Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary 2 Corinthians 11:5

"For I reckon that I am not a whit behind the very chiefest apostles." — 2 Corinthians 11:5 (ASV)

The third justification for the request of v.1 now appears (see comment). Still engaging in his “senseless” but pardonable self-praise, Paul maintains that he is in no way inferior to the “super-apostles.” This expression is either the description of the Twelve used by Paul’s opponents and here (see comment) quoted by Paul, or the apostle’s ironical description of the exalted view of the Twelve held by the “false apostles.” In this verse, Paul claims to be in no respect inferior to the original apostles (see 1 Corinthians 9:1; 15:5–8, 10) with whom he was being unfavorably compared and whose authority his adversaries illegitimately invoked in support of their Judaizing program at Corinth.