To preach the gospel in the regions beyond you, and not to boast in another man's field of things made ready to our hand.
All Commentaries on 2 Corinthians 10:16 Go To 2 Corinthians 10
Cornelius a Lapide
AD 1637
Not to boast in another man"s line. I do not meddle with the bounds, the provinces, and districts measured out and assigned, or occupied by other Apostles, so as to enter into things got ready by others, and to boast of other men"s labours as if they were mine. He calls "made ready to his hand" those regions which had already received the Gospel from others; he refuses to seize upon the tilled fields of others, but rather chooses to be the first to plant the faith in any place he goes to. Cf. Romans 15:20.
The Greek κανών denotes the measuring-line of surveyors. Here the Apostle calls all those regions measured out to him, as it were, by God his rule. This "rule" he was daily extending, from his desire to preach everywhere; "as though," says Chrysostom, "he had come into possession of the earth and a fat inheritance." "Paul was," says Theophylact, "like a builder of the world, measuring it by his rule and building accordingly." The Greek κανών stands also for the builder"s measuring-rod, but seems by S. Paul to be referred rather to the surveyor"s.
