Charles Ellicott Commentary 2 Corinthians 7:9

"I now rejoice, not that ye were made sorry, but that ye were made sorry unto repentance; for ye were made sorry after a godly sort, that ye might suffer loss by us in nothing." — 2 Corinthians 7:9 (ASV)

That ye sorrowed to repentance.—Here the true word for “repentance” is used in all its fullness of meaning. (See Notes on Matthew 3:2; Matthew 3:8.) There is nothing in the Greek corresponding to the variation “ye sorrowed” and “were made sorry,” as the same word is used in both clauses.

After a godly manner.—The English is but a feeble equivalent for the Greek. Literally, according to God—i.e. (as may be seen by comparing the sense of the same or like phrases in Romans 8:27; Ephesians 4:24; Colossians 2:8), after His will and purpose. “God allowed you,” he tells them, “to be grieved so that you might sustain no loss, as you might have done if we had held our peace.”