2 Corinthians 10:12-18
12 For we do not presume to rank or compare ourselves with some of those who commend themselves; but when they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they have no understanding.
13 But we will not boast beyond our measure, but within the measure of the domain which God assigned to us as a measure, to reach even as far as you.
14 For we are not overextending ourselves, as if we did not reach to you, for we were the first to come even as far as you in the gospel of Christ;
15 not boasting beyond our measure, that is, in other people’s labors, but with the hope that as your faith grows, we will be, within our domain, enlarged even more by you,
16 so as to preach the gospel even to the regions beyond you, and not to boast in what has been accomplished in the domain of another.
17 But the one who boasts is to boast in the Lord.
18 For it is not the one who commends himself that is approved, but the one whom the Lord commends.
The Field of Ministry Given by the Lord
Contrast with the opponents
The background of today’s passage is the presence of Jewish false teachers who had come down from Jerusalem. They denied Paul’s authority and were seeking to bring the church in Corinth under their own control. Paul compares the attitude of his opponents with his own and urges the Corinthian believers to judge correctly. (1) What the opponents were doing was engaging in exaggerated self-commendation and boasting about themselves by comparing themselves with one another. Paul says that he will not do such a foolish thing. If the Corinthian believers were to take the false teachers’ self-commendation at face value, they too would become foolish. (2) Corinth was not a field of ministry that God had assigned to them. In Galatians 2:1-10, a distinction was made between the evangelization of the Jews and that of the Gentiles, and it was confirmed that Paul was an apostle called to evangelize the Gentiles. The false teachers ignored that agreement and came into Corinth. This was an act of overstepping their authority. (3) Paul says that he is acting within the limits God has assigned to him. Going to Corinth is also within those limits. Paul has the right to go to Corinth because it was Paul who evangelized there and established the church.
Boast in the Lord
The opponents had taken over the flock in Corinth that Paul had established and were boasting about it as though it were their own. Paul criticizes such unhealthy boasting. (1) In Paul’s case, he desired that the church in Corinth would grow and that the work of evangelism would expand even farther beyond Corinth. Judging from Romans 15:20, it seems that what lay beyond was the evangelization of Spain. (2) Christians do not take credit for the work of others. In fact, even boasting about our own work is foolish. Paul quotes Jeremiah 9:24 and says, “But the one who boasts is to boast in the Lord.” The cross of Christ is our boast. Let us remember that it is not the one who commends himself, but the one whom the Lord (Christ) commends who is a true worker.
Today's prayer
Almighty God, I have taken to heart the words, “But the one who boasts is to boast in the Lord.” I have nothing to boast about except the cross of Christ. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, I pray. Amen.