Chapter twelve concludes Paulās self-defense with his final three points. First, in 2 Corinthians 12:1-10 he recounted an experience that happened āfourteen years ago.ā He referred to himself in the third person (āI know a manā), because even in his self-defense his purpose was to point the Corinthians back to Jesus rather than to himself […]
Chapter eleven continues Paulās defense of himself to the Corinthian believers. Many of them had been on the verge of rejecting him, but his previous letter brought them back a little. Now he wanted to stop their retreat once-and-for-all. This chapter contains some of the harshest words we have recorded from Paulās hand toward believers
Chapter ten begins the final section of the letter and a new defense of Paulās authority over the Corinthian church as Godās divinely-appointed apostle, specifically in comparison to the false teachers that had deceived them. Paulās appeal that they would listen to him was offered in āthe meekness and gentleness of Christā (2 Corinthians 10:1).
