Such confidence as this is ours through Christ before God. Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God. He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant – not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. (2 Corinthians 3:4-6)

The gospel ministry is like Christ’s victorious parade before the world (2:14). By it God spreads the knowledge of his Son like a fragrance. It is a most attractive aroma to those who believe, but a stench of death to those who reject the message. The preaching of the gospel, therefore, is a momentous event. Nevertheless, the ministry is not exhausted by preaching, but it is a lifestyle that strives to advance the gospel in every place and establish the kingdom of heaven in every heart.

Although all Christians are to participate in this, it is clearly an occupation unlike any other. As Paul says, “Who is equal to such a task?” The answer is that no one is equal to such a task in himself, but a believer can become competent in the ministry of the gospel when God teaches him and enables him. Our passage offers the following points to guide our thinking.

Competence is relevant. Some people assume that spiritual operations are only ethical, so that the essential qualities of God’s servant consist of holiness, sincerity, zealousness, and such things. Although these are crucial, without which a person should be barred from ministry, competence is also a necessary quality, and it is not unspiritual to consider it. A competent minister performs his work with excellence, and along with a life of holiness and an attitude of charity, he brings honor to the Lord Jesus Christ.

Competence is demonstrated by divine power, not human approval. God endorses a person and his work by the stamp of the Holy Spirit. One of the most difficult things to do in the ministry is to convince believers to stop thinking like the world. One reason is that they are still in love with the world and hold on to everything about it with a superhuman obstinacy. The other reason is that the same is true with most ministers, so that there are very few who know to speak up about this.

Paul writes, “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind” (Romans 12:2). This applies to competence in ministry. To the world, competence does not come from divine endowment but institutional training. It is seen not in one’s life and work, but on a diploma. It thinks that it is not about what you know, but who you know. And it is not about how much you have studied, but where you studied. Admittedly, even some unbelievers have not thoroughly adopted this way of thinking. But it is too common among believers. The Bible does not teach this; they learned it from the world.

When this kind of thinking is imported from non-Christian society into Christian culture, the product is like the murderous hypocrisy of the incompetent Pharisees. They had all the human credentials and authorizations, but these have nothing to do with God and with truth – they were grounded on an agreement to praise one another. Then, when a man showed up to expose them, the Pharisees killed him. I will call you the King of Neptune – and make you a certificate to show it off – if you will call me the Master of Jupiter. This is how the world operates, and the church follows its example. But Neptune is not yours unless God gives it to you. My certificate means nothing, even if you passed some kind of test I made up to earn it. You have not passed God’s test.

The Corinthians were troubled by false teachers and apostles, who apparently tried to undermine Paul by criticizing him from a worldly point of view. They probably said that Paul was not suave enough. He lacked charisma, presence, and strength. And he did not have the proper letters of recommendation. Even when it comes to human approval, we set our sights too low. A nod from grumpy Elijah is more valuable than any seminary degree or ordination certificate, or a letter of endorsement from some celebrity pastor. Elijah faced hundreds of false prophets and handled the very powers of heaven, while doctor so-and-so cowers before his mother-in-law in the name of Christian love. When will we stop coveting worthless praise? And even Elijah had his faults.

In any case, Paul teaches the Corinthians to stop judging according to the world’s standards. He indeed has a letter of recommendation – the Corinthian converts are his letter from Christ. It was not written with ink but with the Spirit of God, and not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts (3:3). Although the Corinthians have much room for improvement, the apostle’s ministry effected genuine and permanent change in them, something that could not be manufactured by human power. This letter does not come from human institution or authority, nor is it subject to man’s jurisdiction. Man has no power to produce it or to nullify it. The Holy Spirit himself authorized it. He did it according to this own will, for no one could have forced his hand. And no one could write it down or print it out – it was written on human hearts by divine power.

Competence is an endowment from God. Paul demonstrates true competence in ministry, but the source of this competence is not in himself. He explains, “Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God.” Again, “our competence comes from God.” The defining factor is always something beyond man’s contribution. Even if God uses men to confer this competence, no human training or endorsement can confer the heavenly power and effect that the gospel ministry requires. God uses men to preach the gospel, but no one believes it unless the Holy Spirit directly acts in the hearts of those who hear the message. Conversion comes from God. Likewise, in the training and improvement of ministers of the gospel, there is often – not always – some human involvement, but no man can make another man able in spiritual things. Competence comes from God.

This is a recurring theme in Paul’s letter. He wants to teach his readers a new way of thinking, one that is according to the powers of heaven and not the standards of the world. Thus he writes earlier, “Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead” (1:9). Then in 4:7, “But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.” And there is the familiar passage, “Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong” (12:9-10).

He is aware of how the world thinks: “We do not dare to classify or compare ourselves with some who commend themselves. When they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they are not wise” (10:12). This criticism is important because it is still the way Christians think and the way they judge competence in themselves and in others. Paul would say to them, “You are looking only on the surface of things” (10:7). This is what he means when he writes, “For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world” (10:3-4). He is not referring to spiritual weapons in some mystical sense, but he is making a contrast against “the standards of this world” (v. 2). Ironically, believers often use the standards of this world to evaluate competence in using spiritual weapons! The apostle pushes for a bigger shift in our thinking.

Competence is a basis for confidence. It is possible for a Christian to know that he is competent and to acknowledge it. There is nothing wrong if he is accurate and realistic about his abilities. Humility does not consist in denying competence, but in admitting that it comes from God and that other people can also possess it by his grace.

There are those who think that any acknowledgment of competence must stem from pride, and that the magnitude of arrogance is in direct proportion to the magnitude of the claim. However, this suggests that they associate competence only with themselves, that they think we ourselves are always the source of our own competence, so that to acknowledge competence is always to praise ourselves. Thus in reality, it is their attitude that stems from arrogance and self-centeredness. This is what the false teachers and false apostles do as they are referred to in Paul’s letter. They measure themselves by themselves, and then they boast about themselves.

Those who boast about themselves often put up an appearance of humility. Since their confidence is based on their own opinion about themselves, and since even the most deluded egomaniac realizes that he has limits, these people acknowledge their limits. But what they think they have, they think they have because of themselves. What happens when someone more confident appears? They think that it must be because he thinks he has more in himself and because of himself. Thus in this way of thinking, a lack of confidence becomes a sign of humility, and boldness becomes a sign of arrogance. Is it not possible for someone to be confident because he relies on God’s limitless resources and his grace to help in time of need? But they do not think like this, because they operate by the world’s standards, and God has too little room in their thoughts.

There is a proper boasting that amounts to an act of worship and ministry, and that is to boast about the power and the grace of Jesus Christ, not apart from us, but in us and for us. This way of thinking applies to the whole of theology, from justification by faith to competence in ministry. We are nothing in ourselves, but we are not left by ourselves. Jesus Christ is with us by his Spirit. He makes us competent ministers of the new covenant. This honors the exceeding precious promises of the gospel, and it saves us from pride and false humility.