2 Corinthians 2:17

Many] RV 'the many'; i.e. those Judaising preachers of whom they had experience. These men had stirred up strife in the Church at Corinth by denying St. Paul's authority, accusing him of personal interest in the collection, and (what he resented most) impugning his doctrine. They insisted on the observance of the Jewish Law, and as St. Paul preached the gospel to the Gentiles without reference to the Law, they carried on a mission against him in the cities he visited, seeking to gain his converts over to their own narrow views and Jewish prejudices. It was a critical period for the Church both in Corinth and in other places (cp. Galatians 1:6; Galatians 3:1). 'The true question was no less than this: whether the Catholic Church should be dwarfed into a Jewish sect; whether the religion of spirit and of truth should be supplanted by the worship of letter and of form' (Conybeare and Howson). Corrupt] Make the gospel a means of personal gain. The opponents of St. Paul seem to have made personal profit out of the Corinthians (2 Corinthians 11:20); and at the same time to have charged the Apostle with having a personal interest in the money he was raising for the poor at Jerusalem: cp. 2 Corinthians 8:20; 2 Corinthians 12:17; 2 Corinthians 12:18.

As of God] i.e. as God's true servants. In Christ] i.e. in union with Christ. St. Paul was so entirely submissive to Christ's influence and inspired by His spirit that he spoke of Christ living in him, and of himself as living in Christ: cp. 2 Corinthians 1:21 and ref.