‘I am become foolish, you compelled me; for I ought to have been commended of you. For in nothing was I behind the very highest ranking apostles, though I am nothing. Truly the signs of an apostle were wrought among you in all patience, by signs and wonders and mighty works.'
Having bared his soul to them he now declares once again that all this boasting has been foolishness. He feels he has become foolish. But only because they had forced him to it. It was their fault. They should have been commending him because of what he was, as the chosen Apostle of Christ by the will of God, but they had not. Instead, as they had at the painful visit, they were failing to give him support. Yet who should know better than they that in nothing had he fallen short of the highest ranking Apostles, the Twelve. As much as any he had patiently wrought signs and wonders and mighty works among them.
Miracles were performed in virtually every city that Paul visited. In Paphos (Acts 13:6-12); in Iconium (Acts 14:3); in Lystra (Acts 14:8-10); in Philippi (Acts 16:16-18); in Thessalonica (1 Thessalonians 1:5); in Corinth (1 Corinthians 2:4]; in Ephesus (Acts 19:11-12); in Troas (Acts 20:9-12); and in Malta (Acts 28:1-10). In fact, Paul in his letters says repeatedly that his preaching was not merely one of word but of "power and the Spirit" (see for example, Romans 15:19; 1 Corinthians 2:4; Galatians 3:5; 1 Thessalonians 1:5).
‘Though I am nothing.' But he does not want them to think that he has turned to boasting again. Ei with the indicative denotes what is fact in someone's eyes. So Paul is saying that in the eyes of the world, and certainly of the pseudo-apostles and some of the Corinthians he counts for nothing, and he does not deny that they are right. It is not he who counts for anything, but God. The opposition has already alleged that he lacks formal letters of commendation, that his speaking amounts to nothing and that he is unimpressive in his person (2 Corinthians 3:1-3; 2 Corinthians 10:10).
Or it may reflect his own self-recognition. While he can say that he is not the least bit inferior to the other apostles in signs and wonders, he always attributes his success to the grace of God within him (1 Corinthians 15:10). In and of himself he is aware that the "least of the Apostles" and the "chief of sinners," because he had persecuted the church of God (1 Corinthians 15:9; 1 Timothy 1:15).
‘Signs and wonders and mighty works among them.' An all-inclusive description covering every type of miracle.