Charles Ellicott Commentary 2 Corinthians 12:14

"Behold, this is the third time I am ready to come to you; and I will not be a burden to you: for I seek not yours, but you: for the children ought not to lay up for the parents, but the parents for the children." — 2 Corinthians 12:14 (ASV)

Behold, the third time I am ready to come to you.—The visit to Corinth mentioned in Acts 18:1, followed by a long sojourn, may perhaps be reckoned as the first occasion. Then came the planned journey from Ephesus to Corinth and from there to Macedonia (2 Corinthians 1:16). Now he was preparing for the third journey, announced in 1 Corinthians 16:5–7, from Macedonia to Corinth. (See, however, the Note on 2 Corinthians 13:1.)

I seek not yours, but you.—These words point to the secret motive for the conduct that had annoyed some of the Corinthians. He loved them, as all true friends love, for their own sake, not for anything he might hope to gain from them. He had to be sure that he had gained their hearts before he could receive their gifts, which would be poor substitutes for their affections. Therefore, he announced beforehand that he intended to persevere in the same line of conduct, working for his own maintenance as before. Romans 16:23 indicates that he so far deviated from his purpose as to accept the hospitality of Gaius of Corinth.

For the children ought not to lay up for the parents.—Better, perhaps, are not bound to lay by. There is a touch of exquisite delicacy and tenderness in this defense regarding the seeming wrong about which people had complained, reminding us of similar characteristics in the Epistle to Philemon. He could claim the rights of a father, as in 1 Corinthians 4:15; might he not be allowed to fulfill a father’s obligations, and to give to his children rather than receive from them?