Now *we* will not boast out of measure, but according to the measure of the rule which the God of measure has apportioned to us, to reach to you also.
Paul has just refused to compete with the men at Corinth who measure themselves by themselves. Now he names the standard he does use: a limit handed to him by God, and that limit decides how far his work reaches.
The rivals at Corinth used a measuring stick made of the same material as themselves. One writer shows where that habit ends:
They were eager to commend themselves, and so gain a footing with the Corinthians. In doing this a spirit of competition got in among them. They began "measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves," which was a very unwise thing to do. In so doing they got no higher than themselves. It was all self. One man might stand out in one way, another in another way; but in comparing themselves with one another they never rose up to God, and to the measure which He had ordained.
Comparison also poisons the atmosphere, and it forgets where a believer came from:
One man boasts because he thinks he has the advantage over another in some merely human way, and the atmosphere becomes nothing but rivalry, jealousy and arrogance. Are believers self-made people? Or are they not the product of the pure grace of God?
The words Paul uses — "measure" and "rule" — belong to a surveyor marking out land. One writer traces them back to creation:
It almost looks as if he is pointing to God's work in creation, as stated in Job 38:5, where God Himself asks about the earth, "Who laid the measures of it, if you know? Or who has stretched the line upon it?" He is a God who works by measure and by line, both in creation and in the way He administers His grace. God had measured things out and appointed a line or rule for Paul's apostolic service.
That settles the question of territory before it starts. Work God has not given carries no promise of His blessing:
The apostle answers such boasting completely with the great truth that God gives out each sphere of labour. Those who take on work of that kind without God must not be surprised if their service goes without His honour and blessing. Happy is the man who looks to God, not only for his soul and in his walk, but also in his work.
Paul's point is not modesty. His measure really did stretch as far as Corinth:
God had set the measure to which his ministry was to extend, and it reached to the Corinthians. So in coming to them, as in writing to them, he was not stretching beyond the measure God gave him, or intruding on another man's field of work.
The newcomers had reversed this. They took over ground someone else had broken:
These people came and acted as if God had authorised them from the start, where He had given them no measure at all. Paul had borne all the difficulty, the persecution and the danger. Then it was very comfortable for them to step in and try to spoil his work.
Staying inside a God-given limit is not small ambition. It is the shape obedience takes in work:
The whole Christian life is meant to be a matter of obedience, and the Lord's work in particular. Otherwise it soon sinks into empty boasting, or into looking down on others — often on better men than ourselves.
The principle reaches far beyond apostles. God does the measuring, so no one is too small for Him to use:
In our humble circumstances today, God is still the God of measure. He has the measure of every one of us, and He Himself has measured with care what each of us can do... If God wanted people greater than we are, as the God of measure He would secure them. But He has measured you and He has measured me. For the moment He has left in our hands the responsibility of seeking to do what He has given us the ability to do.
A measure is a boundary, but it is not a ceiling. The same writer who saw the line marked out also looks past it:
Paul's eye of evangelistic zeal looked beyond Corinth to more distant regions, where he expected to preach the gospel even more widely... The true evangelist always has his eye on "the regions beyond."
- Measure — God works by measure and line, in creation and in grace. He gives each servant a sphere, so the standard is never self.
- Comparison — measure yourself by other people and you never rise higher than yourself. Service turns into rivalry and jealousy.
- Assignment — Paul's line really did reach Corinth. He was not overstretching, and not taking over another man's ground.
- Obedience — work done in obedience stays healthy. Work chosen by self sinks into boasting and belittling better people.
- Reach — a measure is a boundary, not a ceiling. God has measured every believer, and He calls that measure on to the regions beyond.
For we do not, as not reaching to you, overstretch ourselves, (for we have come to you also in the glad tidings of the Christ;)
Paul is defending himself at Corinth. Rivals there sneered at him and questioned his right to speak as an apostle. Verse 14 answers them in one stroke: he did not overreach in claiming the Corinthians, because he was the man who first brought them the gospel.
Paul's words here belong to a surveyor: measure, rule, line. Commentators trace the idea back to creation:
In verse 13 Paul keeps using the word "measure," but in a slightly different sense. He joins it to the word "rule," which comes again in verse 15, and in verse 16, where it is translated "line." It almost looks as if he were pointing to God's work in creation. Job 38:5 records God asking about the earth, "Who determined its measurements—surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it?" He is a God who works by measure and by line, both in creation and in the way He administers His grace. God had measured things out and appointed a line or rule for Paul's apostolic service… So he had not stretched beyond his measure in coming to the Corinthians. His measure reached even to them. They came well within the scope of his apostolic commission.
No servant picks his own field. God hands it out, and Corinth lay inside the field given to Paul:
The apostle answers such empty talk with the great truth that God hands out the sphere of labour. Those who take on work of that kind without God must not wonder if their service lacks His honour and blessing. Happy is the man who is in the habit of looking to God, not only for his soul and in his walk, but also in his work… There was no overstraining in the apostle's word or work, as if he did not reach the Corinthians. He had advanced as far as them with the gospel of Christ, and none could deny it. He had travelled through many lands, planting the standard and proclaiming the good news of Christ in them all.
The Corinthians themselves were the proof, and they should have known it:
It should not have been necessary to remind them so often and so pointedly. If they truly knew God and rejoiced in Jesus Christ, it was because this Paul had laboured for them — the same Paul they forced to say so much about himself. By God's enabling grace he had brought them by his gospel out of darkness into light… He had not stretched himself beyond his measure when he came to Corinth as a minister of God and preached the words of life to their willing ears. The lasting results of his work proved that his commission was valid, as they should have known.
Others reached Corinth only after the church already existed. Two ways of working stand side by side:
He contrasts the conduct of those who took advantage of his labours with his own. They misled people who had already become Christians, to stir them up against him. He went where Christ was still unknown, seeking to bring souls to the knowledge of a Saviour they did not know.
God still works by measure, and the measure includes you:
In 2 Cor. 10:13 one translation gives us the expression "the God of measure." In our humble circumstances today, God is still the God of measure. He has the measure of every one of us. God Himself has measured the ability of each… If God wanted people greater than we are, He would secure them, for He is the God of measure. But He has measured you and He has measured me. For now He has left in our hands the responsibility of seeking to do what He has given us the ability to do.
Paul did not treat Corinth as the end of the road. The same question comes to every reader:
Christian reader, are you thinking of "the regions beyond you"? For you that may mean the next house, the next street, the next village, the next city, the next kingdom, or the next continent… I do not want you to leave your present post at all — at least, not until you are sure that your work there is done. But remember, the gospel plough should never stand still. "Onward" is the motto of every true evangelist.
- Measure — God works by measure and line in grace as He does in creation. He marked out Paul's field; Paul did not pick it.
- Reach — The line God drew stretched as far as Corinth. Going there was obedience, not overreach.
- Proof — His gospel brought the Corinthians out of darkness into light. Their own faith answered his critics.
- Contrast — Others built on work already done. Paul went where Christ was still unknown.
- Onward — God has measured your ability too and left the work in your hands. The gospel plough should never stand still.
not boasting out of measure in other people's labours, but having hope, your faith increasing, to be enlarged amongst you, according to our rule, yet more abundantly
Paul is answering rivals at Corinth who had settled into a work they never started. His hope is different: as the Corinthians' faith grows, his own sphere of service will widen.
The men Paul opposes arrived after Paul had done the hard work. One writer describes how they claimed superior power over work they never started, and names the truth that answers them:
The Lord had not called them as He did Paul to Corinth. They took the easy road and followed where Paul had worked with constant self-denial. His labour was not only outward. It was also deep exercise of soul, and in it grace alone could sustain him by the Holy Spirit, in continual dependence on the Lord. And the Lord had gladdened his heart with many people, even in that corrupt city, brought to the knowledge of Himself. This was a work of divine power and goodness. But after the apostle left, some rose up or came in. Their worldly spirit belittled the work and claimed superior power. If Paul had begun, they were the men to finish... The apostle answers such boasting with the great truth that God assigns each servant his sphere of labour. Those who take on work of that kind without God must not wonder if their service lacks His honour and blessing.
Another writer takes the word in a plain, practical sense:
These people came and acted as if they had authority from the start, in a place where God had given them no measure... Paul had not gone outside his measure. "Enlarged by you" (v. 15) simply means they were to help him go on to other places.
That help begins with their hearts, and reaches to territory no one had yet entered:
He was sure that at Corinth he was working in obedience to the will of God. So he hoped their faith in God to direct His servants would grow. Then he would have a larger place in their affections, and God would use him for more abundant blessing. He hoped this church would open the way for him to preach the gospel in the regions beyond them. Until then no servant of God had worked there.
Paul makes his hope conditional. One writer looks at the state their faith had been in:
But there must first be an increase of their faith. Their recent condition had proved how small and how vague their faith was. If they had realised that the Lord was still among them, the disorders that shamed them could never have happened. Faith cannot grow alongside sin. But now a godly sorrow had replaced their pride, and self-judgment had taken the place of carelessness. So he again looks for God's increase and its fruits.
One writer sets the verse beside a moment in the Gospels when the Lord Himself met a limit:
When the Lord was here on earth, the unbelief of the people once limited Him. It went so far that we read, "He could do no mighty work there, except that He laid His hands on a few sick people and healed them. And He marveled because of their unbelief" (Mark 6:5-6). The apostle, on the other hand, hoped to be enlarged among them as their faith increased. He meant that the faith of the saints was closely tied to two things: his liberty in service, and the display of power among them in preaching the word. Their faith shaped both. God's people need to remember this truth. The unbelief of those around the blessed Lord hindered Him in His labours. How much more will it hinder His servants?
If a church's condition can widen or narrow the work of a servant, then no one is a bystander:
As long as they were weak in faith, their whole state would be weak. That would affect Paul's activities and service. When he saw them strong in faith he would be freer to push on from them into the regions beyond. In this way the state of the saints affects the activities of the servant of God. We are members one of another, and not even an apostle can be wholly unaffected by the state of others... God help each of us to ask carefully and honestly, in His presence, whether we are helping to enlarge or to shrink the work of His servants. It must be one or the other.
- No borrowed glory. Paul will not boast in labours that cost him nothing. His rivals followed where he had worked with self-denial, then claimed the greater power.
- Faith first. A wider work waits on growth, and growth waits on repentance. Faith cannot grow alongside sin, and godly sorrow had now replaced their pride.
- Freed servant. Weak faith holds a worker in. Strong faith sets him free. Unbelief once limited the Lord Himself in the same way.
- Widened reach. "Enlarged" means a larger place in their affections and practical help to move on. Then the gospel could reach regions where no servant had yet worked.
- Shared result. Even an apostle feels the state of others. Every believer is either enlarging or shrinking the work of God's servants.