Did Paul have more authority than the twelve apostles?
Paul's authority as the apostle of the Gentiles became uppermost. The twelve were behind him, since God had turned from Israel to the whole human race through the revelation of the mystery. Paul insisted he was in nothing behind the chiefest apostles, though he humbly called himself nothing.
Les explains that Paul was defending his apostleship and trying to show his authority as the apostle of the Gentiles. The Corinthians were putting him down, saying Peter had more authority and was the big wheel in Jerusalem, or that they went by what Jesus said, or by Apollos. Paul said they compelled him to show his authority, and he should have been commended because he brought them out of pagan darkness, not Peter or Apollos. He says he was in nothing behind the very chiefest apostles, though in humility he was nothing. Les says Paul's authority had now become uppermost; the twelve were behind him, still beating a dead horse because God had turned from Israel to the whole human race. This was part of the revelation of the mystery, the secret hid in God but now revealed through Paul.