something that they had done, but then again, he did not regret the fact that their sorrow made them repent. They changed the way they operated as a church. And that was a good thing.