II. CORINTHIANS V, 10. 183

is a change of views, feelings and purposes, resulting in a change of life. Godly sorrow icorketh repentance, i. e. that sorrow on account of sin, which arises from proper apprehen- sions of God and of our relation to him, necessarily leads to that entire change in the inward life which is expressed by the word repentance, and which is connected with salvation. It is not the ground of our salvation ; but it is a part of it and a necessary condition of it. Those who repent are saved ; the impenitent perish. Repentance therefore is unto salvation, Comp. Acts 11, 18. It is that inward change in which salva- tion largely consists. Never to he repented of. This may be- long either to the repentance or to salvation. If to the latter, the word a/x^TafjiiXrfTos maybe taken in the sense o^ unchange- able. See Rom. 11, 29. So the Yulgate explains it, ad salutem stabilem ; or it may mean not to he regretted. Repentance leads to a salvation which no one ever will regret. So Luther and many of the moderns. The position of the words is in favour of connecting " not to be repented of" with " salva- tion." Had Paul intended the other connection, he would have probably said cts /xcravotai/ d/xeravoTyTov, and not have chosen (djacTa/xcXr/Tov) a word of an entirely diiferent root. Still, as " not to be repented of" seems to be an unsuitable epi- thet when applied to salvation, the majority of commentators prefer the other connection, and consider the apostle as desig- nating true repentance as that which no one will regret not- withstanding the sorrow w^ith which it is attended. But the sorrow of the icorld worheth death. By the sorrow of the world is not meant worldly sorrow, i. e. sorrow arising out of worldly considerations, but the sorrow of men of the world. In other words, koct/xov is the genitive of the subject, not a qualifying genitive. ^' The world " means men, the mass of mankind as distinguished from the church. 1 Cor. 1, 20. Gal. 4, 3. John 7, 7. 14, 7. &c. What therefore the apostle means is the sorrow of unrenewed men, the sorrow of the unsanctified heart. Of this sorrow, as opposed to godly sorrow, he says, it works deaths not physical death, nor specifically eternal death as opposed to salvation, but evil in the general sense of the word. The effects of godly sorrow are salutary ; the effects of worldly sorrow (the sorrow of worldly men) are evil. It is a great mistake to suppose that the natural tendency of pain and sorrow is to good. They tend rather to excite re- bellion against God and all evil feelings. It is only when they are sanctified, i. e. when they are experienced by the holy, and