2 Corinthians 11:13 - Ellicott's Commentary On The Whole Bible

For such are false apostles... — St. Paul’s estimate of the character of his rivals is now given in unsparing language as the reason why he desires to deprive them of any claim which may give them an adventitious superiority to him. In the term “false apostles” we have the explanation of the “apostles extraordinary” of 2 Corinthians 11:5. These “crafty workers” were carrying on a system of imposture, trying to assume the character of being, in a higher sense than he was, “Apostles of Christ.” This again throws light both on the words “if any man trusts that he is Christ’s” of 2 Corinthians 10:7, and on the “I am of Christ” of 1 Corinthians 1:12.