SEV Biblia, Chapter 12:16
Pero sea así, yo no os he agravado; sino que, como soy astuto, os he tomado por engao.
Clarke's Bible Commentary - 2 Corinthians 12:16
Verse 16. But be it so, I did not burden you] That is: You grant that I did not burden you, that I took nothing from you, but preached to you the Gospel freely; but you say that, BEING CRAFTY, I caught you with guile; i.e. getting from you, by means of others, what I pretended to be unwilling to receive immediately from yourselves. Many persons suppose that the words, being crafty, I caught you with guile, are the words of the apostle and not of his slanderers; and therefore have concluded that it is lawful to use guile, deceit, &c., in order to serve a good and a religious purpose. This doctrine is abominable; and the words are most evidently those of the apostle's detractors, against which he defends his conduct in the two following verses.
John Gill's Bible Commentary
Ver. 16. But be it so, I did not burden you , etc..] These words are not spoken by the apostle in his own person of himself, but in the person of his adversaries, and contain a concession and an objection of theirs, but be it so; they granted that he had not burdened the Corinthians, that he had took nothing of them himself for preaching the Gospel; they owned that he had preached it freely; this was so clear a point, and so flagrant a case, that they could not deny it; yet they insinuated to the Corinthians, and objected to the apostle, that though he did not receive anything from them with his own hands, yet he craftily and cunningly made use of others to drain their purses, and receive it for him; and which is suggested in the next clause: nevertheless, being crafty, I caught you with guile ; so say the false apostles of me; for these are not the words of the apostle in his own person; nor to be understood of any spiritual craft, or lawful cunning and prudent artifices used by him, to allure and draw the Corinthians into a good liking and opinion of the Gospel and of his ministry, and so caught them, and was the happy means of their conversion; but they are spoken in the person of the false apostles, charging him with a wicked and criminal craftiness, by making use of other persons in a sly underhanded way, to get this church's money, when he pretended to preach the Gospel freely; to which he answers in the next verse.
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 11-21 - We owe it to good men, to stand up in the defence of their reputation and we are under special obligations to those from whom we have received benefit, especially spiritual benefit, to own them a instruments in God's hand of good to us. Here is an account of the apostle's behaviour and kind intentions; in which see the character of a faithful minister of the gospel. This was his great aim and design to do good. Here are noticed several sins commonly found amon professors of religion. Falls and misdeeds are humbling to a minister and God sometimes takes this way to humble those who might be tempte to be lifted up. These vast verses show to what excesses the fals teachers had drawn aside their deluded followers. How grievous it is that such evils should be found among professors of the gospel! Ye thus it is, and has been too often, and it was so even in the days of the apostles __________________________________________________________________
Greek Textus Receptus
εστω 2077 5749 V-PXM-3S δε 1161 CONJ εγω 1473 P-1NS ου 3756 PRT-N κατεβαρησα 2599 5656 V-AAI-1S υμας 5209 P-2AP αλλ 235 CONJ υπαρχων 5225 5723 V-PAP-NSM πανουργος 3835 N-NSM δολω 1388 N-DSM υμας 5209 P-2AP ελαβον 2983 5627 V-2AAI-1S
Vincent's NT Word Studies
16. With guile. Alluding to a charge that he availed himself of the collection for the poor to secure money for himself. He uses his adversaries' words.
Robertson's NT Word Studies
12:16 {I did not myself burden you} (egw ou katebaresa humas). First aorist active of late verb katabarew, to press a burden down on one. Only here in N.T. {Crafty} (panourgos). Old word from pan, all, and ergo, to do anything (good or bad). Good sense is skilful, bad sense cunning. Only here in N.T. and Paul is quoting the word from his enemies. {With guile} (dolwi). Instrumental case of dolos, bait to catch fish with. The enemies of Paul said that he was raising this big collection for himself. Moffatt has done well to put these charges in quotation marks to make it plain to readers that Paul is ironical.
