Albert Barnes Commentary 2 Corinthians 11:13

"For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, fashioning themselves into apostles of Christ." — 2 Corinthians 11:13 (ASV)

For such are false apostles. They have no claim to the apostolic office. They are deceivers. They pretend to be apostles, but they have no divine commission from the Redeemer. Paul had until now argued the case without giving them an explicit designation as deceivers. But here he says that men who had conducted themselves in this way—who had attempted to impose on the people, who had brought another gospel, whatever pretenses they might have—and he was not inclined to deny that there was much that was plausible—were really impostors and the enemies of Christ.

It is morally certain, from 2 Corinthians 11:22, that these men were Jews; but why they had engaged in the work of preaching, or why they had gone to Corinth, cannot be determined with certainty.

Deceitful workers. Impostors. Men who practice various arts to impose on others. They were crafty, fraudulent, and hypocritical.

It is probable that they were men who saw that great advantage might be taken of the new religion; men who saw the power it had over the people, and who saw the confidence new converts were inclined to place in their teachers. Perhaps they were men who had seen the disciples of the Christian faith commit all their property to the hands of the apostles, or who had heard of their doing so , and who supposed that by also pretending to be apostles they might gain a share of this confidence and avail themselves of this disposition to commit their property to their spiritual guides.

To succeed, it was necessary as far as possible to undermine the influence of the true apostles and take their place in the confidence of the people. Therefore, they were "deceitful (dolioi) workers," full of trickery, cunning, and plausible arts to impose on others.

Transforming themselves, etc. Pretending to be apostles. Hypocritical and deceitful, yet they pretended to have been sent by Christ. This is a direct charge of hypocrisy. They knew they were deceivers, and yet they assumed the high claims of apostles of the Son of God.

Deceitful workers: Philippians 3:2; Titus 1:10–11.