[1] According to theologian Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer, chapters 10–13 "contain the third chief section of the Epistle, the apostle's polemic vindication of his apostolic dignity and efficiency, and then the conclusion".

Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter are: In verse 13, Paul writes of "false apostles" (Greek: ψευδαποστολοι, pseudapostoloi).

In verse 5 he has compared himself with the "super-apostles" [3] or the "apostles-extraordinary" [4] (Greek: των υπερλιαν αποστολων, tōn hyperlian apostolōn).

He notes that "according to Chrysostom, Theodoret, Grotius, Bengel, and most of the older commentators, also Emmerling, Flatt, Schrader, Baur, Hilgenfeld, Holsten, Holtzmann [among nineteenth century commentators], [he means] the actual summos apostolos, namely Peter, James, and John" but Meyer argues that "Paul is not contending against these, but against the false apostles" and recommends the translation "the over-great apostles".

Meyer lists biblical commentators Richard Simon, Alethius, Heumann, Semler, Michaelis, Schulz, Stolz, Rosenmüller, Fritzsche, Billroth, Rückert, Olshausen, de Wette, Ewald, Osiander, Neander, Hofmann, Weiss, Beyschlag and others as having followed Beza's suggestion, according to which the pseudo-apostles were understood to be Judaistic anti-Pauline teachers.