inclusive vs. exclusive pronoun (2Cor. 11:12)

Many languages distinguish between inclusive and exclusive first-person plural pronouns (“we”). (Click or tap here to see more details)

The inclusive “we” specifically includes the addressee (“you and I and possibly others”), while the exclusive “we” specifically excludes the addressee (“he/she/they and I, but not you”). This grammatical distinction is called “clusivity.” While Semitic languages such as Hebrew or most Indo-European languages such as Greek or English do not make that distinction, translators of languages with that distinction have to make a choice every time they encounter “we” or a form thereof (in English: “we,” “our,” or “us”).

For this verse, translators typically select the exclusive form (excluding the addressee).

Source: Velma Pickett and Florence Cowan in Notes on Translation January 1962, p. 1ff.

complete verse (2 Corinthians 11:12)

Following are a number of back-translations of 2 Corinthians 11:12:

  • Uma: “So, what I am doing I will not stop. I will not request salary of you, for those high-hearted leaders there [where you are] continually request salary and continually praise themselves. But I, I refuse [to do it], so that it won’t be said [or: so they won’t say] that their work is the same as our (excl.) work.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “Really I am not going to ask wages from you even whenever so that the gurus there with you cannot boast that our (excl.) work for God is the same.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “I will stick to this which I have said, that is that I will not ask from you so that those pretending to be very high apostles of Christ, they will not be able to say that their way of doing things is like ours.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “And I will continue to not request from you so that those pretend apostles will have no chance to boast-about their work saying that there is no difference between what they are doing and what we (excl.) are doing.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “But I will continue my doing this not soliciting-a-salary so that you will comprehend that the boasting of some there is not true, that as-they-say, as for their serving, it’s indeed no different from ours(excl.). For in their serving, soliciting-a-salary is never omitted.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “There where you live I did not take any money in order that those teachers who extract money from you cannot say that they do the same as I do.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)

Translation commentary on 2 Corinthians 11:12

What I do I will continue to do, that is, he will continue to refuse to accept financial help from the Corinthian Christians. Note that Good News Translation has reversed the order of the two parts of this statement to make it more natural in English.

In order to undermine the claim: literally, “that I may cut off the basis….” This expresses the purpose of Paul’s continuing refusal to accept help from the Corinthian Christians. The word translated claim is the same as used in 5.12 for the “cause” or basis of the Corinthians pride in Paul. Here Paul wants to remove any ground or basis that might be used to compare his mission with that of the so-called “superapostles.” Some possible models to translate this clause may be “I want to stop those people from having a reason [to brag]” (Contemporary English Version) or “take away their opportunity…” (God’s New Covenant).

Those who would like to claim: those refers to the superapostles of verse 5.

Who would like to claim: the Revised Standard Version translation perhaps suggests that Paul’s opponents were not actually making the claim to work on the same terms, but only that they would like to. Paul’s opponents have in fact already made the claim which he is seeking to show to be false. This may be better translated “who want to have a basis….”

In their boasted mission: New Revised Standard Version is more like the original when it says “in what they boast about.” There is no word corresponding to mission in the Greek.

The superapostles, however, really have no basis for claiming to work on the same terms as Paul does, since they have accepted support and continue to accept support from the Corinthians (see 11.20).

Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellingworth, Paul. A Handbook on Paul’s Second Letter to the Corinthians. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1993. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .