2 Corinthians 12:11
I am become a fool in glorying; ye have compelled me: for I ought to have been commended of you: for in nothing am I behind the very chiefest apostles, though I be nothing.
Study Note
Study Note
Paul's grudging claim 'I am become a fool in glorying; ye have compelled me: for I ought to have been commended of you: for in nothing am I behind the very chiefest apostles, though I be nothing' contains one of his most paradoxical self-assessments. The simultaneous claim of apostolic equality ('nothing behind the chiefest apostles') and personal nothingness ('though I be nothing') is not contradiction but the grammar of grace: all that is valid in Paul's apostleship is Christ's work, not his own merit. This is the rhetorical climax of 'the fool's speech' (11:16-12:10) in which Paul reluctantly boasts — first of weakness and then of visions — to counter the 'super-apostles' who boasted of strength. 1 Corinthians 15:10 ('I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I but the grace of God') provides the positive formulation.
Other Translations
I am become foolish: ye compelled me; for I ought to have been commended of you: for in nothing was I behind the very chiefest apostles, though I am nothing.
I have become a fool--boasting; ye--ye did compel me; for I ought by you to have been commended, for in nothing was I behind the very chiefest apostles--even if I am nothing.
I have been forced by you to become foolish, though it was right for my praise to have come from you: for in no way was I less than the chief of the Apostles, though I am nothing.
Cross References
So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: …
For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are ye not carnal?
So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase.
Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; …
And last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time.
But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was …
And whether we be afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation, which is effectual in the enduring of the …
Would to God ye could bear with me a little in my folly: and indeed bear with me.
For I suppose I was not a whit behind the very chiefest apostles.
I say again, Let no man think me a fool; if otherwise, yet as a fool receive me, that I …