…and we in regard to the unmeasured things will not boast ourselves, but after the measure of the line that the God of measure did appoint to us — to reach even unto you… (Youngs Literal Translation, 2 Corinthians 10:13)

‘The God of Measure’ is not one of the names Christians typically use for God.

In fact, if you look up 2 Corinthians 10:13 in your NIV or KJV or NASB or Message Bible, you won’t even see the phrase translated that way into English. (The other translations choose to highlight that what Paul appears to be talking about in this section is super-apostles invading the sphere of influence that was divinely measured out to him, namely the Gentiles.)

But for those with an Greek-English Interlinear handy (here, borrow mine), there it is, plain as day in the Greek:

Theos metron. The God of measure.

It makes sense to think of God as the God of measure. Do a search in your concordance and you’ll see that God is quite big on measurements.

Then I looked up—and there before me was a man with a measuring line in his hand! (Zech. 2:1)

Ezekiel and John (in Revelation) are both sent a-measuring. And whose earnest efforts to read the Bible in a year hasn’t ground to a halt with the looooooooong, mega-detailed sections on measurement of the tabernacle and the temple?

So, God being a big practitioner of measurement, and Transformational Giving (TG) being an effort to exposit the scriptures related to the subject of development (which we take to refer not to fund development but rather to our development into the fullness of Christ), it makes sense that if we’re trying to nail down what we ought to be measuring in TG, we ought to ask the question:

• What does ‘The God of Measure’ measure?

And once we determine that, we ought to ask the follow-up question:

• Ought we to be measuring the same thing?

Which would lead to the truly transformational question:

• What would a Christian nonprofit look like if it was measuring (and seeking to maximize and to base its decisions on) the same things The God of Measure measures?

And that, dear reader, is the subject of our blog posts this week.