2 Corinthians 11:12

occasion See ch. 2 Corinthians 5:12.

that wherein they glory, they may be found even as we These words seem to imply that the Corinthian false teachers did notaccept 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. 2 Corinthians 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 (2 Corinthians 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.