In this way I have aspired to preach the gospel where Christ was not known, so that I would not be building on someone else’s foundation.
Parallel translations
- WEB yes, making it my aim to preach the Good News, not where Christ was already named, that I might not build on another’s foundation.
- KJV Yea, so have I strived to preach the gospel, not where Christ was named, lest I should build upon another man’s foundation:
- NKJV And so I have made it my aim to preach the gospel, not where Christ was named, lest I should build on another man’s foundation,
- NASB And in this way I aspired to preach the gospel, not where Christ was already known by name, so that I would not build on another person’s foundation;
- NLT My ambition has always been to preach the Good News where the name of Christ has never been heard, rather than where a church has already been started by someone else.
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's ambition was to preach where Christ was not yet known, so as not to build on another's foundation. He prioritized pioneer, frontier evangelism.
Overview
Paul reveals his missionary strategy: to reach unevangelized regions rather than work where churches already existed. He did not want to build on someone else's foundation but to lay fresh foundations in Christ. This explains both his far-flung travels and why he has not yet come to Rome. His drive was the spread of the gospel to those who had never heard.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 3
- 2 Cor 10:13–16We, however, will not boast beyond our limits, but only within the field of influence that God has assigned to us—a field that reaches even to you.
- 1 Cor 3:9–15For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building.
- Eph 2:20–22built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus Himself as the cornerstone.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Commentaries & study tools
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Christ at the center
Paul unfolds the gospel in full: Christ our righteousness received by faith, the second Adam in whom many are made righteous, in whose death and resurrection we are buried and raised.
How Romans 15:20 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.