Getting Cleared After Getting Caught

 The Seven Points of Repentance from 2 Corinthians 7:10–11

Everyone gets caught. Moses warned the Israelites: “be sure your sin will find you out” (Numbers 32:23). The question isn’t, will you do wrong? Everyone does. The question isn’t, will you get caught? Again, everyone does. The question is, after you get caught, will you get cleared?

Paul addresses this universal experience of being caught in sin in 2 Corinthians 7. He acknowledges that no one in the world likes getting caught. The world has a brand of grief, just as the godly have a brand of grief (2 Corinthians 7:10). What separates the godly from the worldly is what their grief produces. That difference is repentance. Godly grief produces a repentance that actually restores the innocence when particular sins are committed. “At every point you have proved yourselves innocent in the matter” (2 Corinthians 7:11). Or as the King James has it, “ye have approved yourselves to be clear in the matter.” Obviously the Apostle of Justification by Faith Alone is not suggesting that particular sins committed compromise a believer’s innocent standing before God. Our standing is forever secure by our faith in Christ. Maybe we can call that positional innocence. In 2 Corinthians 7:11, Paul speaks to what we might call circumstantial innocence—that when believers are caught in sin, our repentance makes us innocent with respect to “the matter.” 

In context, the Corinthian church was caught rejecting Paul as the messenger God sent to them. Paul rebuked them by letter, and then the Corinthians repented. Paul helpfully records the seven “points” of repentance that proved the Corinthians’ “innocence” (2 Corinthians 7:11). Whenever we inevitably get caught in sin, these 7 Points of Repentance can serve as checkpoints on the way back to innocence:

Point 1 of Repentance: Earnestness

When we get caught in sin, worldly grief results in being unmoved over the sinfulness of sin. Paul saw something different in the Corinthians: they turned from lack of concern over their rejection of him, to an earnest or genuinely careful commitment to embrace him. Godly grief produces earnest commitment to change. The cleared sinner is the one who demonstrates diligence in turning from the desires, thoughts, actions, and circumstances that led to the offense.

Point 2 of Repentance: Eagerness

The Corinthians were cleared of offense partly because they were eager to clear themselves of all blame. This sort of grief comes from grace because the natural response to getting caught is to minimize blame. The worldly are only eager for the consequences from getting caught to end so they don’t have to deal with the discomfort of grief any longer. The repentant, however, don’t defend themselves, nor are they impatient with consequences. The repentant are eager to do whatever it takes to right their wrong. This point of repentance shows itself in an enthusiastic capacity to satisfy every expectation of righteousness and any reasonable expectation for reconciliation proposed by the offended party. 

Point 3 of Repentance: Indignation

It’s common to get angry when caught. Those with worldly grief are angry at the one correcting them. Those with godly grief are angry at themselves for sinning so terribly. Commenting on 2 Corinthians 7, John Calvin observed at least two emotions the godly experience over their own sin: one of them is grief, and the other, more intense emotion is indignation. This point of repentance shows that the godly feel about their own sin what God feels about all sin. Indignation over our offense will help us endure internal conviction, external accusation, and relational consequences. In other words, to get clear after getting caught, we may need to put off anger over how the one we hurt is handling us or over how much we have to do to rebuild the trust our sin broke. We must put on anger over how hateful our sin was to God and man.

Point 4 of Repentance: Fear

Some are afraid of what their sin might cost them, and they sometimes turn to manipulate those who catch them. Calvin explains another kind of fear for those who get cleared after getting caught: “Fear is what arises from an apprehension of divine judgment . . . for, alarmed by such a consideration, he begins to tremble.” Sin occurs when we momentarily forget to fear our holy, all-seeing God. Repentance occurs when we acknowledge Him rightly again. Apprehending God in His awe-ful glory, we are alarmed by the folly of willfully or even thoughtlessly offending Him in our sin against others. What the godly person fears more than facing the temporal consequences for sin is falling into the hands of God in unrepentance.

Point 5 of Repentance: Longing

Another feeling the repentant demonstrate is longing—a deep desire to right the wrong. It’s natural to long to be beyond the negative consequences that sins bring. But it’s a sign of godly grief and renewed innocence when offenders long for restoration of relationship with God and the people they hurt.

Point 6 of Repentance: Zeal

Zeal is an intense and personal passion to see something happen. Jesus had zeal for the name of God in the Temple (John 2:17). The Jews had zeal to stop losing converts to Paul’s Savior (translated “jealous” in Acts 17:5). The person who gets cleared after getting caught has zeal. The repentant are zealous—ardently seeking to please the Lord in their earnestness, eagerness, indignation, fear, longing, and punishment.

Point 7 of Repentance: Punishment

Members in the Corinthian church had taken part in rejecting God’s messenger. Paul learned the church had repented by committing to see the unrepentant punished. We’re not told what justice the Corinthians were enacting, but the most severe punishment a church can impose is excommunication—removal from the Lord’s table and membership. Worldly grief finds God’s commitment to punish sins repulsive. Godly grief turns from resisting consequences to insisting upon righteous ones.

Christians are sinners. Sinners sin. God exposes sin. Isn’t it wonderful that after Christians sin, we can return to an innocent behavior before God? We can actually right the wrong we regret. The 7 Points of Repentance spring from godly grief, which really does get us clear after we get caught.