II Corinthians 10:1-18
Paul truly has a missionary heart, but he is so wordy that it’s hard to really see what he is saying in verses 16 and 17: …our hope is that as your faith increases, our area of influence among you may be greatly enlarged, so that we may preach the gospel in lands beyond you, without boasting of work already done in another’s area of influence. Let me break it down a bit, by eliminating the middle section: …our hope is that… we may preach the gospel in lands beyond you, without boasting of work already done in another’s area of influence. This last phrase is also a bit confusing. My sense is that Paul is saying that he wants to bring the Gospel where no one has gone before him. That’s the way it’s been with him – in Cyprus, in Galatia (Antioch, Iconium, Derbe), in Macedonia (Philippi, Thessalonica, Berea), and in Achaia (Athens, Corinth). He does not want to build on what someone else has started; I think that’s because he fears that those new converts may have had some bad (or incomplete) teaching. Here is an example: Paul … came to Ephesus. There he found some disciples. And he said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” And they said, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.” (Acts 19:1b-2) Someone else had come to Ephesus before him and preached Jesus, but not the Holy Spirit. Incomplete teaching!
So Paul wants to go somewhere beyond Greece (Macedonia and Achaia). My Study Bible and a large number of scholars suggest Spain. My first thought had been Rome, in that Paul had a desire to go there (see Romans 1:9-13). But if he went to Rome, he would be building on another man’s foundation (see Romans 15:20). To that end I can agree that he had Spain in mind for his future travels. We have no Biblical account that he ever visited Spain. However some scholars claim that he did get to Spain. I covered that last year when we started I Timothy (9-15-2020). So I’ll wait a while before I share that information with you.
See also: June 2 / II Cor. 10:1-18
In v. 4, Paul talks about God’s “weapons of war” (plural). Mostly we think of the spiritual armor which are all defensive/protective in spiritual battle, except the sword of the spirit which is the Word of God (Eph 6:10-18). My Bible study expands the Word to include additional weapons we have: prayer, faith/trust in God, hope, and the Holy Spirit living in us and guiding our steps. It’s like we have the sword as our main weapon, but we also have a knife, a taser, etc. up our sleeves and boots.