My Sufficiency

2 Corinthians 3:5-6
[5] Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God, [6] who has made us sufficient to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

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Here Paul is transitioning between thoughts. He says that he (and the apostles) don’t need any commendation from others about the legitimacy of their ministry and their positions as apostles. There are some preachers in the area who are “peddling” (2:17) God’s word; these men “minister” for pay and for show, rather than in spirit and truth. Paul is now moving to talk about the supremacy of the gospel message in comparison to the Law of Moses, because it is a ministry of the Holy Spirit, rather than a ministry of a written code. But before he fully starts on this topic he makes one last statement about the position of the apostles and their role in God’s kingdom.

Certain men in that time and area would be great orators, great public speakers who could stir the crowds and win devotion. Rather than giving all the glory to God, they would relish in all the attention and make it as if their own giftings and hard work have gotten them attention, status, and wealth. But Paul says that he and the apostles can’t claim any of their position or status based on any of their gifts, talents, or credentials; all that they have has been given to them by the Spirit of God. One of the key words in these verses is the word “sufficient.”

The first use in verse 5 means to be “just above” an acceptable level. Paul is saying that whatever “sufficiency” they have was given to them by God to put them at a level “just above” acceptable. It’s like passing school with a minimum GPA of 2.0, which I know pretty well. But then in verse 6, the literal meaning of the word “sufficient” means “to make adequate; to make competent; to qualify one for a specific task.”

He’s saying that on his own credentials, he’s at best just barely adequate to be given a position as an apostle, but because this is given by God, the Holy Spirit has not just made him “barely” an apostle, but he has fully qualified Paul and the others as true apostles of God’s new covenant; the everlasting covenant of his Kingdom.

When I look at my own life and consider where I’m at, I wouldn’t hesitate to say that it’s all from God. I graduated high school with a 2.something GPA, dropped out of college, never held a job for more than a year, never had any real artistic success, unable to man up and keep a stable relationship, my lack of qualifications goes on and on. But here I am today, 30 years old with a solid job, a wife, a young child with another on the way, able to rent a place to live without scrambling together the rent every month, I get to artistically reach over 1,000 people weekly through music and creative speaking, I have people looking up to me and desperately wanting me to succeed. I haven’t earned any of this by worldly standards! Are you kidding me?!

All that I have, including my position, has been graciously gifted to me by the Lord. The way he has unfolded the last 5 years of my life has been nothing short of miraculous. I’m reminded to look back today and be exceedingly grateful for where I am today, all because the Lord has chosen to put me on this path and I haven’t earned it with a single ounce of my sufficiency; but God has made me adequate, competent, qualified to be a minister in his Kingdom. What an honor. What a privilege. I am inspired to live well today, for the glory of the one who has given me all my adequacy, through his surpassing excellence, by his unbelievable grace.