2 Corinthians 10:14-16 - Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

We stretch not, &c. In preaching at Corinth, we do not, like the false teacher, go out of our line, as not reaching to you; but we are come even as far as you By a gradual, regular process, having taken the intermediate places in our way. The apostles themselves, (unless they received particular direction to that purpose, see Acts 16:6-7,) “were not at liberty to preach in some countries, and pass by others. St. Paul, therefore, following this rule, preached in all the countries of the Lesser Asia, beginning at Jerusalem. From Asia he passed into Macedonia, where he preached in many of the chief cities. Then he preached in Greece, and particularly at Athens; and at last came to Corinth, in a regular course of preaching the gospel, where it had not been preached before.” Not Like those whom I have had so much reason to complain of; boasting of things without, or beyond, our proper measure Not intruding into churches planted by other men's labours Where we have no natural and proper call. “The apostle justly considered the false teacher's coming, and establishing himself in the Corinthian church, as one of its ordinary pastors, and his assuming the direction of that church, in opposition to him, as an unlawful intrusion; because that church having been planted by St. Paul, the edification and direction of it belonged only to him, and the bishops and deacons ordained by him. Besides, this intruder, by pretending to more knowledge than the apostle, and by assuming an authority superior to his, endeavoured to draw the Corinthians from following his doctrines and precepts.” Macknight. But having hope, when your faith is increased And I can leave you to the care of your ordinary teachers; to be by you enlarged according to our rule That is, with respect to our line of preaching; abundantly. To preach the gospel in the regions beyond you The apostle hoped that the believers at Corinth would soon be so well instructed in the doctrines of the gospel, and so confirmed in the faith, as to render it proper for him to leave them to the care of others; and to go and preach the gospel in the countries beyond them, where the gospel had not been preached, namely, in the regions of Italy and Spain, whither we know he intended to go. For in Laconia, Arcadia, and the other countries of Peloponnesus, which composed the Roman province of Achaia, he had already preached the gospel, as is plain from the inscription of both his letters to the Corinthians. And not to boast in another man's line Or province, marked out, as it were, by a line; of things made ready to our hand As some, who are very solicitous about their own case, affect to do, and then pride themselves in sowing the ground which others had cleared. As the apostle here contrasts his own behaviour with that of the false teacher, we may infer, from what he says, that that teacher took to himself great praise for having instructed the Corinthians more perfectly than, he said, Paul had done, and for having regulated the affairs of the church, which he pretended had been left in disorder by the apostle.