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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadCambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges - 2 Corinthians 10:13 - 10:13
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13. ἡμεῖς δὲ οὐκ εἰς τὰ ἄμετρα καυχησόμεθα. But we (in emphatic contrast to αὐτοί) will not glory beyond measure. For this use of εἰς comp. εἰς τρίς, εἰς τὰ μάλιστα. He does not say’ we do not glory’; such conduct is excluded for all time. He is not going to imitate them in glorying beyond all bounds. His assertions about himself shall be confined to the sphere of work assigned to him by God as ἀπόστολος τῆς ἀκροβυστίας, a sphere which of course includes Gentile Corinth. But εἰς τὰ ἄμ. might mean ‘in respect to things (places) beyond (our) measure,’ and this makes sense both here and in 2Co 10:15.
ἀλλὰ κατὰ τὸ μέτρον τοῦ κανόνος κ.τ.λ. But according to the measure of the province which God apportioned to us as a measure to reach as far as even you. Can κανών mean ‘province’ (R.V.), a definitely bounded sphere of activity? It means (1) that which measures, as a rod or a ruler; (2) that which is measured, a fixed amount of anything. But it is commonly used of length rather than of surface; and here it may refer to the distance which the Apostle was allowed to go from his centre. In colloquial language τὸ μέτρον τοῦ κανόνος is ‘the length of his tether.’ But from the ideas of mapping out territory with measuring rods, and assigning measured allotments, κανών might acquire the meaning of a measured space, the Apostle’s definitely allotted sphere of work. Comp. πρὸς ὅλον τὸν τῆς φιλοσοφίας κανόνα εὐσεβῶς φιλοσοφῶν (4Ma 7:21), and see the LXX. and Vulgate of Ps. 77:54, 55. See Lightfoot on Gal 6:16, the only other place in the N.T. where the word occurs (not Php 3:16), and Westcott, Canon of the N.T., App. A. Comp. μὴ παρεκβαίνων τὸν ὡρισμένον τῆς λειτουργίας αὐτοῦ κανόνα (Clem. Rom. Cor. 41).
οὐ ἐμέρισεν ἡμῖν ὁ θεὸς μέτρου. He did not appoint himself to it or choose it for himself: God apportioned (1Co 7:17; Rom 12:3; Heb 7:2) it to him. For the construction see Winer, p. 665. The apparently superfluous μέτρου (which some suspect of being a gloss) is possibly added for the sake of alliteration; μέτρου … ἐμέρισεν … μέτρου. He perhaps again hints that the opposite is true of his opponents; they are self-appointed workers in a sphere which they chose for themselves.
ἐφικέσθαι ἄχρι καὶ ὑμῶν. It was plain matter of fact that the Church of Corinth existed owing to S. Paul’s being allowed to come there: they were ἐν ἐφικτῷ τῆς ἀποστολῆς αὐτοῦ. The verb is very rare in Biblical Greek; perhaps here only: in Sir 43:27; Sir 43:30 the right reading may be ἀφικ., which F has here. The Vulgate has pertingendi usque ad vos.