Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 2 Corinthians 11:12
But what I do, that I will do, that I may cut off occasion from them which desire occasion; that wherein they glory, they may be found even as we.
12. occasion ] See ch. 2Co 5:12.
that wherein they glory, they may be found even as we ] These words seem to imply that the Corinthian false teachers did not accept money or maintenance for their services. But then it is difficult to see how they could have made that very practice an argument against St Paul. It is, therefore, better to suppose, that they boasted of their disinterestedness, in spite of their willingness to enrich themselves at the Corinthians’ expense (see next verse), and that St Paul was determined that they should have no solid ground for insinuations of this kind against him (though such were made nevertheless, ch. 2Co 12:16-17, by those who judged of the Apostle by themselves). So he steadfastly refused to take a farthing of money from the Corinthians, preferring to undergo privations ( 2Co 11:9) rather than give an opportunity to his opponents to assert of him, what was true of themselves, that his professed disinterestedness was only a pretence. There are a number of interpretations of this passage, for which the student may consult the commentaries of Deans Stanley and Alford.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
But what I do – The course of life which I have been pursuing I will continue to pursue. That is, I will continue to preach as I have done without demanding a support. I will labor with my own hands if necessary; I will preach without demanding rigidly what I might be entitled to.
That I may cut off occasion – That I might give them no opportunity of accusing me of desiring to grow rich, and of calumniating me. Paul meant that they should have no plausible pretext even for accusing him; that no man should be able to say that he was preaching merely for the hire.
Which desire occasion – No doubt his enemies eagerly sought opportunities of accusing him, and greatly wished for some plausible reason for charging him with that which would be disgraceful and ruinous to his character. Or it may mean that they desired opportunity from the example of Paul to justify themselves in their course; that they took wages from the church at Corinth largely, and desired to be able to say that they had his example.
That wherein they glory – Probably meaning that they boasted that they preached the gospel for free (gratis); that they received nothing for their labors. Yet while they did this, it is not improbable that they received presents of the Corinthians, and under various pretences contrived to get from them an ample support, perhaps much more than would have been a reasonable compensation. People who profess to preach the gospel gratis, usually contrive in various ways to get more from the people than those who receive a regular and stipulated compensation. By taxing pretty liberally their hospitality; by accepting liberal presents; by frequent proclamation of their self-denial and their poverty, they usually filch large amounts from the people. No people were ever louder in praise of poverty, or in proclamation of their own self-denials than some orders of monks, and that when it might be said almost that the richest possessions of Europe were passing into their hands. At all events, Paul meant that these people should have no opportunity from his course to take any such advantage. He knew what he had a right to 1 Cor. 9, but he had not urged the right. He had received nothing from the church at Corinth, and he meant to receive nothing. He had honestly preached the gospel to them without charge, and he meant still to do it, 1Co 9:18. They should, therefore, have no opportunity from his conduct either to accuse him of preaching for money, or of sheltering themselves under his example in pretending to preach for nothing when they were in fact obtaining large sums from the people.
They may be found even as we – That they may be compelled honestly to pursue such a course as I do, and be found to be in fact what they pretend to be. The sense is, I mean so to act that if they follow my example, or plead my authority, they may be found to lead an honest life; and that if they boast on this subject, they shall boast strictly according to truth. There shall be no trick; nothing underhanded or deceptive in what they do so far as my example can prevent it.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 12. But what I do, c.] I act thus that I may cut off occasion of glorying, boasting, or calumniating from them-the false prophets and his partisans, who seek occasion-who would be glad that I should become chargeable to you, that it might in some sort vindicate them who exact much from you for they bring you into bondage, and devour you, 2Co 11:20.
Nothing could mortify these persons more than to find that the apostle did take nothing, and was resolved to take nothing; while they were fleecing the people. It is certain that the passage is not to be understood as though the false apostles took nothing from the people, to whatever disinterestedness they might pretend, for the apostle is positive on the contrary; and he was determined to act so that his example should not authorize these deceivers, who had nothing but their self-interest in view, to exact contribution from the people; so that if they continued to boast, they must be bound even as the apostle, taking nothing for their labours; which could never comport with their views of gain and secular profit.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
I know (saith the apostle) that there are some amongst you who, out of their hatred to me, would seek any occasion to asperse me to justify themselves. If I had (as I might) have taken wages amongst you for my labours, they would either have taken occasion from it to have aspersed me, (as doing what I did from a mercenary spirit), or at least to have justified themselves in their exactings upon you. I had a mind to prevent any such occasions of boasting.
That wherein they glory, they may be found even as we: it should seem by these words, that some teachers in this church, being (possibly) men of estates, required no maintenance of the people; and would have taken advantage against the apostle, if he had taken any: or, possibly, some others exacted upon them unreasonably, who, had Paul taken wages, would have justified themselves by his example. The apostle therefore was resolved to cut off from them any pretence or occasion of boasting, and to do whatever any of them did, in sparing the Corinthians as to the business of their purses.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
12. I will doI will continueto decline help.
occasionGreek,“the occasion,” namely, of misrepresenting mymotives, which would be afforded to my detractors, if I acceptedhelp.
that wherein they glory, theymay be found even as weBENGELjoins this clause with “the occasion,” namely, ofglorying or boasting; the occasion “that they may befound (a point wherein they glory) even as we,” that is, quiteas disinterested, or virtually, quite as gain-seeking andself-seeking. It cannot mean that the false teachers taughtgratuitously even as Paul (compare 2Co 11:20;1Co 9:12). ALFORDless clearly explains by reference to 2Co11:18, c., where the “glorying” here is taken up anddescribed as “glorying after the flesh” thus it means, thatin the matters of which they beast they may be found even as we, thatis, we may been a fair and equal footing; that there may be noadventitious comparisons made between us, arising out ofmisrepresentations of my course of procedure, but that inevery matter of boasting we may be fairly compared and judged byfacts; FOR (2Co11:13) realities they have none, no weapons butmisrepresentation, being false apostles.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
But what I do, that I will do,…. As he preached the Gospel freely at Corinth and in Achaia, so he was determined to do it for the future, for this reason only, or chiefly:
that, says he,
I may cut off occasion from them which desire occasion: meaning the false apostles, who sought for, and were desirous of every occasion and opportunity of exalting themselves, and reproaching him: that wherein they glory, they may be found even as we; the sense of which according to some interpreters is, that whereas some of the false apostles, at least who were rich men, took nothing for preaching, but gave their labours freely, were very desirous that the apostle would receive of the churches in these parts, that they might have an occasion against him, and an opportunity of showing themselves, as in learning and eloquence, so in this respect, to be superior to him, in that they preached freely, and he for gain; wherefore to cut off such an occasion, the apostle determines he would take nothing; that in this very thing which they boasted of, that they preached the Gospel freely, they might appear to be at most to be but upon a par with the apostle, and not to exceed him. This sense would seem very appropriate, was it a clear point that the false apostles received nothing for preaching; but the contrary is most evident; wherefore the apostle’s meaning is, that these men were desirous that he would take wages, because they did; that in this respect he might not excel them, and that they might be able to plead his example and authority, and so get an occasion of extorting more money from the Corinthians: wherefore to cut off all such occasion from them, the apostle resolves to take nothing himself; that whereas they boasted they were equal to, or superior to the apostles, they might be found, would they follow their example, even as they, not taking any money at all of them, and poor, and working with their own hands.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
That I may cut off occasion ( ). Purpose clause with and first aorist active subjunctive of , old verb to cut out or off (Matt 3:10; Matt 5:30). See 2Co 5:12 for .
From them which desire an occasion ( ). Ablative case after . There are always some hunting for occasions to start something against preachers.
They may be found (). First aorist passive subjunctive of , to find with final conjunction .
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
I will do. Will continue to do; refuse to receive pay.
Cut off [] . Lit., cut out. See on Luk 13:7, and compare Rom 11:24.
Occasion [ ] . The force of the article must be carefully noted; the particular occasion of fault – finding which concerned his pecuniary relations with the Corinthians. His refusal to receive pay cut out from among other causes of complaint this one.
They may be found even as we. I can find no satisfactory explanation of this clause, and will not attempt to add to the hopeless muddle of the commentators. It is evident that the false teachers had sought occasion for glorifying themselves in comparison with Paul; that they consequently caught eagerly at every pretext for disparaging him; and that this disparagement was in some way connected with Paul ‘s refusal to receive compensation from the Corinthians. Further, that Paul ‘s way of counteracting their attempts was by persisting in this refusal. The intimation in the last clause is apparently to the effect that by this course he will not only remove the occasion for attack, but that the result will show both his opponents and himself in their true light. Compare find and be found, ch. 12 20.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “But what I do, that I will do,” (ho de polo kai poieso) “But what I do, I will also continue to do,” that is refuse to accept gratis, financial support and maintenance at your hands, and the hand of the Corinthian brethren for his personal support as he did from the more mature church at Philippi, Php_4:16-17.
2) “That I may cut off occasion,” (hina ekkopso ten aphormen) “That I may cut off the occasion,” or any justifiable occasion or opportunity my opponents desire to besmirch my reputation.
3) “From them which desire occasion,” (ton thelonton aphormen) “of those who desire an occasion,” to find fault with my motives and ethics.
4) “That wherein they glory,” (hina en ho kauchontai) “In order that wherein they boast;” Paul purposed to refuse compensation, as to oblige the false teachers, out of shame to adopt the same course, or expose themselves for what they were.
5) “They may be found even as we,” (heurethosin kathos kai hemeis) “They may be found just as also we are found;” on an equality of need, even as Paul and his missionary companions. Paul held that the “labourer is worthy of his hire,” Luk 10:7; 1Ti 5:18; 1Co 9:11-13. It appears that it was not Paul’s custom to accept pay from the members of missions and young churches, not that it was wrong, but to avoid being misunderstood in his motives, 1Th 2:9; Act 20:34.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
12. But what I do. He again explains the reason of his intention. (831) The false Apostles, with the view of alluring to themselves ignorant persons, took no pay. Their serving gratuitously was a show of uncommon zeal. (832) If Paul had availed himself of his right, he would have given them occasion to raise their crest, as if they had been greatly superior to him. Paul, accordingly, that he might give them no occasion of doing injury, did himself, also, preach the Gospel, free of charge, and this is what he adds — that he is desirous to cut off occasion from those that desire occasion For the false Apostles were desirous to insinuate themselves by this artifice, and to detract, in proportion to this, from Paul’s credit, if they were superior to him in any respect. He says, that he will not give them this advantage. “They will be found,” says he, “on a level with us in that glorying which they would wish to have for themselves exclusively.” This, however, is a useful admonition in connection with cutting off occasion from the wicked, as often as they desire one. For this is the only way to overcome them — not in the way of furnishing them with arms through our imprudence. (833)
(831) “ C’estoit vne fausse monstre de quelque zele excellent, de seruir sans rien prendre;” — “It was a false show of eminent zeal, to serve without taking any thing.”
(832) “ De la resolution qu’il a prinse en cest endroit;” — “Of the resolution that he had taken as to this matter.”
(833) “ Par nostre imprudence et inconsideration;” — “By our imprudence and inconsideration.”
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
CRITICAL NOTES
2Co. 11:12. Occasion.General drift clear, particular application difficult, from our ignorance of facts. Hard to reconcile some of the presumed cavils and accusations; which have to be inferred from Pauls replies. But consistency in perversity is not to be looked for. [Cf. We have piped; we have mourned; q.d. Whatever we do, there is no pleasing you anyway.] Last clause plainly means: That they and we may be made to stand on same footing, as to our worthiness and our rights. This, however, is ambiguous to us, for lack of the key of actual facts. Found does not mean found out in any sense of being unmasked, but (as it were, judicially) found [cf. the findings of a court] in the opinion of others (Gal. 2:17; 1Co. 4:2; 1Co. 15:15; 2Co. 5:3 [?]).
2Co. 11:13.Contrast with supereminent app. (2Co. 11:5), I say, They are no apostles at all! They say, I am catching you with guile. Nay, they are workers full of guile [related word] in all they do. good.
2Co. 11:14.The only Jewish parallel adduced is a solitary opinion of a Rabbi that the angel who wrestled with Jacob was a so-transformed evil spirit! Perhaps Job 1 may have been in Pauls mind. Or a perfectly general assertion. Light.Cf. Epb. 2Co. 5:8; 1Th. 5:5; 1Jn. 1:5, etc. No marvel.If the Prince of Darkness can stride over the vast gulf which separates his real nature from the outward appearance of an angel of light, his agents can step over the narrower chasm which divides them from apostles of Christ. Beings of darkness and beings of light are opposites, whereas human beings are capable of living and moving in either darkness or light. They are flexible to either element, although they cannot belong to both at the same time. Satan, who is the ape of God, counterfeits the Divine, and his strategy is a terrible caricature of the Almightys ordinances. (Waite, in Speakers Commentary.)
2Co. 11:15. Ministers.Cf. of Paul, 2Co. 11:8. End.Php. 3:19.
HOMILETIC ANALYSIS.2Co. 11:12-15
Like Master, like Servants.
I. What sternness of denunciation!
1. Quite alien to the spirit of our time, with its breadth of view, its tolerance of all shades of opinion and of almost all types of practice, and with its euphemistic condemnation when it does condemn. It means the intensity of conviction; the intolerance of loyalty to light, and truth, and Christ; the necessary, inevitable detection and condemnation of falsehood and ignorance by knowledge. [See we know, four times, in 1Jn. 5:18-20. We know sinneth not (What dangerous spiritual presumption! cries even the half-hearted Church); We know we are of God, world lieth in the Wicked One (What wretched narrowness of judgment; how uncharitable!); We know Son of God is come, etc. (Yes, says the agnostic temper of all ages; you theologians and metaphysicians are dreadfully sure; you know this, and that, and the other; we dont; we neither affirm nor deny); We know Him that is true (Impossible; God is unknowable; and His Son, if He have one, is unknowable too!) Nevertheless, John and the Church say, We know. Christ and His people say, We know (Joh. 3:11; Joh. 9:25).] Need to take care lest our milder words, and more charitable judgments, betray a less hearty allegiance to truth and holiness, an enfeebled appreciation of the questions at issue, and of their importance, or even a degree of cool indifference to the fundamental distinctions which underlie the sharply defined judgments of such words as Pauls. Yet
II. Any apparent change, any seeming approximation between good and evil, is only upon the surface; the real distinction beneath abides unalterable.[Remember the distinction between form and fashion (Trench, Syn., lxx.); very marked in Rom. 12:1-2; Php. 2:6-8. Fashion (the root of word used here; see R.V.) is (Bengel) habitus, cultus, vestitus, victus, gestus, sermones et actiones; what offers itself, upon the surface, to observation.] Satan cannot be transformed into [A. V., inaccurately]; he can only be fashioned like. The deep gulf, the necessary antagonism in their very nature, between darkness and light, he can never pass, nor does he desire to. At the most, he can only assume some show of light. His ministers can only be fashioned as ministers of righteousness. The Christian conscience and heart must not allow moral distinctions to be obscured or confused; the instinct of holiness must be kept in full sensitiveness of touch and perception [quick of scent, Isa. 11:2 (literally)]. Such self-fashioning on the part of evil is a tribute to the beauty of light, goodness, holiness. It acknowledges, too, that evil is no dress to wear openly, or in which to do Satans work. Goodness never pretends to be Evil. The Tempter once dared shamelessly to ask Incarnate Purity to fall downjust for a momentand worship him. Conversely, in the very fact that he must needs borrow the livery of the servantsangelic and humanof that Pure One, to do some at least of his evil work, he is ever bowing before Him, with a very real acknowledgment of supremacy. Hypocrisy is the homage Vice pays to Virtue.
III. No practical use in speculating as to what particular case of transfashioning on the part of Satan is in Pauls mind.The working of the principle of such a change, such an assuming of goodness, is common enough, and clear.
1. Bad men, for selfish, or even malicious ends, put on the life, speak the language, do something of the work, of the good. Not many mere, and downright, hypocrites in the world. Far oftener the discrepancy between profession and fact, which, when discovered, is denounced as hypocrisy, has been largely mixed with self-deception. Good and evil are sharply distinguishable in their salient, conspicuous examples. Like two neighbouring mountains [as Guesses at Truth suggests] which stand clearly apart so long as attention is only directed to their summits, but are hard to discriminate lower down, where their bases mingle in almost unapportionable stretches of nearly level ground; so on the ordinary level of common life, in the thousand questions of the minute ethics of daily conduct which are perpetually presenting themselves for solution, right and wrong are seldom so sharply divisible but that a man may sometimes find some real difficulty in keeping them apart, and in not transgressing across the boundary-line; whereupon the first step seems to lead on to, or even to necessitate another, and that another; till the man is involved in a position which he never meant to reach, and, to the last, may try to persuade himself is not wholly untenable. He is not therefore blameless, or to be simply pitied, but he is hardly the mere hypocrite. Yet there is such a thing as the life which is the calculated, persistent, clever, devilish lie; the garb of righteousness is worn for evil ends, known from the first to be evil, distinctly proposed to himself by the deceitful worker, and deliberately followed up to the last. Rare, but not unknown. So in morals, evil is disguised, made to speak fair, plausibly pleaded for, or excused until excuse passes over into defence; until young, inexperienced minds and hearts, without fixed principles, or any definite principles at all, begin to think the sterner judgments narrow, old-fashioned, bigoted, unfair; and yield themselves to the blandishments of the angel of light. The poets, the novelists, the dramatists, the secular newspapers, greatly help the dangerous disguise of evil. How, for example, has Lust been glorified under the stolen name Love! The oft-sung praise of Wine has covered with light the mere, animal, filthy Drunkenness. Such talking and writing readily catches the public ear in every age. The same principle is at work in the details of individual life. A business opening; a marriage-proposal; a form of relaxation; essentially evil, but so proposed that social advantage, or profit, or pleasure, disguises the true character of the thing; and not until the soul has yielded and the deceitful work is done, does the disguise drop off, and the darkness stand revealed.
IV. In the special application of the passage we note:
1. False apostles are self-constituted, having no real call from God; their real and only commission is from Satan, who puts his own stamp upon them, so that they work upon his lines, copying his falsehood of claim, and of methods, and of purpose. They assume an unwarranted position, and have no real authority.
2. Such, i.e. they, like these Corinthian examples, are selfish, ambitious of mens honour, malignant towards the real servants of God, tyrannical in their assumed authority (2Co. 11:20), preach error (2Co. 11:4), are full of party spirit. [Then none was for a party, but all were for the State,for the Church of Christ.]
3. Yet their end is a certain, swift, just detection and destruction. The world, with all its evil, is even now so far Gods world that the issue of its course and history must be a victory and a full vindication of goodness and truth and of Gods Christ. The white robe must be stripped off from the falsehood sooner or later, and evil and evil men stand revealed in all their native darkness. The servants share with their Master fire prepared for him. Every Church should keep jealous watch over the door into its ministry; and should keep in full working order a door out of the ministry. Every minister of Christ, every worker, of every order and degree, should [not be perpetually scrutinising, suspecting his neighbours, but, better, like the apostles at the Supper-table] be asking, Lord, is it I?
HOMILETIC SUGGESTIONS
2Co. 11:15. According to their works.Gods penalties are inflicted. [In many forms directly and ab extra. Else what is forgiveness? The indirect and providentialnaturalpenalties of sin are often only very slowly, and very incompletely, reversed or negatived, even to a pardoned, happy, holy child of God. These are taken up into the sanctified disciplinary life of the pardoned man.] Yet never merely arbitrary in their connection with the sin, but congruous.
I. In kind.This most nearly Pauls point here. Fruit corresponding to seed sown; prepared for, and growing out of, seed sown.
II. In measure: God never will overdo the penalty. No one indiscriminate punishment of sin; as no indiscriminate, undistinguishing reward of righteousness; there are degrees of suffering, as of heavenly joy, though in all cases of equal, eternal duration. [Many stripes, few stripes.] May vary from something scarcely more than privation of His favour and presence, up to the most intense suffering of which mind and body in eternity capable. [Doctrine of rewards and penalties must be studied as one indivisible, homogeneous subject with strictly parallel branches, the principles in each strictly analogous to those in the other.]
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
(12) That I may cut off occasion from them which desire occasion.It lies on the surface that the occasion, or opening for attack, which his opponents had thus desired, was one against which he guarded himself by not taking money. They boasted of their own disinterestedness. They taunted him with his meanness in taking money from the Macedonian churches. The Apostle wishes, therefore, by persisting in his line of conduct, in spite of the appeals of a real or affected jealousy, to place himself on the same level with them, them on the same level with himself. The comparison between them must rest, he says, on other grounds. This seems the only tenable and coherent interpretation; nor is there any force in the objection which has been urged against it, that there is no evidence that the rival teachers did teach gratuitously. If this is a natural inference from St. Pauls language, and there is no evidence to the contrary, that is surely evidence enough. It may be added, however, that there is at least in favour of the interpretation here given, the evidence of antecedent probability. It was likely that those who claimed to be in some special sense followers of Christ, would at least affect to act on the words of Christ, Freely ye have received, freely give. (See Note on Mat. 10:8.) It was likely that those who, from another point of view, were representatives of the scribes of Judaism, should at least affect to act as the noblest of those scribes had acted, and to teach, not for payment, but for the love of teaching. That it was an affectation, and not a reality, we shall hereafter see reason to believe.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
12. Occasion Chance for detraction.
Wherein they glory The chance they sought was, to say that in the matter of their glory, namely, the receiving apostolic wages, they were as Paul. This occasion, or chance of both having their pay and equalling him, he was determined not, by taking pay, to allow them.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘But what I do, that I will do, that I may cut off the opportunity from those who desire an opportunity that in that in which they glory, they may be found even as we.’
And he intends to continue doing what he has been doing, so that he may cut off from his opponents the opportunity of making themselves appear as on level terms with him, which is their great desire.
‘Desire an opportunity that in that in which they glory, they may be found even as we.’ Their desire is for the opportunity to show themselves as on equality with Paul in the things they boast about, so that their message might be equally acceptable. They are trying to bring him down to their level for this purpose. But he is cutting off that opportunity for they cannot compete with his making his Gospel free of charge. They do not have the will or the desire, and disdain the means. And that is why he will continue to make the Gospel free to all, so as to clearly differentiate himself from them. They were quite comfortable in being a charge on the Corinthians and living off them as reward for their preaching, (for after a time gladly given hospitality could easily become a burden, and they seem to have been misusing the privilege which they claimed was their right) and they did not want anything to change. But it sat ill in comparison with one who preached freely and was in no way a burden on them even from the start.
Many refer ‘opportunity’ back so that his idea is that they are ‘seeking an opportunity to declare that he is greedy and after their money’. For, he is saying, the fact is that they are simply looking for any opportunity to lay a charge against him. Because he does not accept money for his labours, they say he is not a genuine Apostle because he is demonstrating that he has no right to the support of the church. If he did receive reward they would simply say he was greedy and was more concerned with money than with the truth of his message.
Either way, once they have done that they will be able to declare themselves on level terms with him.
Others see the opportunity that they are seeking as the opportunity to operate on level terms in the sphere which was allocated to him by the Apostles, Apostleship to the Gentiles. They are saying that it is they exclusively, not he, who have been sent by the Apostles in Jerusalem to proclaim Christ in this area, which gives them the right to maintenance and to demand the obedience of the church. (Compare 2Co 10:13-16).
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
2Co 11:12. That I will do, Rather, and will do; so the words stand in the Greek, and do not refer to 2Co 11:10 as a profession of St. Paul’s resolution to take nothing from them; but to 2Co 11:11 to which they are joined, shewing that his refusing any reward from them was not out of unkindness, but for another reason;“What I do, and will do, is, that I may cut off all occasion, &c.” The Jews had a maxim among them: “That it was better for their wise men to skin dead beasts for a living, than to ask a maintenance from the generosity of those whom they taught:” But it plainly appears, that whatever the false apostles might boast on this head, there was no foundation for it. Comp. 2Co 11:20. 1Co 9:12.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
2Co 11:12 . [327] Positive specification of the reason , after brief repetition of the matter which calls for it ( , ).
Since Paul, in accordance with 2Co 11:10 , wishes to specify the aim inducing the future continuance of his conduct, must be apodosis (comp. Erasmus, Annot. , Beza, Bengel, Lachmann, Tischendorf), and must not be attached to the protasis, so as to make it necessary to supply before a (Erasmus, Paraphr. , Luther, Castalio, Emmerling), or . (Rckert, but undecidedly), or simply (Osiander, Ewald).
. . . ] in order that I may cut off the opportunity of those, who wish (exoptant, Beza) opportunity , namely, to degrade and to slander me. , having the article, denotes the definite occasion, arising from the subject in question, for bringing the apostle into evil repute. Had he caused himself to be remunerated by the Corinthians, his enemies, who in general were looking out for opportunity ( . without the article), would have taken thence the opportunity of slandering him as selfish and greedy; this was their , which he wished to cut off ( , Chrysostom) by his gratuitous working. Others understand by the occasion of exalting and magnifying themselves above him (Calvin, Grotius, Flatt). But according to this, we should have to assume that the false apostles had taken no pay, on which point, after the precedent of Chrysostom, Theophylact, Calvin, Grotius, Billroth, and others, Rckert especially insists. This assumption, however, which Neander also supports (comp. against it, Beza), has against it priori the fact that Paul lays so earnest stress on his gratuitous preaching which would not be appropriate to his apologetico-polemic train of argument, if on this point he had stood on the same footing with his opponents. Further, 2Co 11:20 and 1Co 9:12 are expressly opposed to it; and the objection of Rckert, that the apostle’s testimony to the baseness of his opponents loses much of its force owing to his passionate temperament, is an exaggerated opinion, to which we can concede only this much, that his testimony regarding his opponents is strongly expressed (comp. 2Co 11:20 ), but not that it contains anything untrue. If they had worked against him from honest prejudice, it would have been at once indiscreet and un-Christian in him to work against them. Rckert’s further objection, that the adversaries, if they had taken payment where Paul took none, would have coupled folly with selfishness, is unfounded, seeing that in fact, even with that recommendation in which Paul had the advantage of them by his unpaid teaching, very many other ways were left to them of exalting themselves and of lowering his repute, and hence they might be all the more prudent and cunning. Comp. on 2Co 11:6 .
. . .] may be parallel to the previous clause of purpose (Dsterdieck). Yet it is more in keeping with the logical relation that here something positive, and previously only something negative, is asserted as intended and thereby with the climactic course of the passage, to assume that . . . . is the aim of . . ., and thus the final aim of the , in regard to the opponents: in order that they, in the point of which they boast, may be found even as we . This is what I purpose to bring about among them. If, namely, the enemies did not find in Paul the opportunity of disparaging him as selfish, now there was to be given to them withal the necessity (according to his purpose) of showing themselves to be just such as Paul [328] in that, in which they boasted, i.e. according to the context, in the point of unselfishness . Hitherto, forsooth, the credit of unselfishness, which they assigned to themselves, was idle ostentation, see 2Co 11:20 . De Wette makes objection, on the other hand, that they could not have boasted of unselfishness, if they had shown themselves selfish. But this was the very point of his enemies’ untruthfulness (2Co 11:13 , comp. 2Co 5:12 ), that they vaingloriously displayed the semblance of unselfishness, while in fact they knew how to enrich themselves by the Christians. Theodoret aptly says: , . Dsterdieck, too, can find no ground in the context for saying either that the opponents had reproached the apostle with selfishness, or had given themselves out for unselfish. But the former is not implied in our explanation (they only sought the occasion for that charge), while the latter is sufficiently implied in 2Co 11:20 . The expositors who consider the opponents as labouring gratuitously understand of this unpaid working, of which they had boasted, so that Paul in this view would say: in order that they, in this point of which they boast, may be found not better than we . See Oecumenius, Erasmus, Calvin, comp. Billroth and Rckert; Billroth and others (comp. Dsterdieck above) taking withal the second as parallel to the first, which Rckert also admits. But against the hypothesis that the opponents had taught gratuitously, see above. And the not better than we arbitrarily changes the positive expression into the negative. Lastly, this explanation stands in no logical connection with what follows. See on 2Co 11:13 . Following Augustine, de serm. Dom. in monte , ii. 16, Cajetanus and Estius regard as an exposition of : occasion, in order to be found as we , and . as parenthetical: in quo, sc. in eo quod est inveniri sicut et nos, gloriantur . Comp. also Bengel. But the opponents did not, in fact, boast of being like Paul, but of being more than he was (2Co 11:5 ), and wished to hold him or to have him held as not at all a true apostle, 2Co 11:4 . This also in opposition to Hofmann, who, attaching the second to , and referring [329] to the apostleship of which the opponents boasted, finds Paul’s meaning to be this: maintaining in its integrity the gratuitous character of his working, he takes away from those, who would fain find ways and means of making their pretended apostleship appear equal to his genuine one, the possibility of effecting their purpose . But in the connection of the text, on the one side and on the other can only denote one and the same quality, namely, the unselfishness , of which the opponents untruly boasted, while Paul had it in truth and verified it. Olshausen has been led farthest astray by taking the second as the wish of the opponents; he imagines that they had been annoyed at Paul’s occupying a position of strictness which put them so much to shame, and hence they had wished to bring him away from it, in order that he might have no advantage, but that he should be found even as they. And the . is to be taken, as if they had put forward the authority to take money as an object of glorying, as an apostolic prerogative (1Co 9:7 ff.); so that the whole passage has therefore the ironical meaning: “ Much as they are opposed to me, they still wish an opportunity of letting me take a share of their credit, that I may allow myself to be supported as an apostle by the churches; but with this they wish only to hide their shame and rob me of my true credit: in this they shall not succeed! ” But that the opponents had put forward the warrant to take money as an apostolic prerogative , is not to be inferred from 1Co 9:7 ff., where Paul, in fact, speaks only of the right of the teacher to take pay. Further, there is no ground in the context for the assumed reference of .; and lastly, in keeping with the alleged ironical meaning, Paul must have written: , which Olshausen doubtless felt himself, when he wrote: “in order that he might have no advantage, but that he should be found such as they .”
On , in the ethical sense of bringing to nought , comp. LXX. Job 19:10 ; Mal 3:2Mal 3:2 ff.; Plat. Charm. p. 155 C; Polyb. xx. 6. 2. The opposite: (Bhr, ad Pyrrh. p. 237).
On the double , the second introducing the aim of the first clause of aim, comp. Eph 5:27 ; Joh 1:7 . Hofmann, without reason, desires in place of the second .
[327] See regarding ver. 12, Dsterdieck in the Stud. u. Krit. 1865, p. 517 ff.
[328] Beza well gives the substantial meaning: “Isti quidem omnem mei calumniandi occasionem captant, expectantes dum poeniteat me juri meo renuntiantem in praedicando evangelio ex manuum mearum labore victitare. At ego nunquam patiar hanc laudem (qua ipsos refello) mihi in Achaiae ecclesiis praeripi. Imo in hoc instituto pergam, ut et ipsos ad exemplum meum imitandum provocem, nedum ut quam captant occasionem inveniant.”
[329] De Wette and Dsterdieek also refer to the apostolic working and dignity . According to the latter, the meaning would be: in order that they, as regards unselfishness, may let themselves be found just such as I, the apostle vilified by them, and may in this way show what is the worth of their boastful claim to apostolic dignity . Even this clear interpretation does not remove the difficulty that, as the of Paul concerned the gratuitous nature of his labouring (ver. 10, comp. 1Co 9:15 ), so also the ascribed in the immediate context to the opponents , and pointing back by to the apostle’s conduct (which was the subject-matter of his boasting), requires no other object , nay, when we strictly adhere to the immediate connection, admits of no other.
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
12 But what I do, that I will do, that I may cut off occasion from them which desire occasion; that wherein they glory, they may be found even as we.
Ver. 12. That I may cut off occasion ] There were those that waited for it, as earnestly as a dog doth for a bone, as we say. Habuerunt suos cucullos omnes docti et heroici quolibet tempore, saith Melancthon. Every Zopyrus hath his Zoilus.
That wherein they glory ] They, likely, had feathered their nests, and so might well afford to preach gratis. Paul, though not so well underlaid, would not come behind them in that either. He would not be less busy (though he laboured hard for it) in building staircases to heaven, than they were in digging descents down to hell.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
12. ] The true reason : But that which I do, I will also continue to do ( must not, as Erasm., be coupled to , and supplied before , because it is for his resolution respecting the future that the reason is especially given) in order that I may cut off the occasion ( , which would be furnished if I did not so) of those who wish for an occasion (viz. of depreciating me by misrepresenting my motives if I took money of you). Many (Chrys., Theophyl., Calv., Grot., Billroth, al.) take this occasion to be one of aggrandizing themselves above Paul if all took money , assuming that the false teachers, as well as Paul, took none : which is extremely unlikely, from the prominence which he gives to the boast of his own abstinence in this point, and seems directly opposed to 2Co 11:20 and to 1Co 9:12 .
. . .] that, in the matter of which they boast, they may be found even as we . Such appears generally acknowledged to be the rendering ; but as to the meaning , there is great variety of opinion. (1) Many of the ancient Commentators assume that they taught gratis , and were proud of it, and that Paul would also teach gratis, to put both on an equality and take this occasion of boasting from them. This would suit the sense of the present verse , but seems (see above) at variance with the fact. (2) Theodoret, whom Meyer, al., follow, supposes them to have pretended to the credit of self-denial, while really making gain, and that Paul means, that he will reduce them from pretended to real self-denial. But this too is inconsistent with the context. Paul’s boast of disinterested teaching was peculiarly his own , and there is nothing to shew that the false teachers ever professed or made any boast of the like. His resolution did not spring out of an actual comparison instituted by them between their own practice and what they might falsely allege to be his, but was adopted even before his coming to Corinth, arguing a priori that it was best to cut off any possible occasion of such depreciation of him from his probable adversaries. (3) Others, Cajetan, Estius, after Aug [17] de Serm. Dom. in Monte ii. 16 (54), vol. iii. p. 1292, also Bengel, join with , ‘ occasion that they may be found even as we ,’ and explain . as a parenthesis, ‘ that they may be found ( a point in which they boast ) even as we :’ i.e. ‘that in point of selfishness and covetousness, we may be both on a level.’ But this meaning would require rather , ‘ we may be reduced to their level.’ (4) Olsh., adopting in the main the last interpretation, would understand of the taking of money of which they boasted , accounting it an apostolic prerogative. But to this the last stated objection applies even more forcibly: and besides, the suppesition is wholly arbitrary. (5) De Wette, believing the second to be parallel with the first, as in (1) and (2), understands as applying to their boast of apostolic efficiency : ‘that they may, in their apostolic work which they vaunt with such pretension, be found even as we,’ and thinks, the transition to what follows thus made easy. But the objection to this is, that the punctum comparationis in the rest of the chapter is not apostolic efficiency , but rather matters . (6) I cannot adopt any one of the above accounts of the sentence, for the negative reasons already given, and because all of them seem to me to have missed the clue to the meaning which the chapter itself furnishes. This clue I find in 2Co 11:18 ff. The is there taken up, described as being : the is taken up by ; &c. From this it is manifest to me, that his meaning in our present clause is, ‘ that in the matter ( s ) of which they boast they may be found even as we ;’ i.e. ‘we may be on a fair and equal footing:’ ‘that there may be no adventitious comparisons made between us arising out of misrepresentations of my course of procedure among you, but that in every matter of boasting, we may be fairly compared and judged by facts.’ And then, before the of 2Co 11:13 will naturally be supplied, ‘And this will end in their discomfiture: for realities they have none, no weapons but misrepresentation, being false Apostles ,’ &c.
[17] Augustine, Bp. of Hippo , 395 430
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
2Co 11:12 . . . .: but what I do, that I will do that , by refusing to accept maintenance gratis at your hands, I may cut off the occasion ( ., the definite opportunity for attack which my opponents desire) from those who desire occasion that in the matter of their boast, sc. , that as of Apostolic rank free maintenance was their rightful due, they may be found even as we, i.e. , they desire that I and they may be on equal terms so far as the taking of money is concerned. It is better to regard the second , not as in apposition with the first, but as dependent on . . and as expressing the desire of St. Paul’s opponents , not his own. The situation seems to have been as follows: St. Paul held that the “labourer is worthy of his hire” (Luk 10:7 , 1Ti 5:18 ), and in 1Co 9:11-13 he gives a clear exposition of the principle as applied to preachers of the Gospel. On these grounds he more than once (Phi 4:15-16 ) accepted money from the generous Church of Philippi. But it was not his usual practice. He reminds the Thessalonians (1Th 2:9 ) that when with them he had worked for his living. So too he did at Corinth (Act 18:2 ), any help he then accepted coming from Macedonia (chap. 2Co 11:9 ); and he did the same at Ephesus (Act 20:34 ), Now his Corinthian opponents were very ready to take money for their teaching (1Co 9:12 ); indeed they prided themselves on doing so, as it was the privilege of “apostles”. This determined St. Paul that it should never be truly said of him that he was a hireling teacher, and so he was especially careful at Corinth (1Co 9:15-19 ) to avoid even the appearance of grasping after money ( cf. Gen 14:23 ). This honourable independence, however, created a difficulty in two directions. On the one hand, it gave his opponents a handle for saying that he was not really of Apostolic rank, inasmuch as he dared not claim Apostolic privilege; and, on the other hand, it hurt the feelings of his Corinthian friends that he should refuse maintenance at their hands. His reply is contained in 2Co 11:7-12 of this chapter. And the point of 2Co 11:12 is that his action is necessary, for if he were to take money as his opponents did, it would speedily be made a matter of cavil, and would tend to bring him down to their level (see also 2Co 12:14 ).
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: 2Co 11:12-15
12But what I am doing I will continue to do, so that I may cut off opportunity from those who desire an opportunity to be regarded just as we are in the matter about which they are boasting. 13For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. 14No wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. 15Therefore it is not surprising if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness, whose end will be according to their deeds.
2Co 11:12 Paul knew his opponents. He tried to remove every opportunity for their attacks. He limited his freedom and rights to protect and expand the gospel (cf. Rom 14:1 to Rom 15:13).
2Co 11:13 “For such men are false apostles” These out-of-town religious leaders, possibly from Jerusalem, claimed authority. Paul calls them pseudo-apostles and pseudo-brothers (cf. 2Co 11:26).
“deceitful workers” This word is from the noun which meant “fishing bait.” They tried to catch the Corinthian believers for their own purposes and to further their reputations.
“disguising themselves as apostles of Christ” These were not sincere Christians who were misled. These were spiritually lost men (cf. 2Co 11:14) attempting to divide the church of God (cf. 1Co 3:10-15). They were wolves in sheep’s clothing (cf. Matthew 7; Act 20:29; 2Pe 2:1-22; Jud 1:3-16).
The term “disguising” (i.e., metaschmatiz) is used in 2Co 11:13-15. It speaks of the outward changing form of something or someone (cf. Php 3:21). These (i.e., false teachers and Satan) appear to be what they are not!
2Co 11:14 “for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light” This is an obvious truth, but is nowhere else in the Bible stated in these terms. This may be from rabbinical traditions about Genesis 3 (cf. DSS cave 1, Manual of Discipline 3:20,24). Satan’s major trick is masquerading as truth (cf. Genesis 3). Evil always tries to mimic or counterfeit the good. False teachers always come from inside the church (cf. 2 Peter 2; 1Jn 2:18-19). See SPECIAL TOPIC: PERSONAL EVIL at 1Co 7:5.
2Co 11:15 “if” This is a first class conditional sentence. There were Satanically inspired false teachers within the church at Corinth. They are with us today!
“servants of righteousness” Paul does not use “righteousness” often in the sense he uses it here. Here it has the connotation of “goodness” or “rightness” (cf. Mat 6:1), but not in the theological sense of justification by faith (cf. Romans 4). See Special Topic: Righteousness at 1Co 1:30. See SPECIAL TOPIC: SERVANT LEADERSHIP at 1Co 4:1.
“whose end will be according to their deeds” This seems to be an allusion to Pro 24:12. It is also the basic truth of the Bible. See full note at 2Co 5:10.
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
occasion. Greek. aphorme. See Rom 7:8.
desire. Greek thelo. App-102.
wherein = in (Greek. en) what.
glory. Greek kauchaomai. See Rom 2:17.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
12.] The true reason:-But that which I do, I will also continue to do ( must not, as Erasm., be coupled to , and supplied before ,-because it is for his resolution respecting the future that the reason is especially given) in order that I may cut off the occasion (, which would be furnished if I did not so) of those who wish for an occasion (viz. of depreciating me by misrepresenting my motives if I took money of you). Many (Chrys., Theophyl., Calv., Grot., Billroth, al.) take this occasion to be one of aggrandizing themselves above Paul if all took money, assuming that the false teachers, as well as Paul, took none: which is extremely unlikely, from the prominence which he gives to the boast of his own abstinence in this point,-and seems directly opposed to 2Co 11:20 and to 1Co 9:12.
…] that, in the matter of which they boast, they may be found even as we. Such appears generally acknowledged to be the rendering; but as to the meaning, there is great variety of opinion. (1) Many of the ancient Commentators assume that they taught gratis, and were proud of it,-and that Paul would also teach gratis, to put both on an equality and take this occasion of boasting from them. This would suit the sense of the present verse, but seems (see above) at variance with the fact. (2) Theodoret, whom Meyer, al., follow, supposes them to have pretended to the credit of self-denial, while really making gain, and that Paul means, that he will reduce them from pretended to real self-denial. But this too is inconsistent with the context. Pauls boast of disinterested teaching was peculiarly his own, and there is nothing to shew that the false teachers ever professed or made any boast of the like. His resolution did not spring out of an actual comparison instituted by them between their own practice and what they might falsely allege to be his, but was adopted even before his coming to Corinth, arguing a priori that it was best to cut off any possible occasion of such depreciation of him from his probable adversaries. (3) Others, Cajetan, Estius, after Aug[17] de Serm. Dom. in Monte ii. 16 (54), vol. iii. p. 1292,-also Bengel,-join with ,-occasion that they may be found even as we, and explain . as a parenthesis, that they may be found (a point in which they boast) even as we: i.e. that in point of selfishness and covetousness, we may be both on a level. But this meaning would require rather , we may be reduced to their level. (4) Olsh., adopting in the main the last interpretation, would understand of the taking of money of which they boasted, accounting it an apostolic prerogative. But to this the last stated objection applies even more forcibly: and besides, the suppesition is wholly arbitrary. (5) De Wette, believing the second to be parallel with the first, as in (1) and (2), understands as applying to their boast of apostolic efficiency: that they may, in their apostolic work which they vaunt with such pretension, be found even as we, and thinks, the transition to what follows thus made easy. But the objection to this is, that the punctum comparationis in the rest of the chapter is not apostolic efficiency, but rather matters . (6) I cannot adopt any one of the above accounts of the sentence, for the negative reasons already given, and because all of them seem to me to have missed the clue to the meaning which the chapter itself furnishes. This clue I find in 2Co 11:18 ff. The is there taken up, described as being : the is taken up by ; &c. From this it is manifest to me, that his meaning in our present clause is, that in the matter(s) of which they boast they may be found even as we; i.e. we may be on a fair and equal footing: that there may be no adventitious comparisons made between us arising out of misrepresentations of my course of procedure among you, but that in every matter of boasting, we may be fairly compared and judged by facts. And then, before the of 2Co 11:13 will naturally be supplied, And this will end in their discomfiture: for realities they have none, no weapons but misrepresentation, being false Apostles, &c.
[17] Augustine, Bp. of Hippo, 395-430
Fuente: The Greek Testament
2Co 11:12. ) I will also still do.-, I may cut off) It did not suit the false apostles to preach for nothing, 2Co 11:20.- , the occasion) in this matter, presently afterwards without the article, , in any matter whatever.- , in which) their boasting consisted in this, that they said: we are found to be, as Paul.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
2Co 11:12
2Co 11:12
But what I do, that I will do, that I may cut off occasion from them that desire an occasion;-He did not refuse their help because he did not love them, but because he had determined to cut off all occasion for his enemies to charge that he was seeking gain of them.
that wherein they glory, they may be found even as we.-[Pauls enemies desired that they should be on an equality with him. But they accepted support while Paul did not; though it pleased them to construe this as an admission that he was not a true apostle, the obvious unselfishness of Pauls policy was, to candid men, a sufficient refutation of this argument. Paul therefore in this respect had a distinct advantage over them, and he was determined to retain it. The apostolic equality with him to which they aspired he rendered impossible by adopting an unselfish policy which their avarice would not let them imitate.]
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
what: 2Co 11:9, 2Co 1:17, Job 23:13
that I may: 1Co 9:12, 1Ti 5:14
them: Gal 1:7, Phi 1:15-30
they glory: 2Co 11:18, 2Co 5:12, 2Co 10:17, 1Co 5:6, Gal 6:13, Gal 6:14
Reciprocal: Gen 14:23 – lest Neh 6:13 – that Dan 6:4 – but Act 20:35 – how that Rom 4:2 – he hath 1Co 4:6 – these 1Co 14:37 – any 2Co 8:20 – that 2Co 11:10 – no man shall stop me of this boasting Gal 6:4 – and not Phi 3:19 – whose glory 1Th 2:18 – Satan Tit 1:10 – there
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
2Co 11:12. This verse tells why Paul pursued the course described above; it was to prevent the enemies from having any occasion for evil claims. May be found even as we. The false teachers would like to. call upon the church for financial assistance on the ground they were preaching the Gospel. The example of Paul in preaching without charge would shame them out of making such an attempt upon the church.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
2Co 11:12. But what I do, that I will do, that I may out off occasion from them which desire occasion; that wherein they glory, they may be found even as we. Opinions differ as to what is meant here. But since it is clear that his opponents were irritated at his declining that temporal support which they freely received, the meaning seems plainly to be that by persisting in his course, in spite of their taunts, he meant to compel them either to be as he-was, gratuitous preachers, or to hold their peace.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Verse 12 Rather than openly talk about their weakness, which caused him not to accept payment, Paul refuses to give all of his reasons. Here, he does say that he will continue to refuse pay so the false teachers will continue to be exposed. They took pay from the Corinthians, while he did not.
Fuente: Gary Hampton Commentary on Selected Books
But what I do, that I will do, that I may cut off occasion from them that desire an occasion; that wherein they glory, they may be found even as we. [The apostle is determined that whatever he may do elsewhere he will receive no compensation for any preaching in Achaia. Knowing that they would wish to know why he thus made an exception in their case, he raises the question himself, but does not answer it, because to do so frankly would have been to show the deficiencies of their entire character and nature. But that he does not thus except them because of any lack of love, is shown by his appeal to God, who knew his heart. Compare 2Co 6:11-13; 2Co 7:2; 2Co 12:15 . One motive for his conduct he will tell them, and that is that he may silence the tongues of those who seek an opportunity to detract him. Here the language of the apostle grows bitterly sarcastic. The false teachers had received wages from the beginning, yet he speaks of them as if they gloried in preaching the gospel for nothing and declares that he will do likewise that they may be found no better than he. In the next three verses Paul speaks with the most unreserved plainness, and, as Bengel observes, “calls a spade a spade.”]
Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)
Verse 12
That wherein they glory, inasmuch as they glory.–They may be found, &c.; they may feel bound to follow my example in this respect.
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament
11:12 But what I do, that I will do, that I may cut off occasion from them which desire occasion; that wherein they {i} glory, they may be found even as we.
(i) Paul’s adversaries sought all occasions they could to be equal to him. And therefore seeing they had rather live off the Corinthians then preach to them for nothing, they sought another occasion, that is, to make Paul take something. And if he had done this, then they hoped by this means to be equal to him. For they made such a show of zeal and knowledge, and set it forth with such a flattering type of eloquence, that some of them even despised Paul. But he shows that all this is nothing but frivolities and pretensions.