For I will not dare to speak, &c. I will not glory of more than is true and has been really done by my ministry; to make the Gentiles obedient To bring them to the faith, and to the worship and service of the true God; by word and deed By preaching and miracles. The apostle would not speak of what Christ had not wrought by him, but by his disciples, for making the Gentiles obedient; though he might have claimed some praise also from their success. But he would speak only of what Christ had wrought by him personally; namely, that he had preached the gospel with the greatest success, in many of the Gentile countries. Through mighty signs and wonders It does not appear that the apostle intended by these different names to express different things, as some have supposed, namely, that the σημεια, signs, were the miracles intended to prove the truth of the doctrine asserted, or message brought by the miracle-worker; and that τερατα, wonders, were such miracles as were intended to astonish, and terrify, and draw the attention of beholders; of which sort was the punishment of Ananias and Sapphira with death, and of Elymas with blindness: he doubtless meant miracles in general, by both expressions. In the gospels, the miracles of Christ are commonly called δυναμεις, powers, or mighty works, to express the great power exerted in the performance of them. By the power of the Spirit of God
Enlightening men's minds, and changing their hearts, and thereby rendering the miracles wrought, and the word preached, effectual to their conviction and conversion. So that I have fully preached the gospel of Christ Have made a full declaration thereof, not shunning to declare the whole counsel of God; not keeping back any thing that I had reason to believe would be profitable to my hearers: from Jerusalem, round about unto Illyricum This phraseology implies, that he had propagated the gospel, not in a direct line from Jerusalem to Illyricum, but far and wide, on every hand, through the interjacent countries. “Illyricum was a country in Europe, lying between Pannonia and the Adriatic sea. It is now called Sclavonia. In the history of the Acts, there is no mention made of Paul's preaching the gospel in Illyricum. Nevertheless, as that country, on the south, bordered on Macedonia, where Paul often preached, he may, on some occasion, have gone from Macedonia into Illyricum. Yet this supposition is not necessary, as the apostle does not say he preached the gospel in, but only as far as Illyricum: which country, it appears, at the time he wrote this epistle, was the boundary of his preaching westward.” Macknight.