2 Corinthians 11:13

THE MESSAGE

Pseudo-Servants of God Will you put up with a little foolish aside from me? Please, just for a moment. The thing that has me so upset is that I care about you so much—this is the passion of God burning inside me! I promised your hand in marriage to Christ, presented you as a pure virgin to her husband. And now I'm afraid that exactly as the Snake seduced Eve with his smooth patter, you are being lured away from the simple purity of your love for Christ. It seems that if someone shows up preaching quite another Jesus than we preached—different spirit, different message—you put up with him quite nicely. But if you put up with these big-shot "apostles," why can't you put up with simple me? I'm as good as they are. It's true that I don't have their voice, haven't mastered that smooth eloquence that impresses you so much. But when I do open my mouth, I at least know what I'm talking about. We haven't kept anything back. We let you in on everything. I wonder, did I make a bad mistake in proclaiming God's Message to you without asking for something in return, serving you free of charge so that you wouldn't be inconvenienced by me? It turns out that the other churches paid my way so that you could have a free ride. Not once during the time I lived among you did anyone have to lift a finger to help me out. My needs were always supplied by the believers from Macedonia province. I was careful never to be a burden to you, and I never will be, you can count on it. With Christ as my witness, it's a point of honor with me, and I'm not going to keep it quiet just to protect you from what the neighbors will think. It's not that I don't love you; God knows I do. I'm just trying to keep things open and honest between us. And I'm not changing my position on this. I'd die before taking your money. I'm giving nobody grounds for lumping me in with those money-grubbing "preachers," vaunting themselves as something special. They're a sorry bunch—pseudo-apostles, lying preachers, crooked workers—posing as Christ's agents but sham to the core. And no wonder! Satan does it all the time, dressing up as a beautiful angel of light. So it shouldn't surprise us when his servants masquerade as servants of God. But they're not getting by with anything. They'll pay for it in the end. Let me come back to where I started—and don't hold it against me if I continue to sound a little foolish. Or if you'd rather, just accept that I am a fool and let me rant on a little. I didn't learn this kind of talk from Christ. Oh, no, it's a bad habit I picked up from the three-ring preachers that are so popular these days. Since you sit there in the judgment seat observing all these shenanigans, you can afford to humor an occasional fool who happens along. You have such admirable tolerance for impostors who rob your freedom, rip you off, steal you blind, put you down—even slap your face! I shouldn't admit it to you, but our stomachs aren't strong enough to tolerate that kind of stuff. Since you admire the egomaniacs of the pulpit so much (remember, this is your old friend, the fool, talking), let me try my hand at it. Do they brag of being Hebrews, Israelites, the pure race of Abraham? I'm their match. Are they servants of Christ? I can go them one better. (I can't believe I'm saying these things. It's crazy to talk this way! But I started, and I'm going to finish.) I've worked much harder, been jailed more often, beaten up more times than I can count, and at death's door time after time. I've been flogged five times with the Jews' thirty-nine lashes, beaten by Roman rods three times, pummeled with rocks once. I've been shipwrecked three times, and immersed in the open sea for a night and a day. In hard traveling year in and year out, I've had to ford rivers, fend off robbers, struggle with friends, struggle with foes. I've been at risk in the city, at risk in the country, endangered by desert sun and sea storm, and betrayed by those I thought were my brothers. I've known drudgery and hard labor, many a long and lonely night without sleep, many a missed meal, blasted by the cold, naked to the weather. And that's not the half of it, when you throw in the daily pressures and anxieties of all the churches. When someone gets to the end of his rope, I feel the desperation in my bones. When someone is duped into sin, an angry fire burns in my gut. If I have to "brag" about myself, I'll brag about the humiliations that make me like Jesus. The eternal and blessed God and Father of our Master Jesus knows I'm not lying. Remember the time I was in Damascus and the governor of King Aretas posted guards at the city gates to arrest me? I crawled through a window in the wall, was let down in a basket, and had to run for my life.

Parallel Translations

New American Standard Bible (1995)
For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ.

Legacy Standard Bible
For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ.

Simplified Cowboy Version
They are wannabe cowboys, charlatans and gunsels, all hat and no cattle! They only pretend to ride for the brand.

Bible in Basic English
For such men are false Apostles, workers of deceit, making themselves seem like Apostles of Christ.

Darby Translation
For such [are] false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ.

Christian Standard Bible®
For such people are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ.

World English Bible
For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, masquerading as Christ's apostles.

Wesley's New Testament (1755)
For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ.

Weymouth's New Testament
For men of this stamp are sham apostles, dishonest workmen, assuming the garb of Apostles of Christ.

King James Version (1611)
For such are false Apostles, deceitfull workers, transforming themselues into the Apostles of Christ.

Literal Translation
For such ones are false apostles, deceitful workers transforming themselves into apostles of Christ.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
For soch false Apostles & disceatfull workers fashion them selues like vnto the Apostles of Christ.

Mace New Testament (1729)
for these are false apostles, deceitful workmen, disguised so as to pass for true apostles.

Amplified Bible
For such men are counterfeit apostles, deceitful workers, masquerading as apostles of Christ.

American Standard Version
For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, fashioning themselves into apostles of Christ.

Revised Standard Version
For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ.

Tyndale New Testament (1525)
For these falce apostles are disceatefull workers and fassion them selves lyke vnto ye apostles of Christ.

Update Bible Version
For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, fashioning themselves into apostles of Christ.

Webster's Bible Translation
For such [are] false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ.

Young's Literal Translation
for those such [are] false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ,

New Century Version
Such men are not true apostles but are workers who lie. They change themselves to look like apostles of Christ.

New English Translation
For such people are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ.

Berean Standard Bible
For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, masquerading as apostles of Christ.

Contemporary English Version
Anyway, they are no more than false apostles and dishonest workers. They only pretend to be apostles of Christ.

Complete Jewish Bible
The fact is that such men are pseudo-emissaries: they tell lies about their work and masquerade as emissaries of the Messiah.

English Standard Version
For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ.

Geneva Bible (1587)
For such false apostles are deceitfull workers, and transforme themselues into the Apostles of Christ.

George Lamsa Translation
For they are false apostles, and deceitful workers, posing as apostles of Christ.

Hebrew Names Version
For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, masquerading as Messiah's apostles.

International Standard Version
Such people are false apostles, dishonest workers who are masquerading as apostles of Christ.Acts 15:24; Romans 16:18; 2 Corinthians 2:17; Galatians 1:7; 6:12; Philippians 1:15; 3:2; Titus 1:10-11; 2 Peter 2:1; 1 John 4:1; Revelation 2:2;">[xr]

Etheridge Translation
For these are apostles of falsehood and workers of deceits, assimilating themselves to the apostles of the Meshiha.

Murdock Translation
For they are false legates, crafty workers, and feign themselves to be legates of the Messiah.

New King James Version
For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ.

New Living Translation
These people are false apostles. They are deceitful workers who disguise themselves as apostles of Christ.

New Life Bible
Those men are false missionaries. They lie about their work. But they make themselves look like true missionaries of Christ.

English Revised Version
For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, fashioning themselves into apostles of Christ.

New Revised Standard
For such boasters are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
For, such as these, are false apostles, deceitful workers, transfiguring themselves into apostles of Christ.

Douay-Rheims Bible
For such false apostles are deceitful workmen, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ.

King James Version
For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ.

Lexham English Bible
For such people are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
For such false Apostles [are] disceiptfull workers, transfourmed into ye Apostles of Christe.

Easy-to-Read Version
They are false apostles, lying workers. They only pretend to be apostles of Christ.

New American Standard Bible
For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ.

Good News Translation
Those men are not true apostles—they are false apostles, who lie about their work and disguise themselves to look like real apostles of Christ.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
For siche false apostlis ben trecherouse werk men, and transfiguren hem in to apostlis of Crist.

Contextual Overview

⁷I wonder, did I make a bad mistake in proclaiming God's Message to you without asking for something in return, serving you free of charge so that you wouldn't be inconvenienced by me? It turns out that the other churches paid my way so that you could have a free ride. Not once during the time I lived among you did anyone have to lift a finger to help me out. My needs were always supplied by the believers from Macedonia province. I was careful never to be a burden to you, and I never will be, you can count on it. With Christ as my witness, it's a point of honor with me, and I'm not going to keep it quiet just to protect you from what the neighbors will think. It's not that I don't love you; God knows I do. I'm just trying to keep things open and honest between us. And I'm not changing my position on this. I'd die before taking your money. I'm giving nobody grounds for lumping me in with those money-grubbing "preachers," vaunting themselves as something special. They're a sorry bunch—pseudo-apostles, lying preachers, crooked workers—posing as Christ's agents but sham to the core. And no wonder! Satan does it all the time, dressing up as a beautiful angel of light. So it shouldn't surprise us when his servants masquerade as servants of God. But they're not getting by with anything. They'll pay for it in the end. Let me come back to where I started—and don't hold it against me if I continue to sound a little foolish. Or if you'd rather, just accept that I am a fool and let me rant on a little. I didn't learn this kind of talk from Christ. Oh, no, it's a bad habit I picked up from the three-ring preachers that are so popular these days. Since you sit there in the judgment seat observing all these shenanigans, you can afford to humor an occasional fool who happens along. You have such admirable tolerance for impostors who rob your freedom, rip you off, steal you blind, put you down—even slap your face! I shouldn't admit it to you, but our stomachs aren't strong enough to tolerate that kind of stuff. Since you admire the egomaniacs of the pulpit so much (remember, this is your old friend, the fool, talking), let me try my hand at it. Do they brag of being Hebrews, Israelites, the pure race of Abraham? I'm their match. Are they servants of Christ? I can go them one better. (I can't believe I'm saying these things. It's crazy to talk this way! But I started, and I'm going to finish.) I've worked much harder, been jailed more often, beaten up more times than I can count, and at death's door time after time. I've been flogged five times with the Jews' thirty-nine lashes, beaten by Roman rods three times, pummeled with rocks once. I've been shipwrecked three times, and immersed in the open sea for a night and a day. In hard traveling year in and year out, I've had to ford rivers, fend off robbers, struggle with friends, struggle with foes. I've been at risk in the city, at risk in the country, endangered by desert sun and sea storm, and betrayed by those I thought were my brothers. I've known drudgery and hard labor, many a long and lonely night without sleep, many a missed meal, blasted by the cold, naked to the weather. And that's not the half of it, when you throw in the daily pressures and anxieties of all the churches. When someone gets to the end of his rope, I feel the desperation in my bones. When someone is duped into sin, an angry fire burns in my gut. If I have to "brag" about myself, I'll brag about the humiliations that make me like Jesus. The eternal and blessed God and Father of our Master Jesus knows I'm not lying. Remember the time I was in Damascus and the governor of King Aretas posted guards at the city gates to arrest me? I crawled through a window in the wall, was let down in a basket, and had to run for my life. ¹³Pseudo-Servants of God Will you put up with a little foolish aside from me? Please, just for a moment. The thing that has me so upset is that I care about you so much—this is the passion of God burning inside me! I promised your hand in marriage to Christ, presented you as a pure virgin to her husband. And now I'm afraid that exactly as the Snake seduced Eve with his smooth patter, you are being lured away from the simple purity of your love for Christ. It seems that if someone shows up preaching quite another Jesus than we preached—different spirit, different message—you put up with him quite nicely. But if you put up with these big-shot "apostles," why can't you put up with simple me? I'm as good as they are. It's true that I don't have their voice, haven't mastered that smooth eloquence that impresses you so much. But when I do open my mouth, I at least know what I'm talking about. We haven't kept anything back. We let you in on everything. I wonder, did I make a bad mistake in proclaiming God's Message to you without asking for something in return, serving you free of charge so that you wouldn't be inconvenienced by me? It turns out that the other churches paid my way so that you could have a free ride. Not once during the time I lived among you did anyone have to lift a finger to help me out. My needs were always supplied by the believers from Macedonia province. I was careful never to be a burden to you, and I never will be, you can count on it. With Christ as my witness, it's a point of honor with me, and I'm not going to keep it quiet just to protect you from what the neighbors will think. It's not that I don't love you; God knows I do. I'm just trying to keep things open and honest between us. And I'm not changing my position on this. I'd die before taking your money. I'm giving nobody grounds for lumping me in with those money-grubbing "preachers," vaunting themselves as something special. They're a sorry bunch—pseudo-apostles, lying preachers, crooked workers—posing as Christ's agents but sham to the core. And no wonder! Satan does it all the time, dressing up as a beautiful angel of light. So it shouldn't surprise us when his servants masquerade as servants of God. But they're not getting by with anything. They'll pay for it in the end. Let me come back to where I started—and don't hold it against me if I continue to sound a little foolish. Or if you'd rather, just accept that I am a fool and let me rant on a little. I didn't learn this kind of talk from Christ. Oh, no, it's a bad habit I picked up from the three-ring preachers that are so popular these days. Since you sit there in the judgment seat observing all these shenanigans, you can afford to humor an occasional fool who happens along. You have such admirable tolerance for impostors who rob your freedom, rip you off, steal you blind, put you down—even slap your face! I shouldn't admit it to you, but our stomachs aren't strong enough to tolerate that kind of stuff. Since you admire the egomaniacs of the pulpit so much (remember, this is your old friend, the fool, talking), let me try my hand at it. Do they brag of being Hebrews, Israelites, the pure race of Abraham? I'm their match. Are they servants of Christ? I can go them one better. (I can't believe I'm saying these things. It's crazy to talk this way! But I started, and I'm going to finish.) I've worked much harder, been jailed more often, beaten up more times than I can count, and at death's door time after time. I've been flogged five times with the Jews' thirty-nine lashes, beaten by Roman rods three times, pummeled with rocks once. I've been shipwrecked three times, and immersed in the open sea for a night and a day. In hard traveling year in and year out, I've had to ford rivers, fend off robbers, struggle with friends, struggle with foes. I've been at risk in the city, at risk in the country, endangered by desert sun and sea storm, and betrayed by those I thought were my brothers. I've known drudgery and hard labor, many a long and lonely night without sleep, many a missed meal, blasted by the cold, naked to the weather. And that's not the half of it, when you throw in the daily pressures and anxieties of all the churches. When someone gets to the end of his rope, I feel the desperation in my bones. When someone is duped into sin, an angry fire burns in my gut. If I have to "brag" about myself, I'll brag about the humiliations that make me like Jesus. The eternal and blessed God and Father of our Master Jesus knows I'm not lying. Remember the time I was in Damascus and the governor of King Aretas posted guards at the city gates to arrest me? I crawled through a window in the wall, was let down in a basket, and had to run for my life. ¹⁴Pseudo-Servants of God Will you put up with a little foolish aside from me? Please, just for a moment. The thing that has me so upset is that I care about you so much—this is the passion of God burning inside me! I promised your hand in marriage to Christ, presented you as a pure virgin to her husband. And now I'm afraid that exactly as the Snake seduced Eve with his smooth patter, you are being lured away from the simple purity of your love for Christ. It seems that if someone shows up preaching quite another Jesus than we preached—different spirit, different message—you put up with him quite nicely. But if you put up with these big-shot "apostles," why can't you put up with simple me? I'm as good as they are. It's true that I don't have their voice, haven't mastered that smooth eloquence that impresses you so much. But when I do open my mouth, I at least know what I'm talking about. We haven't kept anything back. We let you in on everything. I wonder, did I make a bad mistake in proclaiming God's Message to you without asking for something in return, serving you free of charge so that you wouldn't be inconvenienced by me? It turns out that the other churches paid my way so that you could have a free ride. Not once during the time I lived among you did anyone have to lift a finger to help me out. My needs were always supplied by the believers from Macedonia province. I was careful never to be a burden to you, and I never will be, you can count on it. With Christ as my witness, it's a point of honor with me, and I'm not going to keep it quiet just to protect you from what the neighbors will think. It's not that I don't love you; God knows I do. I'm just trying to keep things open and honest between us. And I'm not changing my position on this. I'd die before taking your money. I'm giving nobody grounds for lumping me in with those money-grubbing "preachers," vaunting themselves as something special. They're a sorry bunch—pseudo-apostles, lying preachers, crooked workers—posing as Christ's agents but sham to the core. And no wonder! Satan does it all the time, dressing up as a beautiful angel of light. So it shouldn't surprise us when his servants masquerade as servants of God. But they're not getting by with anything. They'll pay for it in the end. Let me come back to where I started—and don't hold it against me if I continue to sound a little foolish. Or if you'd rather, just accept that I am a fool and let me rant on a little. I didn't learn this kind of talk from Christ. Oh, no, it's a bad habit I picked up from the three-ring preachers that are so popular these days. Since you sit there in the judgment seat observing all these shenanigans, you can afford to humor an occasional fool who happens along. You have such admirable tolerance for impostors who rob your freedom, rip you off, steal you blind, put you down—even slap your face! I shouldn't admit it to you, but our stomachs aren't strong enough to tolerate that kind of stuff. Since you admire the egomaniacs of the pulpit so much (remember, this is your old friend, the fool, talking), let me try my hand at it. Do they brag of being Hebrews, Israelites, the pure race of Abraham? I'm their match. Are they servants of Christ? I can go them one better. (I can't believe I'm saying these things. It's crazy to talk this way! But I started, and I'm going to finish.) I've worked much harder, been jailed more often, beaten up more times than I can count, and at death's door time after time. I've been flogged five times with the Jews' thirty-nine lashes, beaten by Roman rods three times, pummeled with rocks once. I've been shipwrecked three times, and immersed in the open sea for a night and a day. In hard traveling year in and year out, I've had to ford rivers, fend off robbers, struggle with friends, struggle with foes. I've been at risk in the city, at risk in the country, endangered by desert sun and sea storm, and betrayed by those I thought were my brothers. I've known drudgery and hard labor, many a long and lonely night without sleep, many a missed meal, blasted by the cold, naked to the weather. And that's not the half of it, when you throw in the daily pressures and anxieties of all the churches. When someone gets to the end of his rope, I feel the desperation in my bones. When someone is duped into sin, an angry fire burns in my gut. If I have to "brag" about myself, I'll brag about the humiliations that make me like Jesus. The eternal and blessed God and Father of our Master Jesus knows I'm not lying. Remember the time I was in Damascus and the governor of King Aretas posted guards at the city gates to arrest me? I crawled through a window in the wall, was let down in a basket, and had to run for my life. ¹⁵Pseudo-Servants of God Will you put up with a little foolish aside from me? Please, just for a moment. The thing that has me so upset is that I care about you so much—this is the passion of God burning inside me! I promised your hand in marriage to Christ, presented you as a pure virgin to her husband. And now I'm afraid that exactly as the Snake seduced Eve with his smooth patter, you are being lured away from the simple purity of your love for Christ. It seems that if someone shows up preaching quite another Jesus than we preached—different spirit, different message—you put up with him quite nicely. But if you put up with these big-shot "apostles," why can't you put up with simple me? I'm as good as they are. It's true that I don't have their voice, haven't mastered that smooth eloquence that impresses you so much. But when I do open my mouth, I at least know what I'm talking about. We haven't kept anything back. We let you in on everything. I wonder, did I make a bad mistake in proclaiming God's Message to you without asking for something in return, serving you free of charge so that you wouldn't be inconvenienced by me? It turns out that the other churches paid my way so that you could have a free ride. Not once during the time I lived among you did anyone have to lift a finger to help me out. My needs were always supplied by the believers from Macedonia province. I was careful never to be a burden to you, and I never will be, you can count on it. With Christ as my witness, it's a point of honor with me, and I'm not going to keep it quiet just to protect you from what the neighbors will think. It's not that I don't love you; God knows I do. I'm just trying to keep things open and honest between us. And I'm not changing my position on this. I'd die before taking your money. I'm giving nobody grounds for lumping me in with those money-grubbing "preachers," vaunting themselves as something special. They're a sorry bunch—pseudo-apostles, lying preachers, crooked workers—posing as Christ's agents but sham to the core. And no wonder! Satan does it all the time, dressing up as a beautiful angel of light. So it shouldn't surprise us when his servants masquerade as servants of God. But they're not getting by with anything. They'll pay for it in the end.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

false: 2 Corinthians 11:15, 2 Corinthians 2:17, 2 Corinthians 4:2, Matthew 25:24, Acts 15:1, Acts 15:24, Acts 20:30, Romans 16:18, Galatians 1:7, Galatians 2:4, Galatians 4:17, Galatians 6:12, Ephesians 4:14, Philippians 1:15, Philippians 1:16, Colossians 2:4, Colossians 2:8, 1 Timothy 1:4-7, 1 Timothy 4:1-3, 1 Timothy 6:3-5, 2 Timothy 2:17-19, 2 Timothy 3:5-9, 2 Timothy 4:3, 2 Timothy 4:4, 2 Peter 2:1-3, 1 John 2:18, 1 John 4:1, 2 John 1:7-11, Jude 1:4, Revelation 2:2, Revelation 2:9, Revelation 2:20, Revelation 19:20

deceitful: Philippians 3:2, Titus 1:10, Titus 1:11

Reciprocal: Genesis 3:5 - God Leviticus 11:42 - goeth upon the belly Deuteronomy 13:2 - General 1 Kings 13:18 - But 1 Kings 22:11 - horns of iron 2 Kings 10:19 - But Jehu 2 Chronicles 18:20 - there came Ezra 4:2 - Let us Nehemiah 6:5 - with an open letter Psalms 52:2 - working Proverbs 11:9 - An hypocrite Proverbs 19:27 - General Proverbs 25:14 - boasteth Proverbs 28:10 - causeth Song of Solomon 5:7 - watchmen Isaiah 9:15 - the prophet Jeremiah 5:31 - prophets Jeremiah 23:16 - Hearken Jeremiah 27:14 - hearken Jeremiah 29:8 - Let Ezekiel 13:4 - like Daniel 11:34 - cleave Micah 2:11 - a man Zephaniah 3:4 - light Zechariah 13:2 - cause Matthew 7:15 - which Matthew 13:25 - enemy Matthew 13:39 - enemy Matthew 13:47 - and gathered Matthew 24:4 - Take Luke 21:8 - Take John 8:44 - When John 10:1 - the same Acts 13:6 - a false 1 Corinthians 3:10 - and another 2 Corinthians 11:3 - so 2 Corinthians 11:29 - and I burn Galatians 1:8 - though Galatians 3:1 - who Galatians 6:4 - and not Ephesians 6:11 - the wiles Philippians 1:10 - approve things that are excellent Colossians 2:23 - a show 1 Thessalonians 2:3 - General 1 Thessalonians 3:5 - lest 2 Thessalonians 2:10 - deceivableness 2 Timothy 3:8 - men James 3:6 - it is James 3:15 - devilish 2 Peter 3:17 - being 1 John 2:26 - concerning Revelation 2:24 - the depths Revelation 13:11 - and he had Revelation 16:14 - the spirits Revelation 20:3 - should deceive

Gill's Notes on the Bible

For such are false apostles,.... Such as those he had in view, who sought an occasion to depress him, and exalt themselves, and to get money from the Corinthians; these were "false apostles", or apostles falsely so called; they had the name, but not the thing; they were not called and sent forth by Christ; they had not the grace of apostleship, or gifts qualifying them for that high office; the power and authority they exercised was usurped by them; they could not prove their mission by true and real miracles; nor had they any seals of their apostleship, as those who were sent by Christ had:

deceitful workers; they went by the name of labourers in Christ's vineyard, when they were loiterers in it; they pretended to work, but did not; and to work for Christ, when they only served themselves, and their own bellies; they took upon them to interpret the Scriptures, but in a very fallacious manner; they walked in craftiness, and handled the word of God deceitfully, and lay in wait to deceive men; and were masters of so much art and cunning, that, if it was possible, they would have deceived the very elect:

transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ: not so much by putting on a like garb or dress, but by pretending to be of the same principles, and to follow their practices, and to pursue the same good ends in their ministrations.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

For such are false apostles - They have no claim to the apostolic office. They are deceivers. They pretend to be apostles; but they have no divine commission from the Redeemer. Paul had thus far argued the case without giving them an explicit designation as deceivers. But here he says that people who had conducted thus; who attempted to impose on the people; who had brought another gospel, whatever pretences they might have - and he was not disposed to deny that there was much that was plausible - were really impostors and the enemies of Christ. It is morally certain, from 2 Corinthians 11:22, that these people were Jews; but why they had engaged in the work of preaching, or why they had gone to Corinth, cannot with certainty be determined.

Deceitful workers - Impostors. People who practice various arts to impose on others. They were crafty, and fraudulent, and hypocritical. It is probable that they were people who saw that great advantage might be taken of the new religion; people who saw the power which it had over the people, and who saw the confidence which the new converts were inclined to repose in their teachers; perhaps people who had seen the disciples to the Christian faith commit all their property to the hands of the apostles, or who had heard of their doing it (compare Acts 4:34-35), and who supposed that by pretending to be apostles also they might come in for a share of this confidence, and avail themselves of this disposition to commit their property to their spiritual guides. To succeed, it was needful as far as possible to undermine the influence of the true apostles, and take their place in the confidence of the people. Thence they were “deceitful (δόλιοι dolioi) workers,” full of trick, and cunning, and of plausible arts to impose on others.

Transforming themselves ... - Pretending to be apostles. Hypocritical and deceitful, they yet pretended to have been sent by Christ. This is a direct charge of hypocrisy. They knew they were deceivers; and yet they assumed the high claims of apostles of the Son of God.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 2 Corinthians 11:13. For such are false apostles — Persons who pretend to be apostles, but have no mission from Christ.

Deceitful workers — They do preach and labour, but they have nothing but their own emolument in view.

Transforming themselves — Assuming as far as they possibly can, consistently with their sinister views, the habit, manner, and doctrine of the apostles of Christ.