Charles Ellicott Commentary 2 Corinthians 12:16

"But be it so, I did not myself burden you; but, being crafty, I caught you with guile." — 2 Corinthians 12:16 (ASV)

But be it so, I did not burden you.—The pronoun is again emphatic. The word for “burden” is not the same as in 2 Corinthians 12:13–14, but states the fact less figuratively.

The abruptness of the sentence requires us to trace between the lines the undercurrents of unexpressed thoughts. The extreme, almost jealous, sensitivity of the Apostle’s nature leads him to imagine the cynical sneer with which these assertions of disinterested work would be received.

“Be it so,” he hears them saying; “we admit that he, in his own person, when he was with us, made no demands on our purses; but what are we to think of this ‘collection for the saints’? How do we know into whose pockets that money will go? We know him to be subtle enough (the adjective is that from which we get the “subtlety” of 2 Corinthians 4:2 and 2 Corinthians 11:3) to take us in somehow: what if the collection is a trap?”

There is a specially taunting force in the Greek for “being crafty,” as this phrase takes the fact for granted and assumes that it would inevitably lead to some new development of that character in action.