Joy and Comfort at the Return of Titus; Godly Sorrow (2 Cor. 7:2–8)

Saint Paul had begun to speak of this above (2 Cor 2:12, 13). But he had scarcely begun when he was taken up by the Spirit to contemplate the power and glory of the New Testament gospel. After setting forth all that the Spirit granted him to proclaim about this, he now returns to his interrupted discourse. It begins with verse 5; a) verses 2–4 present a transition discourse; verses 2 and 3 are as it were closer to what precedes, and verse 4 to what follows. In the discourse itself he speaks of how he was gladdened and comforted first b) by the arrival of Titus, verses 5–7; then c) by the effect produced in Corinth by the first epistle, verses 8–12; finally d) and by the reception Titus received in Corinth, verses 13–16.

2 Cor 7:2. Open your hearts to us. We have wronged no one, we have corrupted no one, we have cheated no one.

“Open your hearts to us.” He directly recalls the earlier word: “you are restricted in your own affections… be open” (2 Cor 6:12, 13). Theodoret writes: “Open your hearts” – he says to those who were restrictive; he said this earlier too: “you also be open.” Saint Chrysostom says: “He did not say: love us, but as if mollifying them, says: ‘open your hearts to us.’ Earlier he said: ‘you are restricted in your own affections,’ and here he expresses it more clearly with the words: ‘open your hearts to us.’ And again he draws them to himself; for nothing inclines toward love more than when the lover suggests to the beloved that he greatly desires his love.” Theophylact directly paraphrases this word applying it to what was said earlier: “receive us with wider hearts, and may we not be restricted in you.” Oecumenius recalls the thought of Blessed Photius, according to which the Apostle asks them to receive not only himself, but rather his word and teaching. This thought does not contradict the flow of discourse.

“We have wronged no one, we have corrupted no one, we have cheated no one.” “By this he points to false apostles” (Saint Chrysostom). Such, he says, who do all this to you, you receive (he points to this below (2 Cor 11:20)); so much the more should you receive us, who have done nothing of the sort to you. Saint Paul could have pointed to the good they received from him, first spiritually and then materially, for humble Christian life could not fail to have influence on external conditions as well. But this could not have been as powerful as this juxtaposition of the Corinthians’ relation to himself with their relation to others, from whom they received no good but only harm. “He is silent about his own benefactions, but by another method both softens and at the same time strengthens his word. He does not say: we have done such and such benefactions for you, but as it were: even if we had done no benefaction for you whatsoever, you should not have fled from us, for you cannot accuse us in anything, great or small” (Saint Chrysostom).

“We have wronged no one,” ηδικησαμεν, we have not wronged anyone in any respect; we lived a year and a half in your midst quietly, peacefully, honorably; not only in deed but in word no one was wronged or insulted by us. “We have corrupted no one,” we corrupted no one by a bad example, we have not led anyone astray by evil teaching: “we did not use flattering words, disguising falsehood” (Theodoret); “we did not lead anyone into error, corrupting the mind with impious doctrines” (Theophylact); “we did not deceive or corrupt anyone’s mind by seducing simplicity, as the serpent deceived Eve with his cunning” (Saint Chrysostom). “We have cheated no one,” – we have not taken advantage of anyone. “We did not extort anything from anyone by acting deceitfully” (Saint Chrysostom); “we did not make merchandise of the gospel, turning it into a means of enrichment” (Oecumenius, Theophylact).

These words stand in Saint Paul without explanatory additions, so there is no need to depart from their direct meaning. The reason why this is said is less likely to be that ill-wishers of Saint Paul were spreading such judgments about him, but rather, as Saint Chrysostom indicated, that some false teachers were actually so acting among the Corinthians – that is, both cheating, corrupting minds with falsehood, leaving a bad example, and wronging some, conducting themselves arrogantly, which could not help but include insults.

One cannot but note what high praise it is for a pastor if he can speak such words before the face of his entire flock. Were only the prophet Samuel and Saint Paul such?! – No; at every age God’s eye truly sees not seven, but several times seven thousand pastoral souls who have not bent the knee before falsehood, flattery, wrongdoing and mammon.

2 Cor 7:3. I do not say this to condemn you; for I have said before that you are in our hearts, to die together and to live together.

“Feeling that what he said might seem harsh, he again softens his word” (St. Chrysostom). He averts anxiety, saying: “not to condemn” (κατακρισις) you “do I speak.” Do not fear; I am not calling down punishment from heaven. I love you so much that I cannot live without you. But instead of simply saying: I love you strongly, he expressed it in other strong words, when he said: “our hearts are enlarged. You are not restricted in us.” (2 Cor. 6:11, 12). To say you are ready both to die and to live together is to say: I have embraced you with broad love and will never part from you. St. Chrysostom says: “Truly very great is such love, that being even despised by them, I am ready both to die and live together. ‘You are in my hearts’; but such that we are ready with you to live and die. Neither death nor life, in themselves, is important, but to be where you are; with you death is better than life, and life better than death.”

2 Cor. 7:4. I have great confidence in you, I have great pride in you, I am filled with comfort, I am overflowing with joy in “spite of all our affliction.”

These words express what burst from the Apostle’s soul after Titus told him how he was received in Corinth and what effect the Apostle’s letter produced on those believers there. For they repented of their shortcomings, grieved over them, and firmly resolved to correct everything according to the Apostle’s instructions, and testified their love and deep respect for him. Bringing all this to mind, the Apostle says: “I have great confidence in you.” By your deeds you have shown that I can speak boldly to you in full assurance that you will obey me in all things. With the previous this discourse is tied thus: there he expressed that he loves them with a strong love, and here it is as if he explains: why shouldn’t I love you?

“I have great confidence in you.” Now I see that I can rely on you in all things. You have shown that you regard me as disciples regard a teacher, as children regard a father. This heartens me to labor among you and for you: I know that it will not be fruitless.

“I have great pride in you.” You have given me much reason to praise and boast of you. I always boast of you to others, but now you have given me fresh cause to do so and have shown much that is praiseworthy beyond your former praiseworthy qualities. “I am filled with comfort.” I was grieving, but as soon as Titus came and told me about you, my sorrow departed and I am filled with comfort. “What comfort? That which I obtained from you; by correcting yourselves, you comforted me with your deeds” (St. John Chrysostom). “I am overflowing with joy” “in spite of all our affliction.” “Again he shows the intensity of his love toward them. So insatiable was it! For even a small mutual love from those we love brings great joy, because of our strong love for them. In speaking of comfort, he said: ‘I am filled,’ that is, I received what was owed; but in speaking of joy, he said: ‘I am overflowing,’ that is, I was very fearful for you, but you have fully satisfied and comforted me, and not only taken away reason for sorrow but also given me abundant joy. In expressing how great is this joy, he not only states: ‘I am overflowing with joy,’ but also because he: ‘in spite of all our affliction’ (επι παση). Such is the delight given to us, that it was not darkened even by great sorrow, but on the contrary, by the excess of its magnitude, it overcame all the sorrows that befell us and does not allow us to feel them.” (St. John Chrysostom).

2 Cor. 7:5. For when we came to Macedonia, our flesh had no rest, but we were afflicted in every way—conflicts without and fears within.

“In mentioning sorrow above, he now tells what was the sorrow and presents it as greater, wishing to show how great was the comfort and joy which they brought, which dissipated and such sorrow.” (St. John Chrysostom). “For when we came to Macedonia”; in the Greek, “for also when we came.” Through “for” the discourse is connected with the immediately preceding, and through “also” with what was said in (2 Cor. 2:12, 13). There it was said: in Troas I had no rest in my spirit. Here it is said: but also when I came to Macedonia, “our flesh had no rest.” There “spirit,” here “flesh,” it cannot be thought that they are used with special meaning, but as a descriptive addition to the person speaking. Both there and here I had no rest. “But we were afflicted in every way”—it is necessary to supply “were.” Sorrows surrounded us from all sides, or in all respects. From what sides and in what respects, the words indicate: “conflicts without” and “fears within.” And what do they mean? St. John Chrysostom says: “‘Conflicts without,’ that is, from unbelievers; ‘fears within,’ that is, for the weak in faith, lest they be drawn into errors, which happened not only among the Corinthians but among others too.” Oecumenius and Theophylact understand “conflicts without” also as from unbelievers, which Oecumenius usually calls external. “And fears within”—they refer to believers, but not in one sense: Oecumenius—“fears for the believers, lest sufferings crush them,” and Theophylact—for the weak believers, “lest false brothers turn them from the right path.” Theodoret writes: “Not only did conflict with opponents oppress us (‘conflicts without’), but the care for the weak also exhausted, because I feared their change to worse.”

2 Cor. 7:6. But God, who comforts the humble, comforted us by the coming of Titus.

The sorrow and anxiety, as he said above (2 Cor. 2:12, 13), began because Titus was so long in returning. And he places the beginning of comfort in Titus’s arrival. Before he had told him anything, I was already comforted by his arrival alone. It seemed Paul, from long waiting, had given up hope of ever seeing him, so he counts his arrival as if a message from heaven. It is proper for one living in God to refer every event, both great and small, to God, as it truly depends on Him. Therefore the Apostle, recognizing in Titus’s arrival God’s great mercy and, looking at it from the face of God’s providence, says: God, who comforts the humble, those who are humble and stricken with sorrow and sorrows, comforted us by the coming of Titus. But of course, it was not only this arrival that so delighted the Apostle, that he immediately forgot all the weight on his soul—but rather what Titus brought. For this reason he continues:

2 Cor. 7:7. And not only by his coming, but also by the comfort he himself had received about you, in telling us about your longing, your sorrow, your zeal for me, so that I rejoiced even more.

“Returning, he brought us to rapture by his joy when he told us such pleasant things about you.” (St. John Chrysostom). What seemed to be expected is that the Apostle would say: comforted by the comfort which he brought us; but he says: comforted by the comfort which Titus himself had received about you. It must be supposed that the holy Titus, setting out for Corinth, had no hope of finding there what he found. The Apostle sent him there in anxiety, and Titus greatly desired that the Corinthians would prove themselves such in relation to the Apostle as the Apostle himself desired them to be. Since Titus greatly desired this, he was also afraid, lest something contrary to his expectation and desire should happen there. Therefore, when he saw that his reception of the epistle and of himself exceeded his very expectation, he was exceedingly gladdened and moved; comforted that the Corinthians proved to be such, and that this would very much gladden and comfort the Apostle. In joy, he could not but express this in his glance and first words. The Apostle wishes to say: and the arrival delighted me, but I also saw in his eyes that he was comforted by what he found among you. This is the second moment of rejoicing. And when he, he says, told me that among you he found, then I even more rejoiced. What did he find? “Your longing,”—επιποθησιν, a warm disposition toward the Apostle. “Your sorrow,”—οδυρμον, painful compunction and sorrow that by their shortcomings they so troubled him. “Your zeal for me,” a resolve to zealously correct all that was amiss, to drive out the incestuous man and make those who reviled the Apostle keep silent.

St. John Chrysostom says: “‘He was comforted about you,’ says Titus. What comforted him? Your virtue, your correction. Therefore he adds: ‘telling us about your longing, your sorrow, your zeal for me.’ This is what comforted and delighted Titus! See—and he represents Titus as very well disposed toward the Corinthians, because he counts their good reputation for his own comfort and, arriving, boasts of it before Paul as his own blessing. And see with what fervor the Apostle expresses this: ‘your longing, your sorrow, your zeal for me.’ For they ought to have wept and sorrowed that the blessed Paul had become so angry with them and was away from them so long. Therefore he said not simply: tears but ‘sorrow,’ and not simply—longing but ‘great longing,’—επιποθησιν; and not irritation (in the sense: my spirit was stirred), but zeal—ζηλον,—and zeal for the Apostle both against the incestuous man and against those who condemned Paul. Having received my letter, he says, you were inflamed and burned with zeal. He ‘overflows with joy, is filled with comfort,’ because he deeply moved them. And it seems to me that this was said not only for comfort for what was before, but also for greater awakening of those who fulfilled what was required. For I think that some of those who were subject to the former reproofs did not deserve such praise; but he does not separate them; rather, he praises all together and reproaches, leaving it to the conscience of the listeners to choose for each their own. And thus both the reproofs became bearable, and the praises awakened them to greater zeal.”

2 Cor. 7:8. For even if I made you sad with my letter, I do not regret it; although I did regret it, for I see that that letter grieved you, though only for a while.

“For,”—οτι,—because. He said above that when Titus told him all that was in Corinth, he became very gladdened by it. But someone could think: how so? In those there is bitter weeping—οδυρμος—and he rejoices? The Apostle explains now how this comes about: they weep and he rejoices. I rejoice not in the fact that you are saddened, but in what came from it—your repentance and correction. But the explanation itself he expounds somewhat at length, beginning with what was on his mind while he did not receive word of the effect of the letter. St. John Chrysostom says: “Since the Corinthians have cleared themselves of their sin, and therefore it was now possible to speak with them more gently, the Apostle excuses himself for the sternness of his former letter and shows its usefulness. He did the same above, saying: ‘for out of much affliction and anguish of heart I wrote to you, not so that you would be sorrowful, but that you might know the love which I have in abundance for you’ (2 Cor. 2:4). He does the same here, but expresses it at greater length.”

For, he says, although I “made you sad”—ελυπησα, afflicted, you “with my letter”—εν τγ επιςολη, by the letter, by the words of the first letter; yet “I do not regret it”—ου μεταμελομαι,—I do not regret that I caused you sadness, “although I did regret it,” I did regret or began to regret. When? While Titus was delayed. He wrote the stern and threatening letter and could not but imagine that it would bring sorrow to the Corinthians. He wrote this way because it was necessary. But later, when he saw that Titus was delayed, he rightly supposed that the letter had made matters worse, and so he began to grieve and regret that he wrote so sternly. Concerning this he now says: although I did regret, or began to regret, but now I do not regret, seeing the good fruit of your sadness.

St. John Chrysostom, however, gives this word: “although I did regret it” such a sense: although I should have regretted it, because I wrote too harshly, beyond what was proper, but I do not regret it because of the benefit from it. Here are his words: “even if what I had written was such that it should have caused me to regret that I had written too harshly, beyond the measure of proper rebuke and required repentance from me, yet great benefit resulted from it does not allow me to regret. He said this not because in fact he exceeded the measure in his rebuke, but to increase the praise of the Corinthians, showing: you are so humble and obedient that however harshly I write, you accept it with contrition and readiness to correct everything; so that I have only to boast of you.” Doesn’t this understanding fit the course of the discourse better?

“For I see that that letter grieved you, though only for a while.” I should regret, he says. Why? Because I see that the letter saddened you, even if only briefly. Seeing this, I should regret, but I do not regret: “for the sadness was brief, but the benefit is eternal.” (St. John Chrysostom). Therefore, he continues: