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2 Corinthians 10:14

We are not reaching beyond these boundaries when we claim authority over you, as if we had never visited you. For we were the first to travel all the way to Corinth with the Good News of Christ.
2 Corinthians 10:14 · New Living Translation
Parallel translations
  • WEB For we don’t stretch ourselves too much, as though we didn’t reach to you. For we came even as far as to you with the Good News of Christ,
  • KJV For we stretch not ourselves beyond our measure, as though we reached not unto you: for we are come as far as to you also in preaching the gospel of Christ:
  • BSB We are not overstepping our bounds, as if we had not come to you. Indeed, we were the first to reach you with the gospel of Christ.
  • NKJV For we are not overextending ourselves (as though our authority did not extend to you), for it was to you that we came with the gospel of Christ;
  • NASB 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;

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org

Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Quick answer

Paul is not overreaching in claiming the Corinthians, for he was the first to bring them the gospel of Christ. His authority over them is well-founded.

Overview

Paul stresses that he is not stretching beyond his bounds, because he himself carried the good news of Christ to Corinth. His apostolic relationship to them rests on having planted the church. This historical fact silences rivals who would claim the Corinthians as their own.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 17

  • Rom 1:16For I am not ashamed of the Good News of Christ, for it is the power of God for salvation for everyone who believes; for the Jew first, and also for the Greek.
  • 1 Cor 4:15For though you have ten thousand tutors in Christ, yet not many fathers. For in Christ Jesus, I became your father through the Good News.
  • 1 Tim 1:11according to the Good News of the glory of the blessed God, which was committed to my trust.
  • 1 Cor 9:1–2Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Haven’t I seen Jesus Christ, our Lord? Aren’t you my work in the Lord?
  • 1 Cor 3:5–6Who then is Apollos, and who is Paul, but servants through whom you believed; and each as the Lord gave to him?
  • Mark 1:1The beginning of the Good News of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
  • 2 Cor 3:1–3Are we beginning again to commend ourselves? Or do we need, as do some, letters of commendation to you or from you?
  • Col 1:5because of the hope which is laid up for you in the heavens, of which you heard before in the word of the truth of the Good News,
  • 2 Cor 2:12Now when I came to Troas for the Good News of Christ, and when a door was opened to me in the Lord,
  • Rom 2:16in the day when God will judge the secrets of men, according to my Good News, by Jesus Christ.
  • Gal 1:6–8I marvel that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ to a different “good news”;
  • 1 Cor 2:10But to us, God revealed them through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God.
  • Acts 20:24But these things don’t count; nor do I hold my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my race with joy, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to fully testify to the Good News of the grace of God.
  • Rom 15:18–19For I will not dare to speak of any things except those which Christ worked through me, for the obedience of the Gentiles, by word and deed,
  • 2 Cor 4:4in whom the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving, that the light of the Good News of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should not dawn on them.
  • Rom 16:25
  • 1 Cor 3:10According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I laid a foundation, and another builds on it. But let each man be careful how he builds on it.

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Christ at the center

In Christ all God's promises are 'Yes and Amen'; though rich, he became poor to make us rich, and in him God reconciles the world, making us new creations.

How 2 Corinthians 10:14 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.

Original language

Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.