2 CORINTHIANS CHAPTER 12
Their love should have commended him in his love for them: V.15. And I will very gladly spend and be spent for you; though the more abundantly I love you, the less I be loved. V.16. But be it so, I did not burden you; nevertheless, being crafty, I caught you with guile.
In this spirit his attitude toward them is: But I very gladly will spend, and be wholly spent, for your souls. Such is the apostle’s love for the Corinthians that not only was every thought of gain for himself excluded, but he was also ready, with a hearty good will, to give up all that he had in the world for them, yea, to sacrifice his life, if he could thereby promote their spiritual welfare. It is the same unselfish devotion which he exhibited also at other times, 1 Thess. 2, 8; Phil. 2, 17; 2 Tim. 2, 10.
But he is obliged to add, with melancholy sadness: If I loved you more abundantly, am I loved the less? or: Although the more abundantly I love you, the less I am loved.
He was willing to go to the utmost in overcoming their prejudice and hostility, but he was not meeting with success in proportion, rather in inverse ratio, a fact which he felt very keenly. Yet his love is able to make even this sacrifice: But be it so! He at least has the satisfaction that he has not burdened them with his maintenance, and this the Corinthians must concede.
Now, however, his opponents made another insinuation: But being crafty, I caught you with guile. They insinuated that he was keen enough to take care of his own advantage, that he did not accept any means of support directly, but that he was not above suspicion in the matter of the collection alleged to be for the poor in Judea. This matter he now takes up, in the last part of the chapter.