How is this wish caused? Hitherto, we have met no reference in the NT to the 'godly sorrow' for sin emphasized by Ezekiel. In converts from heathenism there might be fear at a threatened catastrophe (of. the Philippian jailer) but not sorrow. In one passage, however, St. Paul is led to develop very clearly the influence of sorrow for sin on believers. He is referring to the effect of his previous sharp rebuke on theCorinthian Church, which hitherto had refused to mourn for the pres- ence of sin within its borders (1 Co 5-; cf. 12^). He does not now regret (in.eraijA'Ketrdai., not iieravoelv in this case) the pain he had caused them, since this pain was experienced in the way of God (xard Bibv) rather than in the way of the world, and this worked not death (cf. the young man's sorrow in Mt 19-^) but repentance, arousing in them indigna- tion, fear, longing, and a passionate desire to set themselves right. The result of such sorrow in the community is seen in the punishment inflicted on the guilty member ; and once this has brought repentance to him also, he must be comforted by his fellow-believers, lest he be overwhelmed by his pain. If, on the other hand, this punishment is ineffectual, more drastic treatment from the Apostle will be needed (2 Co 13'-). At the same time, he knows that the sin of his converts and friends will cause a deep sorrow, a 'vicarious repentance,' in him (12-' , cf. Jer 8'*^-)-
One passage, denying the possibility of repent- ance to those who fall away after illumination (He 6' ; cf. 12") has occasioned great difficulty to inter- preters. With the theological questions raised by the verse we have no concern here ; repentance, however, is evidently used in its largest sense of an entire change of attitude, and the writer's meaning is that when a man has definitely relin- quished the fullest spiritual privileges, it is im- possible (for human agency) to enter on a process of making him anew (the expressions and the tenses used are noteworthy). Apart from this passage, however, the possibility that repentance may be for some men unattainable is never hinted at. Repentance in believers has a prominent place in the messages to the Seven Churches. There, it is expected that repentance will follow from the accusation and conviction of sin. If not, a sudden punishment in each case is to fall on both the guilty church and the sinners harboured in it (Rev 06. i6.';i 33^ etc). In the Apostolic Fathers, explicit references to this repentance are lacking. Even the letters of Ignatius, though addressed to churches with whom their writer had considerable fault to find, say nothing definite on the subject. Hermas is aware that this sorrow may be a blessing ; but he is more concerned to point out that, in general, sorrow may distress the Spirit which dwells in the Christian (Mand. X. iii. 1, 2). In the Apostolic Age, indeed, it would seem that Christians were so eager to enter into the new joy, that they would not stay to contemplate sorrow (Ac 2'"', Eph P ; if
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tliey groaned, it was for a fuller illumination, Ro 8"'). Tliis frame of mind finds constant expression in the Odes of Solomon ; in almost the only place wliere repentance and sorrow mi<;ht have occurred to the writer (xxxiii. , Christ's preachin}; in Hades), they are unuientioncd. As fur the licatheu, their sins had lieen overlooked (Ac 17""). Divine punish- ments for sin mij;ht well brim; sorrow to the evil- doer ( Ja 5', Kev O-'"- -' lO"- ", wliere the most drastic treatment meted out to the sinners in the worhl before the Parousia fails to produce repentance) ; but such sutl'crinf;s as come to the Christian are lifted up into the rapture of. communion with Christ (Col l^-", 1 P4").
These considerations may he thought hardly sufficient to exjilain the comparative silence of St. Paul. It may be added that he Wiis writinjj for believers, in whom repentance was an accomplished fact, his chief concern being to lead them on to re- ligious conceptions and levels of conduct of whose significance they could not have been aware when they first turned from dead works. Further, he does not lay great emphasis on the original and simple change of attitude in his converts. He rather analyzes what would seem to have been his own experience of it : the crushing weight of law ; the emergence of desire : the resultant sense of help- lessness ; and the deliverance wrought by the grace of God (Ro T" ; cf. I. A. Dorner, Srjstem of Chris- tian Ethics, Eng. tr., 1887, p. 364; the wretched- ness to which St. Paul here refers is not sorrow for sin, but the resulting sense of being torn in two) ; or else he describes its immediate consequences, in relation to Christ, under the figures of death and resurrection (Col 2™). Similarly, no reference is made to repentance in the Johannine Epistles or the Fourth Gospel. Its place is taken by the figures of the new birth ( Jn 3^ ; cf. also! P l'^) or the passage from darkness to light ( Jn 8'^, 1 Jn 2'), which are equally applicable to repentance and conversion.
For this comparative neglect in the NT a psycho- logical reason may perhaps be suggested. Repent- ance and conversion, unle.ss either is imperfect, must go together. They are two sides of the same process. In repentance, however, the emotional side of the process is more prominent ; but it is questionable whether a past emotion is ever re- called. The memory of its occurrence can of course be retained, and an appropriate stimulus may arouse a similar emotion. But it may be that such a stimulus never occurs. This would be the case ■with the normal Christian. Sorrow for sin becomes as much a thing of the past as sin itself. The emotions associated with repentance are only memories, and the forward look (Ph 3", He 12') and the preoccupation of the mind with the things of the Kingdom (Ph 4*) will prevent any morbid dwelling on an experience which can only be tem- porary and ought to be short-lived, just as, by these means, any desire for a formal analysis of a past psychosis will be removed. St. Peter never refers, save by way of allusion, to his own repent- ance ; and the long description of the stages previ- ous to repentance and conversion in Augustine's Confessions and Bunyan's Grace Abounding wt.uld seem to be foreign to the spirit of the NT writers. They prefer to dilate on the consequences of the process (1 Co 6", Tit 3=).