Godly Sorrow for Sin Leads to Repentance
2 Corinthians 7:10
10 For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death.
Elder Bruce R. McConkie wrote:
“Godly sorrow . . . includes an honest, heartfelt contrition of soul, a contrition born of a broken heart and a contrite spirit. It presupposes a frank, personal acknowledgment that one’s acts have been evil in the sight of Him who is holy. There is no mental reservation in godly sorrow, no feeling that perhaps one’s sins are not so gross or serious after all. It is certainly more than regret either because the sin has been brought to light or because some preferential reward or status has been lost because of it [Mormon Doctrine, 2nd ed. (1966), 292].”
(Doctrinal New Testament Commentary, 3 vols. [1965–73], 2:430.)
