Charles Ellicott Commentary 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, yea 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." — 2 Corinthians 7:11 (ASV)

That you sorrowed in a godly way.—Better, as before, that you sorrowed according to the will of God.

The series of emotional responses that follow represent the Apostle’s estimate of what he had heard from Titus. This estimate included the following points:

1. Earnestness, where there had been indifference to evil, or even approval of it (1 Corinthians 5:2);
2. The vindication of their conduct, which they had sent through Titus (their earnestness being shown in this);
3. Their stern “indignation” against the offender (their earnestness also being shown in this);
4. Their “fear,” partly of the supernatural chastisement which St. Paul had threatened, partly of the judgment of God, which was against such things;
5. The longing to have him once more among them, which mingled with their fear;
6. Their new “zeal” for the law of purity;
7. Their actual vengeance, that is, their sentence of condemnation passed upon the offender.

To be clear in this matter.—Literally, in the matter, possibly with exclusive reference to the sin condemned in 1 Corinthians 5:1–5, but possibly also, as in 1 Thessalonians 4:6, as a euphemistic expression for the sin of impurity generally.