2Cor 12:10-13 | Clarke | STEP | Verse 10 Therefore I take pleasure - I not only endure them patiently, but am pleased when they occur; for I do it for Christ's sake - on his account; for on his account I suffer. For when I am weak - most oppressed with trials and afflictions, then am I strong; God supporting my mind with his most powerful influences, causing me to rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory.

‏ 2 Corinthians 12:10-13

Verse 10

Therefore I take pleasure - I not only endure them patiently, but am pleased when they occur; for I do it for Christ's sake - on his account; for on his account I suffer. For when I am weak - most oppressed with trials and afflictions, then am I strong; God supporting my mind with his most powerful influences, causing me to rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory. Verse 11

I am become a fool in glorying - It is not the part of a wise or gracious man to boast; but ye have compelled me - I have been obliged to do it, in order to vindicate the cause of God.

I ought to have been commended of you - You should have vindicated both myself and my ministry against the detractors that are among you.

The very chiefest apostles - See 2Cor 11:1.

Though I be nothing - Though I have been thus set at nought by your false apostle; and though, in consequence of what he has said, some of you have been ready to consider me as nothing - what we call good for nothing. This must be the meaning of the apostle, as the following verses prove.

A kind of technical meaning has been imposed on these words, of which many good people seem very fond. I am nothing - I am all sin, defilement, and unworthiness in myself; but Jesus Christ is all in all. This latter clause is an eternal truth; the former may be very true also; the person who uses it may be all sin, defilement, etc., but let him not say that the apostle of the Gentiles was so too, because this is not true; it is false, and it is injurious to the character of the apostle and to the grace of Christ; besides, it is not the meaning of the text, and the use commonly made of it is abominable, if not wicked. Verse 12

The signs of an apostle were wrought among you - Though I have been reputed as nothing, I have given the fullest proof of my Divine mission by various signs, wonders, and miracles, and by that patience which I have manifested towards you: though I had power from God to inflict punishment on the transgressors, I have in every case forborne to do it. Is the man nothing who wrought such miracles among you? Verse 13

For what is it wherein you were inferior - This is a fine, forcible, yet delicate stroke. It was your duty and your interest to have supported your apostle; other Churches have done so: I did not require this from you; in this respect all other Churches are superior to you. I am the cause of your inferiority, by not giving you an opportunity of ministering to my necessities: forgive me the wrong I have done you. It is the privilege of the Churches of Christ to support the ministry of his Gospel among them. Those who do not contribute their part to the support of the Gospel ministry either care nothing for it, or derive no good from it.