Repentance Unto Salvation

“Godly sorrow worketh repentance unto salvation,

not to be repented of.” (2 Cor. 7:10)

This verse has been greatly misunderstood by many because of the apostle’s use of the term ‘Godly sorrow’ in connection with repentance unto salvation. Many wrongly assume that sorrow over sin is repentance. However, the word means a change of mind. The apostle defined it as a change of mind toward God, even FAITH toward the LORD Jesus Christ, Acts 20:21. Yes, those who repent have sorrow over their sinfulness but it is ‘UNTO salvation’ or Godward or Christward and not just remorse.

Many presume that by preaching the law with its curses and terrors and making people sorry for their sins they can affect change in their hearers and produce repentance. The Scriptures tell us that “Judas thus repented himself, and said, I have sinned...” (Matthew 27:3-5) He may have been sorry but it wasn’t Godly sorrow. He was sorrowful for his actions and yet it wasn’t a God-produced change of heart and therefore it was not unto salvation, which God alone can grant, 2 Timothy 2:25. His repentance was actually unto damnation. “He went out and hanged himself.” Matthew 27:5.

What then is Godly sorrow? It springs from God, it is affected by God, it is directed to Him in preparation for turning the heart to Christ as the Redeemer and Savior. When God pierces the heart by His Spirit the sinner will cry out like David: “Against thee only have I sinned.” (Psalm 51:4) The heart is pierced to the very quick with anguish for having sinned against God and His Christ, Acts 2:37. Notice it is a sorrow over sinning against a gracious pardoning God in Christ. This is the sorrow of Faith. It is grateful to God for His pardoning justifying Grace through the work of the LORD Jesus.

Faith and repentance are synonymous. The Spirit causes the soul to change its mind from the deception of sin and to see Christ as the only Hope. The soul sees the sinfulness of its sin, looks to the Savior and cries as Thomas: “My LORD, and my God...” (John 20:28) at the sight of the nail prints of the Savior.

It is “...not to be repented of.” How could the soul have been so foolish to think that the sin was of greater value than the Savior Who came to put it away? This repentance is unto salvation. It brings the soul to Christ the Crucified One and to never turn away. “There is salvation in him and no other.” (Acts 4:12) How could any that God Himself has chosen and for whom Christ came and paid their sin debt, ever turn away from that work that God has done for them? “LORD, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life.” (John 6:68)