2 Corinthians 12:11-13

Applebury's Comments

Admission of Foolishness
Scripture

2 Corinthians 12:11-13. I am become foolish: ye compelled me; for I ought to have been commended of you: for in nothing was I behind the very chiefest apostles, though I am nothing. 12 Truly the signs of an apostle were wrought among you in all patience, by signs and wonders and mighty works. 13 For what is there wherein ye were made inferior to the rest of the churches, except it be that I myself was not a burden to you? forgive me this wrong.

Comments

I am become foolish.Paul did not hesitate to remind the Corinthians that he should have been commended by them. Their very position in relation to Christ depended upon the gospel which he had preached to them. Through his preaching and their obedience he had become their father in Christ and they were his children. His credentials as an apostle were well known to them. Through them they had been given spiritual gifts involving the word of wisdom and knowledge as well as the powers by which these were proven to be the revelation from God. See 1 Corinthians 12:8-10. It is difficult to understand how they could have forgotten all this and gladly listened to the claims of false teachers in the absence of Paul.

though I am nothing.Paul readily admitted that in himself he was nothing. The favor that God had granted him had enabled him to do the work of an apostle. He had therefore refused to boast in anything save his own weakness. But though he was nothing, he maintained that he was in no way inferior to the super-apostles who had attacked him in order to gain power over those whom he had converted to Christ.

by signs and wonders and mighty works.These were the credentials of the apostles through which the Lord demonstrated His approval on their ministry. They were guided by the Holy Spirit into all the truth pertaining to life and godliness. What credentials could the super-apostles present? Empty claims and boastful pretensions!

inferior to the rest of the churches.The Corinthians knew that they had been in everything enriched in him, in all utterance and all knowledge; even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed among them (1 Corinthians 1:5-6). They lacked no gift that would enable them to conduct themselves as true followers of Christ while awaiting the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul had preached the same gospel to them that he had preached to all the churches. He had performed the same apostolic signs in their midst that he had shown in all the churches.

except it be that I myself was not a burden to you?This is an ironical thrust at those teachers who were seeking, if indeed they had not already been receiving, support from the church at Corinth.

forgive me this wrong.In the height of irony, Paul begged for their forgiveness! They knew that there was nothing to forgive. Did they burn with shame when they remembered how he had labored in their midst while insisting on preaching the gospel of Christ to them for nothing?