You will recall how many times Paul has called boasting foolishness, yet he considers boasting about the Lord to be profitable for everyone, so he boasted about the Lord's strength in his weakness. He boasted about the things the Lord had helped him to endure for the sake of the gospel. He picks up there today and speaks of the love in his heart for the Corinthian church.
"I have made a fool of myself, but you drove me to it. I ought to have been commended by you, for I am not in the least inferior to the 'super apostles', even though I am nothing. I persevered in demonstrating among you the marks of a true apostle, including signs, wonders and miracles. How were you inferior to the other churches, except that I was never a burden to you? Forgive me this wrong!" (2 Corinthians 12:11-13) Of course Paul did not wrong the church for refusing to accept support from them. He is being sarcastic because the Corinthians have gladly given their support to the false apostles who have been teaching only for monetary gain. Those who call themselves 'super apostles' will not give a sermon unless they are paid to appear, yet Paul worked with his own hands and accepted donations from churches he had already founded while he taught the gospel in Corinth. He does not want his name connected with those who exploit people for financial gain. He wants the gospel to be available free of charge to anyone who wishes to hear it. It is his habit to accept nothing when he is first bringing the gospel to a new region. He does at times receive support from well-established churches who want to help him to spread the gospel on missionary journeys.
"Now I am ready to visit you for the third time, and I will not be a burden to you, because what I want is not your possessions but you. After all, children should not have to save up for their parents, but parents for their children." (2 Corinthians 12:14) Paul is coming to Corinth to collect the offering that is being gathered for the suffering saints of Judea, but none of that money will go into his own pocket. He is not asking or expecting the people of Corinth to support him. His only concern is that they continue to grow in the faith, not that they present him with lavish gifts. It's possible to give regularly to good works and not have a true heart for God. Taking up an offering for Paul would not prove that the hearts of the Corinthians are right with the Lord.
"So I will very gladly spend for you everything I have and expend myself as well. If I love you more, will you love me less? Be that as it may, I have not been a burden to you. Yet, crafty fellow that I am, I caught you by trickery! Did I exploit you through any of the men I sent to you? I urged Titus to go to you and I sent our brother with him. Titus did not exploit you, did he? Did we not walk in the same footsteps by the same Spirit?" (2 Corinthians 12:15-18) Again we find him being sarcastic in repeating the accusation that has been made against him by the false apostles. They say he persuaded the Corinthians to believe the gospel by trickery. Are the false apostles teaching the same basic facts of the gospel as Paul? Perhaps so, perhaps not. I can't imagine their teaching having any power in it to save souls, since they themselves are not right with the Lord. But whatever they are teaching, they are teaching it for monetary gain, and they want to keep on teaching for monetary gain. It is to their benefit to discredit the Apostle Paul who teaches the gospel for free, otherwise the people will all flock to Paul because he won't ask them to dip into their pockets. These teachers claim Paul performed signs and wonders among the people, not through the Holy Spirit, but through mere magic tricks.
"Have you been thinking all along that we have been defending ourselves to you? We have been speaking in the sight of God as those in Christ; and everything we do, dear friends, is for your strengthening." (2 Corinthians 12:19) He's saying, "We don't need to defend ourselves against any accusations. Everything we've done, we've done openly. We have nothing to hide."
"For I am afraid that when I come I may not find you as I want you to be, and you may not find me as you want me to be. I fear that there may be discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, slander, gossip, arrogance and disorder." (2 Corinthians 12:20) These are the very attitudes and sins he scolded them for in his first letter. When Titus met Paul in Macedonia he told him of the repentance of the Corinthians, but Paul is still concerned about the false teachers and about the Corinthians' willingness to listen to them. He's worried that when he sees them again they will have fallen back into the same old behaviors.
"I am afraid that when I come again my God will humble me before you, and I will be grieved over many who have sinned earlier and have not repented of the impurity, sexual sin and debauchery in which they have indulged." (2 Corinthians 12:21) He doesn't want to be disappointed in either the Corinthians or in the work he has done with them. It would be humbling indeed to revisit these people and not be able to tell any difference between how they look now and how they looked when he first met them. They were pagan Gentiles when he first met them, just like the Ephesians who were "without hope and without God in the world". (Ephesians 2:12) But when he taught them the gospel they accepted it gladly and their lifestyle should bear witness to their conversion. He doesn't want to walk back into Corinth and not be able to tell the redeemed people of God from the pagan sinners.
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