“For though I made you sorry with a letter, I do not repent, though I did repent: for I perceive that the same epistle hath made you sorry, though it were but for a season.”
Even if I caused you sorrow by my letter, I do not regret it. Though I did regret it — I see that my letter hurt you, but only for a little while — Paul's severe letter caused lypē (sorrow), which he initially regretted but now affirms. The pain was temporary (pros hōran, for a moment) and redemptive.
Church Fathers on 2 Corinthians 7:8
He goes on to apologize for his Epistle, when, (the sin having been corrected,) to treat them tenderly was unattended with danger; and he shows the advantage of the thing. For he did this indeed even before, when he said, “For out of much affliction and anguish of heart, I wrote to you: not that you should be made sorry, but that you might know the love which I have toward you.” 2 Corinthians 2:4 And he does it also now, establishing this same point in more words. And he said…
Nicene & Post-Nicene / Ante-Nicene Fathers translations · public domain
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