Continuing the discussion about who argues and persuades, and how, Paul says bluntly that he is not going to take his cue from those who “commend themselves” and “measure themselves by themselves.” This is how the apostle assesses lovers of debate who argue for argument's sake in order to...
Continuing the discussion about who argues and persuades, and how, Paul says bluntly that he is not going to take his cue from those who “commend themselves” and “measure themselves by themselves.” This is how the apostle assesses lovers of debate who argue for argument's sake in order to assert themselves and their own point of view. Such people really are concerned only with “putting themselves forward”; the truth does not interest them. Moreover, their only criterion of truth is usually their own opinion. They are convinced in advance that they are right, believing, though they do not always say so directly, that there are only two points of view: their own and the wrong one.
Of such disputants the apostle says that they “boast in other men's labours,” contrasting them with himself and his own ministry. This is understandable: disputes and debates of this kind are intended to assert oneself at the expense of others, not to help those others become established in the life of the Kingdom. The disputants Paul mentions think first of winning as many supporters as possible, while often caring nothing at all about their fate or spiritual condition. They leave it to someone else to concern themselves with their supporters' spiritual state.
The apostle, by contrast, cares first of all about the spiritual life of those with whom he associates. He does not need supporters; he has no intention of creating circles, schools, or church parties. He wants only to bring as many people as possible to Christ and draw them into the life of the Kingdom in which he himself abides. It is in this sense that Paul says he does not boast in other people's labours, but in “his own field” among those to whom God will reveal the Kingdom through him, strengthening their faith.
Such ministry can be considered truly Christian. As for boasting, if it makes sense to boast of anything at all, it does so only when it is God, not people, who commends us. If God values highly what a person has done, then that person has not lived in vain and has devoted his life to what was worth doing and ought to have been done. But glory, influence, and fame in this world are worth as much as the world itself. Compared with the life of the Kingdom, its value tends towards zero, as do its glory, influence, and fame.
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10:12 For we presume not - A strong irony. To equal ourselves - As partners of the same office. Or to compare ourselves - As partakers of the same labour. They among themselves limiting themselves - Choosing and limiting their provinces according to their own fancy.
10:13 But we will not, like them, boastingly extend ourselves beyond our measure, but according to the measure of the province which God hath allotted us - To me, in particular, as the apostle of the gentiles. A measure which reaches even unto you - God allotted to each apostle his province, and the measure or bounds thereof.
10:14 We are come even to you - By a gradual, regular process, having taken the intermediate places in our way, in preaching the gospel of Christ.
10:15 Having hope, now your faith is increased - So that you can the better spare us. To be enlarged by you abundantly - That is, enabled by you to go still further.
10:16 In the regions beyond you - To the west and south, where the gospel had not yet been preached.