Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary 2 Corinthians 10:16

"so as to preach the gospel even unto the parts beyond you, [and] not to glory in another`s province in regard of things ready to our hand." — 2 Corinthians 10:16 (ASV)

Twice here Paul indirectly chides his opponents for priding themselves on work already done by others. They probably boasted that the spiritual vitality of the Corinthians was directly attributable to them. Paul, however, so far from boasting of “work already done” (v.15), made it his policy to avoid preaching the Gospel where Christ had already been named lest he build on another man’s foundation (Romans 15:18–21).

As their spiritual father (1 Corinthians 4:15), he hoped that the growth of their faith would result in the enlargement of his influence among them and the improvement of their estimation of him. Then and only then could he contemplate fulfilling his eager desire to visit the Christians at Rome (Acts 19:21; Romans 1:11; Romans 15:24) and to advance westward to Spain (Romans 15:24, 28). Paul felt he could not pursue pioneer evangelism in the western Mediterranean when his converts in the eastern Mediterranean were unsettled and in danger of apostasy (11:3). In this sense, Paul’s future was in the Corinthians’ hands. Consolidation had to precede advance; in other words, any evangelistic expansion would be the joyful outcome of his total acceptance at Corinth.