11 I have become a fool in boasting; you have compelled me. For I ought to have been commended by you; for in nothing was I behind the most eminent apostles, though I am nothing.
In this section, Paul compared himself to the false apostles. He defended his apostleship through the miracles he performed. Apostles had the gift of working miracles to found the economy of the church and write Scripture (Eph 2:20; He 2:4).
11 I have become a fool in boasting;
Paul posed foolish bragging in chapter 11. In doing this, he compared himself to the false apostles. With this verse, he finished his foolish bragging.
you [emphatic] have compelled me.
The Corinthians forced the apostle into foolish bragging because of their attraction to the false apostles. He was forced into the defense of his apostleship by assuming his enemies’ foolish boasting to prove a point.
For I ought to have been commended by you;
The Corinthian church did not defend Paul but joined with the false teachers in criticizing him. It was self-evident that he founded the church in Corinth. They should have commended him for starting the work in the city.
for in nothing was I behind the most eminent [preeminent] apostles,
These words are a sarcastic reference to the buffoons, preeminent apostles at Corinth (2 Corinthians 11:5).
though I am nothing.
Paul’s ministry did not depend on himself as a person but upon God. The apostle himself did not perform the miracles; they came from the power of God
PRINCIPLE:
The apostles of Christ ceased with the closing of the canon of Scripture.
APPLICATION:
The apostles commissioned by Christ were unique; apostleship ceased with the closing of the canon of the Bible. Some today claim to be apostles in the same sense as the original apostles. This is apostasy (Re 2:2). There is such a thing as false apostles (2 Cor 11:13).
Good morning, I would like to point out, in the spirit of God’s love, a correction to your interpretation that the apostles ceased with the cannons completion. Please as Matt 18:4 shows us how we are to receive the Kingdom of Heaven, humble and child like, if 2 Corinthians 12:12 ( The things that mark an Apostle- signs, wonders and miracles-) was a reference to proofs of a true Apostle then that would be proof today.
Remember the letter kills but the spirit gives life
He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant–not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious? If the ministry that condemns men is glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry that brings righteousness!
If I may I would like to share with you (Apostle Kathryn Krick)
God is restoring the Acts Church
A long time ago man relied on his own understanding, and did not want to follow the ways of God, but what he was comfortable with, and that was pastors, evangelist and teachers. They cannot be included if all five are not included that would be taking it out of context.
The end times revival has begun, let us not find ourselves with the spirit of religion as the Pharisees and the Sadducees rejected Jesus, only because they could not humble some selves and come with ears that were childlike to receive the true revelation of the new thing that God was doing through his son, Jesus Christ, and now continues through you and I just the same, and he did if not even in greater ways as He said it would be
Amen Hallelujah Blessings in the Name of Jesus
Barbara, you are deeply mistaken about apostleship. The Bible uses apostles in two senses: 1) for the apostles of Christ, which includes the apostle Paul, 2) and the apostles of the church. The word “apostle” comes from two Greek words απο, which means “from,” and στελλω, which means “to send.” When the Bible uses apostles of the church, the term means to send as a missionary. That usage is still valid today. However, an apostle of Jesus Christ had the right to write Scripture and to found the starting of the church, which began on Pentecost. When God closed the canon, that is the writing of Scripture, the apostles of Christ ceased to exist when the canon of Scripture was complete. To attribute human beings with that gift of apostleship is heresy, otherwise, they would have the authority to write Scripture.