NOTES for Col 2:13-20
In our everyday thinking, we suppose that repentance arises from sorrow over the lawlessness we have committed. But in today’s reading the apostle Paul says something very important: godly sorrow produces irrevocable repentance leading to salvation (in the Synodal translation: “godly sorrow produces unchanging repentance for salvation”). For this irrevocable, once-for-all change of mind to take place (the literal meaning of the Greek word usually translated as “repentance”), one must long for God, grieve at being separated from Him, and desire to meet Him. This alone bears fruit. This alone makes us capable of living according to truth and the commandments. All our striving for self-improvement is commendable, but fruitless.