2 Corinthians 10:13

of things without our measure Literally, unto the measureless things, i.e. -beyond the measure which God has meted out to us," -beyond the region of our own work, which was ever, save in the case of Rome, among Churches which we ourselves have founded." Nor was Rome really an exception. For the Church there seemed not to have been formally founded by any one, but to have grown up of itself through the gravitation of persons from all parts to the great metropolis. This is why St Paul, on his way into Spain, desires to -impart some spiritual gift" to a Church which had not had the privilege of the personal superintendence of an Apostle. See Romans 1:11; Romans 15:23-24.

rule This word is translated linein 2 Corinthians 10:16. It means (1) a measuring rod and then (2) the line marked out by such means. It has become an English word familiar to our ears (3) as a rule or precept of Ecclesiastical Law, known as a Canon. A cognate word in English is cane.

which God hath distributed to us, a measure Better, a measure which God apportioned, i.e. which is Hiswork, not man's.

to reach even unto you That God had done this was very evident. The Corinthians owed their existence as a Church to St Paul. See ch. 2 Corinthians 3:2-3; 1Co 3:6; 1 Corinthians 3:10; 1 Corinthians 9:2. The metaphor, says Estius, is derived from handicraftsmen, who have a rule prescribed to them by the master, which they are not permitted to go beyond.