2 Corinthians 10:12-18 - Paul's Reason For Bragging

¹² I do not venture to class myself or to compare myself with certain exalted individuals! They belong to the class of self-praisers; while I limit myself to my own sphere, I compare myself with my own standard, ¹³ and so my boasting never goes beyond the limit ??it is determined by the limits of the sphere marked out for me by God. That sphere stretches to include yourselves; ¹⁴ I am not overstepping the limit, as if you lay beyond my sphere; I was the very first to reach you with the gospel of Christ. ¹⁵ I do not boast beyond my limits in a sphere where other men have done the work; my hope rather is that the growth of your faith will allow me to enlarge the range of my appointed sphere ¹⁶ and preach the gospel in the lands that lie beyond you, instead of boasting within another's province over work that is already done. ¹⁷ However, let him who boasts boast of the Lord; ¹⁸ for it is not the self-praiser with his own recommendations who is accepted, it is the man whom the Lord recommends.