2 Corinthians 10:16
The regions beyond you
- The gospel’s word εὐαγγελίζομαι euangelizomai · to speak good news
Original
Translations
so that we can preach the gospel in the regions beyond you. Then we will not be boasting in the work already done in another man’s territory.
To preach the gospel in the regions beyond you, and not to boast in another man’s line of things made ready to our hand.
to proclaim good news in the [places] beyond you, not in another’s line in regard to the things made ready, to boast;
이는 남의 한계 안에 예비한 것으로 자랑하지 아니하고 너희 지경을 넘어 복음을 전하려 함이라
이것은 너희를 넘어선 지역들에서 복음을 선포하고 이미 예비되어 우리 손에 들어온 것들을 다른 사람의 구획선 안에서 자랑하지 아니하려 함이라.
Commentaries
Matthew Henry on 2Cor 10:12-18 as a whole
If we would compare ourselves with others who excel us, this would be a good method to keep us humble. The apostle fixes a good rule for his conduct; namely, not to boast of things without his measure, which was the measure God had distributed to him. …
Read the whole commentary →Wesley 2Cor 10:16
In the regions beyond you - To the west and south, where the gospel had not yet been preached.
Read the whole commentary →
Note
Paul had no plan to stop at Corinth. As the faith of the Corinthians grew, he hoped to use it as a base for going further, to places the gospel had not yet reached. The verse shows where his road always pointed.
so that we can preach the gospel in the regions beyond you. Then we will not be boasting in the work already done in another man’s territory.
2 Corinthians 10:16Paul has said that he boasts only within the field God assigned him, and that Corinth lies within it, since he was the first to reach it with the gospel (2 Corinthians 10:14). Then he states his hope: "that as your faith increases, our area of influence among you will greatly increase as well" (2 Corinthians 10:15). This verse says where that growth is meant to lead, and the next gathers every boast into one: "Let him who boasts boast in the Lord" (2 Corinthians 10:17).
The verb is in the aorist middle infinitive, euangelisasthai, ‘to preach the gospel’. Its goal is eis ta humōn, ‘the parts beyond you’, a word found only here in the New Testament. Over against it stands what Paul will not do: boast en allotriō kanoni, in another's , of work already made ready (hetoima). A kanōn was a measuring rod or line; here it is the boundary of the work God has marked out for each servant.
The KJV renders the clause "To preach the gospel in the regions beyond you, and not to boast in another man’s line of things made ready to our hand," keeping the picture of a measured line. The LSV has the same "line," and the BSB turns it into "another man’s territory" and "the work already done," which says what the image means. All three keep Paul's order: first the gospel to be preached, then the boasting to be avoided.
Wesley names the regions: "To the west and south, where the gospel had not yet been preached" Wesley. In Romans Paul describes the same aim. He had "aspired to preach the gospel where Christ was not known, so that I would not be building on someone else’s foundation" (Romans 15:20), and he hoped to visit Rome "on my way to Spain" (Romans 15:24). Matthew Henry gathers up the passage on boasting: "In a word, let us glory in the Lord our salvation, and in all other things only as evidences of his love, or means of promoting his glory" Matthew Henry.
What became of that hope is told, fittingly, in a letter to the same church. Around AD 96 the church of Rome wrote to Corinth that Paul had reached "the farthest bounds of the West" 1 Clement 5. Whether those bounds were Spain or Rome itself is debated, but the memory is clear: Paul kept walking toward the regions beyond.
The gospel does not come to rest in one church; it passes through it to places further on. Wherever it is heard now was once, for someone, a region beyond.
Source
- Clement of Rome, First Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians 5 — c. 96. The church of Rome writes to the church of Corinth; through jealousy and strife Peter and Paul suffered and bore witness to death (ch. 5).