John Chrysostom

"For this cause have I sent the brethren that our glorying on your behalf may not be made void." Seest thou that he is in anxiety and terror, lest he should seem to have said what he said only for exhortation's sake? 'But because so it is,' saith he, "I have sent the brethren;" 'so earnest am I on your behalf,' "that our glorying may not be made void." And he appears to make himself of the Corinthians' party throughout, although caring for all alike. …

Homily 19 on 2 Corinthians ↗

Theophylact of Ohrid

He makes himself as it were a member of the Corinthian church and is anxious about it. For he says: since I boasted of you, I was afraid lest I be put to shame, and therefore sent the brothers, "that our boasting of you may not be in vain," that is, lest my boasting of you be exposed as empty and fruitless. For I, he says, admiring you, boasted before all and before them. …

Commentary on 2 Corinthians ↗

Thomas Aquinas

Then when he says, But I am sending the brethren, he establishes the true cause for why he was sending such solemn messengers. First, he lays down the general reason; secondly, the special reason (v. 3b). Concerning the first he does two things. First, he assigns the true cause, saying: the reason why I have sent them is not that I believe you are not willing to help the poor, but that our boasting about you may not prove vain, if you should fail: "For I would rather die than have any one deprive me of my ground for boasting" (1 Cor. …

Commentary on 2 Corinthians ↗