Charles Ellicott Commentary 2 Corinthians 12:19

"Ye think all this time that we are excusing ourselves unto you. In the sight of God speak we in Christ. But all things, beloved, [are] for your edifying." — 2 Corinthians 12:19 (ASV)

Again, think ye that we excuse ourselves unto you?—Many of the best manuscripts present the reading palai (long ago), instead of palin (again). In this case, the sentence is better taken as an assertion, not as a question—“You are thinking, and have been thinking for a long time, that it is to you that we have been making our defense.” The Greek verb for “excuse” is that which is always used for a formal apologia, or vindication (Luke 12:11; Luke 21:14; Acts 19:33; Acts 24:10).

St. Paul deprecates the idea that he has any wish to enter on such a vindication. He is anxious to explain his conduct, as in 2 Corinthians 1:15–24, 2 Corinthians 8:20–24, and 2 Corinthians 11:7–12, but he does not acknowledge that he stands at the bar before their judgment-seat. He speaks, i.e., in the same tone of independence as in 1 Corinthians 4:3–5. The motive which really prompts him to speak as he has spoken is not the wish to clear himself from aspersions, but before God in Christ—under a profound sense that God is his Judge, and that Christ is, as it were, the sphere in which his thoughts revolve—he is seeking to “edify,” i.e., to build them up in the faith or love of God. He has the same end in view in all this perturbed emotion as in the calm liturgical directions of 1 Corinthians 14:12–26.