2 Corinthians 7:11

For behold this selfsame thing, that ye were made sorry after a godly sort, what earnest care it wrought in you, and what clearing of yourselves, yea what indignation, yea what fear, yea what longing, yea what zeal, yea what avenging! In everything ye approved yourselves to be pure in the matter.

"We cannot be certain of the precise significance in the given circumstances of each of the different aspects of the Corinthians' response to Paul's letter."[12] Rather than a speculative attempt to explain all of those wonderful results of their repentance in response to apostolic instruction, this writer favors the consideration of this exultant and triumphant exclamation of Paul as an exuberant description of the victory that always appears when people accept the word of God and obey it.

Clearing of yourselves ... suggests that their wholehearted repentance and prayers had resulted in their complete forgiveness.

What indignation ... is the indignation against sin which every sincere Christian manifests.

What fear ... refers to the holy fear of God and reverence for his sacred word.

Yea what longing ... is a reference to that hungering and thirsting after righteousness, mentioned by the Saviour in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:6).

Yea what zeal ... True repentance always results in the multiplication of Christian works; and the conversion of the Corinthians had inspired all of them to redoubled participation in the work of the Lord.

Yea what avenging ... There is a hint in this that the Corinthians had turned upon their false teachers with the full anger and determination of men aroused to do God's will and to remove the influence of all persons standing in the way of it. It could be also that Paul felt that their righteous "about face" had in a certain sense avenged him of his own personal enemies and detractors in their city. Certainly, it is wrong to import any vindictiveness into this remark.

Ye approved yourselves to be pure in the matter ... This has reference to some special event, perfectly known to both Paul and the Corinthians, but hidden as far as the people of all subsequent generations are concerned. We should beware of the gross speculative comments which tell all about what lay behind these words. Hughes' pertinent comment is:

Having taken action, the past was put right and they were in a state of purity so far as the affair (all of that immorality mentioned in the first epistle) was concerned. There is no need for Paul to specify any details, since it is all too familiar to them. Hence he just refers to it as "the matter," or "the affair."[13]

All speculation on this should be rejected, because Paul who knew all of the details covered them here; and those commentators who tell all about it are guilty, not merely of going beyond what is written, but of dishonoring the apostolic reticence as well. Why should they who DO NOT KNOW tell us what Paul who DID KNOW refused to tell?

[12] Philip E. Hughes, op. cit., p. 274.

[13] Ibid., p. 275.