An apostle pleading for forbearance.
He now turns round to his adversaries, and with one parting word asks to be let alone.
I. A CLAIM TO BE LEFT UNMOLESTED. "Henceforth let no man cause me troubles," by gainsaying my doctrine, impugning my apostleship, or imposing upon me the labour of a defence. He might well appeal to their forbearance; he needed to be strengthened rather than weakened, comforted rather than discouraged.
II. THE GROUND OF HIS CLAIM. "I bear in my body the marks of Jesus." "I"—not the false teachers who plan to escape persecution by their hypocrisy—" bear in my body the marks"—in many scourgings, wounds, and scars—of Christ's ownership. These marks were the visible vouchers of his apostleship.