Albert Barnes Commentary 2 Corinthians 12:17

"Did I take advantage of you by any one of them whom I have sent unto you?" — 2 Corinthians 12:17 (ASV)

Did I make a gain? and so on. In refuting this slander, Paul appeals boldly to the facts and to what they knew. "Name the man," he says, "who has in this way defrauded you under my instructions. If the charge is well-founded, let him be specified, and let the mode in which it was done be distinctly stated." The phrase "make a gain," (from pleonektew), means, properly, to have an advantage; then to take advantage and to seek unlawful gain. Here Paul asks whether he had defrauded them by means of anyone whom he had sent to them.