"I rejoice, not because you were grieved, but because you were grieved into repenting. For you felt a godly grief, so that you suffered no loss through us. For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death." (2 Corinthians 7:9-10)
Justin Holcomb recently posted on Calvin's distinction between legal and evangelical repentance. James Torrance (in lectures I don't recommend) says that the section 3.3 of the Institutes dealing with this had a massive influence on him.
Curiously, the flavour of Calvin on repentance is certainly very different to that of Melanchthon. I may post on this again soon once I've thought about it a bit more. But before I do so I thought I may seek some thoughts from everyone. Any ideas on the difference between the two griefs that Paul describes?
Alternatively put, and using the example that was being batted around at the time of the Reformation, one may ask... what was the difference between the grief of Peter over his sin, and the grief of Judas over his? One led to salvation without regret, and the other to death. But why?
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