2 Corinthians 12:11

I am become a fool in glorying,....

He gives a large account of his behaviour and kind intentions towards them, in which we may observe the character of a faithful minister of the gospel. He was not willing to be burdensome to them, nor did he seek theirs, but them.

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.

THE Divine discipline had succeeded well with the Apostle Paul. There was danger of his being exalted above measure by the abundance of the Revelation which he received and, therefore, there was given him a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to buffet him—this trial fully answered its purpose and Paul remained a lowly-minded servant of Jesus Christ. His humility comes out in the incident before us. He was compelled to defend himself and prove his Apostleship and this he does very thoroughly but very modestly.

"I am become a fool." He sounds a retreat [BENGEL]. 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 as Greek, "was I behind" when I was with you? the very chiefest--rather, as in 2Co 11:5, "those overmuch apostles." though I be nothing--in myself (1Co 15:9, 10).

THE Divine discipline had succeeded well with the Apostle Paul. There was danger of his being exalted above measure by the abundance of the Revelation which he received and, therefore, there was given him a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to buffet him—this trial fully answered its purpose and Paul remained a lowly-minded servant of Jesus Christ. His humility comes out in the incident before us. He was compelled to defend himself and prove his Apostleship and this he does very thoroughly but very modestly. In the midst of strong expressions of self-assertion, every one of them truthful and none of them exaggerated, his true humility is as manifest as if he had been unveiling his inward faults, or writing his, "Confessions." Augustine in his, "Retractations," is no more humble than Paul in his self-vindication. It is easy for a man to use lowly expressions when he is writing about his own faults and the Grace of God which saved him from them, but it is not so easy to maintain the virgin blush of modesty when called in necessary self-defense to vindicate one's own character and mention one's own achievements. Indignation is generally awakened in such a case and humility creeps out of the way— the more amazing is it, then, to find Paul esteeming himself as nothing, even when answering the cruel depreciations of his opposers. Read verse 11 and see the lowly heart of the man—"I have become a fool in boasting; you have compelled me. For I ought to have been commended of you: for in nothing was I behind the most eminent Apostles, though I am nothing." Beloved, when we have to take the same medicine, may it have as sure an effect upon us as it had upon Paul.

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 2Co 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 meaning of the apostle, as the following verses prove. A kind of technical meaning has been imposed on these words, of which many good people seem very fond. I am nothing - I am all sin, defilement, and unworthiness in myself; but Jesus Christ is all in all. This latter clause is an eternal truth; the former may be very true also; the person who uses it may be all sin, defilement, etc., but let him not say that the apostle of the Gentiles was so too, because this is not true; it is false, and it is injurious to the character of the apostle and to the grace of Christ; besides, it is not the meaning of the text, and the use commonly made of it is abominable, if not wicked.