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2Co_7:10. Ground assigned for ἵνα ἐν μηδ . ζημιωθ . ἐξ ἡμῶν : for godly sadness works repentance unto salvation unregretted, i.e. unto the Messianic salvation, the attainment of which is not regretted. The connection of ἀμεταμέλ . with σωτηρίαν is held by Augustine and other Latin Fathers, following the Vulgate, which has stabilem,[260] and among modern expositors by Fritzsche, Billroth (yet doubtfully), Schrader, de Wette, Ewald; decidedly by Castalio also, but undecidedly by Erasmus, Annot. The more common connection is with μετάνοιαν , so as to give the antanaclasis poenitentiam non poenitendam (for similar collocations see Wetstein, comp. Pliny, Ep. vii. 10); οὐδεὶς γὰρ ἑαυτοῦ καταγνώσεται , ἐὰν λυπηθῇ ἐφʼ ἁμαρτίᾳ , ἐὰν πενθήσῃ καὶ ἑαυτὸν συντρίψῃ , Chrysostom. But for such an antanaclasis Paul would not have chosen an adjective from quite a different root, but ἀμετανόητον (Lucian, Oba_1:11, comp. also Rom_2:5), which is also the reading[261] of some minor authorities. And if ἈΜΕΤΑΜΈΛ . were to belong to ΜΕΤΆΝΟΙΑΝ , it would stand immediately by its side, so as to make ΕἸς ΣΩΤΗΡΊΑΝ appear as the result throwing light upon ἈΜΕΤΑΜΈΛ . When placed after ΕἸς ΣΩΤΗΡΊΑΝ , ἈΜΕΤΑΜΈΛ . is an epithet of ΜΕΤΆΝΟΙΑΝ no longer suitable, insipid, and halting. Olshausen and Hofmann wrongly object that the epithet is not suitable to the idea of salvation, the absolute good. It expresses by way of litotes the eternal satisfaction of the ΣΩΤΗΡΊΑ , and is selected with a glance back to what was said in 2Co_7:8. If the apostle, namely, has caused a sadness which works a contrition unto a salvation exposed to no regret, it is obvious how this step of his can no longer give rise to any regret in his case, but can only make him joyful. Comp. on the expression itself, Rom_11:29, and especially Plato, Tim. p. 59 D: ἀμεταμέλητον ἡδονὴν κτᾶται , Legg. ix. p. 866 E; Polyb. xxi. 9. 11; Plutarch, Mor. p. 137 B; Socrates in Stob. 101, p. 552; Clem. Cor. I. 2.
ἡ δὲ τοῦ κόσμον λύπη ] i.e. the sadness, however, which is felt by the world, by the ungodly-minded unbelievers. This is certainly λύπν διὰ χρήματα , διὰ δόξαν , διὰ τὸν ἀπελθόντα κ . τ . λ . (Chrysostom), in so far, namely, as the loss of outward advantage in and for itself determines the sadness,[262] but the genitive τοῦ κόσμου is the genitivus subjecti, and we must retain as the characteristic of this λύπη that it is not κατὰ θεόν (because it cannot be determined by the knowledge of God and of His will); hence, instead of working repentance unto salvation, it works despondency, despair, exasperation, obduracy, etc., unto death. Even ΔΙᾺ ΧΡΉΜΑΤΑ Κ . Τ . Λ . there may be a sadness ΚΑΤᾺ ΘΕΌΝ .
ΘΆΝΑΤΟΝ ] i.e. not generally: “all that is embraced in a state of things not founded on God” (Hofmann), but, as the opposite of that unregretted σωτηρία , eternal death, the Messianic ἀπώλεια ; comp. 2Co_2:16. Calovius says aptly: “quia mundus dolet, cum affligitur, solatii ex verbo Dei expers ac fide destitutus.” The exposition of vexing oneself to death (Theodoret), or the reference made by Grotius, Rosenmüller, and others to fatal diseases and suicide, is quite at variance with the context; and Sir_38:18 has no bearing here. Even the ethical view (moral ruin through despair or new sins, de Wette, comp. Neander) is not in keeping with the contrast to σωτηρία ; besides, Paul never uses ΘΆΝΑΤΟς of ethical death. See on Rom_5:12.
Regarding the difference between ἐργάζεται and ΚΑΤΕΡΓΆΖ . (bring to pass), see on Rom_1:27; van Hengel, ad Rom_2:10.
[260] According to the reading ἀμετάβλητον , which Origen has (once), but before εἰς σωτηρ .
[261] And which (in opposition to Osiander) would have expressed the idea of something painful quite as well as ἀμεταμέλ .
[262] As this would have been the case also with the Corinthians, if they had grieved over the reproof only, and not over the sin. Comp. Elwert in the Wûrtemberg. Stud. IX. 1 p. 135 ff.