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).
