Outline

«　WEEK 4　DAY 3　»

　　Eph. 3:1-2 For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus on behalf of you, the Gentiles—if indeed you have heard of the stewardship of the grace of God which was given to me for you.

　　We should not think that Paul was so spiritual that he was altogether different from us. Even he had to learn to take the Lord’s restriction…He told the believers at Rome that he expected to go to Spain by way of them (Rom. 15:24). Paul never went to Spain, and he arrived in Rome in bonds. Those bonds were the Lord’s measure, His limitation…God is sovereign, and whatever happened to Paul was under God’s sovereignty. This means that Paul’s bonds and imprisonment were God’s sovereign restriction. Paul was willing to be subject to God’s measuring. He neither transgressed this restriction nor rebelled against it. In this matter he did not kick against the goads. (Life-study of 2 Corinthians, pp. 442-443)

　　Paul told the Corinthians that whatever he did and spoke was not beyond his measure. Paul always acted and behaved within his measure…In contrast to the Judaizers, he never reached beyond his jurisdiction.

　　In 2 Corinthians 10:13-15 Paul seems to be saying, “Corinthians, as a church, you have suffered a great deal because of the coming of the Judaistic preachers…On the one hand, they preach Christ; on the other hand, they still teach the Mosaic law. Therefore, they cause trouble and damage the church life…You must realize that these Judaizers should never have come to Corinth. God did not measure the city of Corinth to them; Corinth is not in their jurisdiction. To be honest about it, Corinth is my jurisdiction, my territory.”…There is the implication here that Paul condemned the Judaizers for coming to Corinth. Thus, Paul seems to be saying, “We do not overreach ourselves, as the Judaizers do. We were the first to come to you with the gospel of Christ. That was a sign that Corinth had been measured to us. We came according to God’s ruling. God has apportioned Corinth to us, not to the Judaizers. Actually, God has not apportioned anything to the Judaizers.”

　　The apostles always moved according to God’s ruling…If God had apportioned a certain territory to the Judaizers, the apostles would not have gone to that territory, for in so doing, they would have overreached themselves. This is what Paul is saying here. Today many preachers and teachers overreach themselves and interfere with the jurisdiction of others. In the church service we need to realize that God has measured out only so much to us, and we should not extend ourselves beyond our measure. We need to know our limitation, our jurisdiction, and not go beyond it into others’ territory. Like Paul, we should move and act according to our rule, that is, according to how much God has measured to us.

　　Paul knew from the Macedonian call he received that Corinth was under his rule, his measure. We know from Acts 16 that Paul became clear that God had called him to Europe. He came to Achaia with the gospel of Christ according to God’s ruling. Both Macedonia and Achaia were under Paul’s rule.

　　In this section of 2 Corinthians, Paul is vindicating his apostolic authority. This authority is related to jurisdiction…In his vindication of his apostolic authority, Paul conducted himself so as not to overstep the boundary of his measure. He is a good example of a person fully under God’s restriction.

　　I encourage the young people especially to study this portion of the Word and learn from it how to conduct themselves in the church service and how to move in the Lord’s recovery. Young people, you must know your rule, your limit. This means that you must know how much God has measured to you, how much He has apportioned to you. This restriction, this limitation, is a very practical dealing with our flesh. Our natural man wants to be without limitation…Therefore, [God] sets up boundaries and restrictions so that we may stay within the measure that He has apportioned to us. (Life-study of 2 Corinthians, pp. 443-445)

　　Further Reading: Life-study of 2 Corinthians, msg. 51