2 Corinthians 12:11

I am become a fool in glorying; ye have compelled me: for I ought to have been commended of you: for in nothing am I behind the very chiefest apostles, though I be nothing. IN GLORYING. Omitted in A B Delta G 'Aleph (') f g, Vulgate. YE - emphatic. 'It is YE who have compelled me; for I ought to have been commended by you,' instead of having to commend myself. AM I BEHIND - rather [ hustereesa (G5302)], 'was I behind' when with you? THE VERY CHIEFEST - rather, as in 2 Corinthians 11:5, 'those overmuch apostles.' THOUGH I BE NOTHING - in myself (1 Corinthians 15:9)....

11._I have become a fool _Hitherto he had, by various apologies, solicited their forgiveness for what was contrary to his own custom and manner of acting, and contrary, also, to propriety, and what was due to his office as an Apostle — the publishing of his own praises. _Now, _instead of soliciting, he upbraids, throwing the blame upon the Corinthians, who ought to have been beforehand in this. (916) For when the false Apostles calumniated Paul, they should have set themselves vigorously in opposition to them, and should have faithfully borne the testimony that was due to his excellences. He chides them, however, thus early, lest those, who were unfavorably disposed towards them, should put a wrong construction upon the defense which he brought forward, in consequence of his being constrained to it by their ingratitude, (917) or should persist in calumniating him....

11-21 We owe it to good men, to stand up in the defence of their reputation; and we are under special obligations to those from whom we have received benefit, especially spiritual benefit, to own them as instruments in God's hand of good to us. Here is an account of the apostle's behaviour and kind intentions; in which see the character of a faithful minister of the gospel. This was his great aim and design, to do good. Here are noticed several sins commonly found among professors of religion. Falls and misdeeds are humbling to a minister; and God sometimes takes this way to humble those who might be tempted to be lifted up. These vast verses show to what excesses the false teachers had drawn aside their deluded followers. How grievous it is that such evils should be found among professors of the gospel! Yet thus it is, and has been too often, and it was so even in the days of the apostl...

Verse 2 Corinthians 12:11. _I AM BECOME A FOOL IN GLORYING_] It is not the part of a _wise_ or _gracious_ man to _boast_; but _ye have compelled_ _me_-I have been obliged to do it, in order to vindicate the cause of God. _I OUGHT TO HAVE BEEN COMMENDED OF YOU_] You should have vindicated both myself and my ministry against the detractors that are among you. _THE VERY CHIEFEST APOSTLES_] See 2 Corinthians 11:1. _THOUGH I BE NOTHING._] Though I have been thus _set at nought_ by your false apostle; and though, in consequence of what he has said, some of you have been ready to consider me _as nothing_-what we call _good for nothing_. This must be the m

I AM BECOME A FOOL IN GLORYING - The meaning of this expression I take to be this. “I have been led along in speaking of myself until I admit I appear foolish in this kind of boasting. It is folly to do it, and I would not have entered on it unless I had been driven to it by my circumstances and the necessity which was imposed on me of speaking of myself.” Paul doubtless desired that what he had said of himself should not be regarded as an example for others to follow. Religion repressed all vain boasting and self-exultation; and to prevent others from falling into a habit of boasting, and then pleading his example as an apology, he is careful to say that he regarded it as folly; and that he would by no means have done it if the circumstances of the case had not constrained him. If, anyone, therefore, is disposed to imitate Paul in speaking of himself and what he has done, let him do it...

EXPOSITION The revelations vouchsafed to him (2 Corinthians 12:1). The counteracting "thorn in the flesh" (2 Corinthians 12:7). One more apology for glorying (2 Corinthians 12:11, 2 Corinthians 12:12). His disinterestedness (2 Corinthians 12:13). Indignant refutation of the charge that he had made gain of them through the agency of subordinates (2 Corinthians 12:16)

I AM BECOME A FOOL IN GLORYING,.... This is either to be understood conditionally, if he had acted as a fool in commending himself, or was to be reckoned and called so by others, for glorying of himself, his visions and revelations; or as an ironical concession, allowing himself to be a fool for so doing, as he knew he should be traduced by his enemies; which concession he makes with a view to remove the blame from himself, and cast it upon the Corinthians: ye have compelled me: they were not only the occasion of his glorying, but they had forced him to it by their conduct; for he was obliged either to take this method for the vindication of his character, and preserve his future usefulness, or else to suffer the false apostles to triumph over him, to the great detriment of the Gospel, and of this church at Corinth particularly; whereas both might have been prevented, had they acted the...

3. REVELATION IN WHICH HE MIGHT GLORY. HIS APOSTLESHIP. CHAPTER 12 _ 1. Caught up to the Third Heaven. (2 Corinthians 12:1)_ 2. The Thorn in the Flesh. (2 Corinthians 12:7) 3. The Marks of His Apostleship. (2 Corinthians 12:11) 4. His Continued Deep Concern. (2 Corinthians 12:16 .) In the previous chapter the apostle gloried in that which in the eyes of man has no glory at all. From the ignominious experience of being let down in a basket he turns to another experience in which he was caught into the third heaven. “I will come to visions

RETROSPECT OF THE BOASTING. This paragraph is marked by rapid oscillation of feeling. Now that he has made and proved his claim, the same doubt seizes him as when he began (2 Corinthians 11:1; 2 Corinthians 11:16). Has he not been foolish? It was the duty of the Corinthians to testify to his legitimate authority. And they had quite sufficient ground for doing so in what they had seen (2 Corinthians 12:12; _cf._ 2 Corinthians 12:6), the signs of an apostle (_cf._ Acts 2:22 *), wrought by Paul. Corinth h

THE THORN AND THE GRACE (2 Corinthians 12:1-10)...