Commentaries:
Adam Clarke
For godly sorrow - That which has the breach of God' s holy law for its object.
Worketh repentance - A thorough change of mind unto salvation, because the person who feels it cannot rest till he finds pardon through the mercy of God.
But the sorrow of the world worketh death - Sorrow for lost goods, lost friends, death of relatives, etc., when it is poignant and deep, produces diseases, increases those that already exist, and often leads men to lay desperate hands on themselves. This sorrow leads to destruction, the other leads to salvation; the one leads to heaven, the other to hell.
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