Charles Ellicott Commentary 2 Corinthians 11:12

"But what I do, that I will do, that I may cut off occasion from them that desire an occasion; that wherein they glory, they may be found even as we." — 2 Corinthians 11:12 (ASV)

That I may cut off occasion from them which desire occasion.—It is evident that the “occasion,” or opening for attack, that his opponents had so desired, was one against which he protected himself by not taking money. They boasted of their own disinterestedness. They taunted him with his perceived meanness in taking money from the Macedonian churches.

The Apostle wishes, therefore, by persisting in his course of action, despite the appeals of a real or feigned jealousy, to place himself on the same level with them, them on the same level with himself.

The comparison between them must rest, he says, on other grounds. This seems the only tenable and coherent interpretation. Nor is there any force in the objection that has been urged against it: that there is no evidence the rival teachers taught gratuitously. If this is a natural inference from St. Paul’s language, and there is no evidence to the contrary, that is surely evidence enough.

It may be added, however, that the evidence of prior probability at least supports the interpretation given here. It was likely that those who claimed to be, in some special sense, followers of Christ would at least profess to act on the words of Christ: Freely ye have received, freely give (see note on Matthew 10:8).

It was also likely that those who, from another point of view, were representatives of the scribes of Judaism, would at least profess to act as the noblest of those scribes had acted, teaching not for payment but for the love of teaching. That this was a pretense, and not a reality, we will later see reason to believe.