But most Greek commentators render as in the A.V.—‘‘and round about unto Illyricum”’. This is the interpretation taken by Hofmann and by S. and H., and is illustrated by Xen., Anab., Vil., i, 14 (quoted by the latter): πότερα διὰ τοῦ ἱεροῦ. ὄρους δέοι πορεύεσθαι, ἢ κύκλῳ διὰ μέσης τῆς Θράκης. µέχρι τοῦ Ἴλλνρ- ικοῦ can (so far as µέχρι is concerned) either exclude or include Illyricum. Part of the country so called may have been traversed by Paul in the journey alluded to in Acts xx. 1 Ε. (διελθὼν δὲ τὰ µέρη «κεῖνα), but the language would be satis- fied if he had come in sight of Illyricum as he would do in his westward: journey through Macedonia, πεπληρωκέναι τὸ evayy. τοῦ Χριστοῦ: have fulfilled (fully preached) the Gospel of Christ. Cf. Col. i. 25. Paul had done this in the sense in which it was required of an Apostle, whose vocation (to judge from Paul’s practice) was to lay the foundation of a church in the chief centres of popula- tion, and as soon as the new community was capable of self-propagation, to move on.
Ver. 20. οὕτω δὲ Φιλοτιμούμενον (1 Thess. iv. 11, 2 Cor. v. 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 in- volved in Φιλοτιμούμενον. ὠνομάσθη: cf. 2 Tim. ii. 1Ο and Isa, xxvi. 13, Amos vi. το. To name the name of the Lord is to confess Him to be what He is to the faith of His people. ἵνα μὴ ἐπ᾽ ἀλλό- τοιον θεµέλιον κ.τ.λ. The duty of an
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