12:19. defending ourselves.

There is beautiful courtroom imagery in this

verse that can be missed in English. Paul is here asking the Corinthians if they
presume he has been attempting to clear himself of charges before them. He has
not. Rather, in Pauls mind, it is before God that he stands or falls, and God is his
only Judge. The Greek word for defending ourselvesapologeomai (#626
)refers to a public defense in a trial, and, by metaphor and
extension, to defending ones self in an everyday life situation. Paul is saying that
it is not before the court of the Corinthians that he pleads his case, but before the
court of God who sits as Judge he is speaking in Christ.