Romans 15:20

οὕτω δὲ φιλοτιμούμενον (1 Thessalonians 4:11; 2 Corinthians 5:9): making it my ambition, however, thus to preach the Gospel, etc. This limits πεπληρωκέναι : he had never sought to preach where Christianity was already established. A point of honour, but not rivalry, is involved in φιλοτιμούμενον. ὠνομάσθη : cf. 2 Timothy 2:19 and Isaiah 26:13; Amos 6:10. To name the name of the Lord is to confess Him to be what He is to the faith of His people. ἵνα μὴ ἐπʼ ἀλλότοιον θεμέλιον κ. τ. λ. The duty of an Apostle was with the foundation, not the superstructure. 1 Corinthians 3:10. The same confidence in his vocation, and the same pride in limiting that confidence, and not boasting of what Christ had done through others, or intruding his operations into their sphere, pervades the tenth chapter of 2 Cor.