There were those who had charged Paul with self-commendation in writing his former letter. The apostle now referred to this by asking the members of the church if they thus judged his motives. "Do we begin again to commend ourselves?" he inquired; "or need we, as some others, epistles of commendation to you, or letters of commendation from you?" Believers moving to a new place often carried with them letters of commendation from the church with which they had formerly been united; but the leading workers, the founders of these churches, had no need of such commendation. The Corinthian believers, who had been led from the worship of idols to the faith of the gospel, were themselves all the recommendation that Paul needed. Their reception of the truth, and the reformation wrought in their lives, bore eloquent testimony to the faithfulness of his labors and to his authority to counsel, reprove, and exhort as a minister of Christ.

Der var nogle, der havde beskyldt Paulus for selvros, da han skrev sit forrige brev. Apostlen hentydede nu hertil ved at spørge menighedens medlemmer, om de bedømte ham på samme måde. "Begynder vi nu atter at anbefale os selv?" spurgte han; "eller behøver vi måske som visse folk anbefalingsbreve til jer eller fra jer?" Kristne, der flyttede et nyt sted hen, medbragte ofte anbefalingsbreve fra den menighed, de før havde været knyttet til; men de ledende arbejdere, grundlæggerne af disse menigheder, havde ikke brug for den slags anbefalinger. De korintiske troende, der fra afgudsdyrkelsen var blevet ført til tro på evangeliet, var i sig selv al den anbefaling, Paulus havde brug for. Deres antagelse af sandheden og den forandring, der var sket i deres liv, var tilstrækkeligt vidnesbyrd om hans troskab i gerningen og om hans myndighed til at råde, dadle og formane som Kristi tjener.