2 Corinthians 3:5

2Co_3:5-6

Not that we are sufficient of ourselves … our sufficiency is of God.

The sufficiency of God

The all-sufficiency of God is the essence of all Christian experience, it has been the support of the faithful in all ages of the Church; it gives strength to patience, solidity to hope, constancy to endurance, nerve and vitality to effort.

I. The nature of this sufficiency. The sufficiency of God may be considered either as proper or communicative. By His proper sufficiency we mean that He is self-existent, self-sufficient, independently happy. It is, however, of the sufficiency of God in relation to His creatures that we have now to speak. He is sufficient--

1. For the preservation of the universe. The heavens were made by Him, and all the host of them by the breath of His mouth. And as nothing earthly has within it the power to sustain itself, tie upholdeth all things by the word of His power. Reason refers all this to the operation of second causes; piety looks through the complications of the mechanism to the hand that formed it. The whole universe is one vast laboratory of benevolent art, over every department of which Deity presides; a sanctuary, every part of which Deity inhabits--a circle, whose circumference is unfathomed, but whose every section is filled with God.

2. For the preservation and for the perpetuity of the gospel plan is the salvation and ultimate happiness of every individual believer.

(1) Christianity is not to be viewed by us merely as a moral system; it is a course of Divine operations. We are not to regard it as a mere statement of doctrine, we must remember the Divine agency by which it is always conducted and inspired. Human eloquence and reasoning are persuasive and powerful things; they can charm a Herod, make a Felix tremble; but they can do no more. Inanimate truth can produce no abiding change. Pardon and sanctification are not the necessary consequences of statement of doctrine. Scripture cannot produce them. But let the Spirit animate it, and it has the power of God. Hearers who sit under the ministration of the truth without the Spirit may be likened to a man standing upon the brow of a hill, which commands the prospect of an extensive landscape. The varied beauties of field and dell are before him, but there is one drawback--the man is blind. So the truth is in the Bible, but the man has no eyes to see it. Prevailing truth is not of the letter, but of the Spirit (2Co_3:6).

(2) There will be considerable difficulties about the mode of procedure. Man is a moral agent, and God has endowed him with talents, and invested him with an immense delegation of power in the distribution of those talents, in the exercise of that power. He has got such a respect for the will that He has placed within us, that He will never force an entrance. He will do everything else. But notwithstanding opposition, the gospel shall triumph. We can conceive of no enemies more powerful than those it has already vanquished. God is with the gospel--that is the great secret of its success. She does not trust in her inherent energy; She does not trust in her exquisite adaptation to the wants of men; she does not trust in the indefatigable and self-denying labours of her ministers. God is with the gospel, and under His guidance she shall march triumphantly forward reclaiming the world unto herself. And, oh, what a comfortable doctrine is this! If this gospel is thus to be conducted from step to step in its progressive march to triumph, I shall share, surely, in its succours and salvation by the way. It guarantees individual salvation and individual defence. Thy sufficiency is of God. What frightens thee--affliction? God is thy health. Persecution? God is thy crown. Perplexity? God is thy counsel. Death? God is thine everlasting life. Only trust in God, and all shall be well; life shall glide thee into death, and death shall glide thee into heaven.

II. The authority which believers have to expect this sufficiency for themselves. We have a right to expect it, because it is found and promised in the Bible. It is not my Bible, your Bible, it is common property, it belongs to the universal Church.

1. Listen, Thus saith the Lord, who created thee, O Jacob, and formed thee, O Israel; fear not, for I have redeemed thee; I have called thee by thy name. Now think of all this, believers, past, present, and future, and then come and hear God saying, I have called thee by thy name, to every one out of that mass; Thou art not lost in the crowd. Thou art mine. When thou passest through the waters I will be with thee; through the rivers--deeper than the waters--they shall not overflow thee, etc. The Lord God is a sun and a shield, light and defence; we do not want much more in our passage. He will give grace and glory; and if any of you are so perversely clever that you can think of some blessing that is not wrapped up either in grace or glory, No good thing shall He withhold from them that walk uprightly.

2. Are you still dissatisfied? God condescends to expostulate with you upon your unbelief. Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speaketh, O Israel, My way is hidden from the Lord? How often have you said that! Are you still distrustful? Then ponder Scripture examples--Abraham on Moriah, Israel at the Red Sea, Nehemiah building the wall.

3. But you are not satisfied yet. You say, Those are all instances taken from the Old Testament times. Well, come into common life. In that house a man is dying. He is a Christian, and knowing whom he has believed, he is not afraid to die. But the thought that he will leave his family without a protector pressed upon his spirit somewhat, and when you look at him there is a shade of sadness upon his countenance. But you gaze awhile, and you see that shade is chased away by a smile. What has wrought the change? What! why, a ministering angel whispered him, Leave thy fatherless children, I will preserve them alive. You call the next morning; the widow is sitting in sorrow. But she too is a Christian, and flies to the Christian refuge, and her eye traces these comfortable words, Thy Maker is thy husband, the Lord of Hosts is His name. (W. M. Punshon, LL. D.)

God the sufficiency of man

Self-confidence is the great outstanding feature of the natural character. Almost all its words and actions bear this impress--I am sufficient of myself. You will wait in vain for any recognition of the hand of God. But the self-sufficiency of fallen man is perhaps most strikingly displayed in the way in which he deals with those truths which affect the salvation of his soul and his hopes for eternity. He has his own notions of Gods character and law and arrangements, and has adopted a plan of his own, which he imagines suits his case better than the one which Infinite Wisdom has appointed. Thus, self-sufficient is every one who has not been enlightened by the Spirit of God. But how different is it with Paul in the passage before us!

I. And I remark in the first place that our sufficiency is of God in respect to our temporal blessings and everyday mercies. We are wholly indebted to Him for the past, and wholly dependent on Him for the future. Have we a comfortable home to live in, and does not peace reign in our household? These blessings are of the Lords bestowing. Nor should we imagine that our sufficiency in temporal blessing is less of God in ordinary circumstances than in extraordinary occasions.

II. But I remark secondly that our sufficiency is of God in respect of our spiritual privileges.

1. In respect of justifying righteousness. We are not sufficient to work out a righteousness for ourselves.

2. Our sufficiency for holiness is of God. Old principles must be forsaken, and new ones adopted. Old habits must be given up and new ones formed. New tastes are to be cultivated and new desires cherished. But are we able to perform these duties of ourselves? Assuredly not. But what then? Does our inability excuse unbelief, impenitence, or indolence? No, verily; for while we are without strength in ourselves, there is strength in God if we will take hold of it.

3. Our sufficiency is of God in respect of usefulness (J G. Dalgliesh.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

2Co 3:5-6. Not that we are sufficient of ourselves — For this great work of converting sinners, and creating them anew; or so much as to think any thing as of ourselves — To form even right views of the gospel and divine things, much less to communicate such views to others, and less still to render them effectual to men’s salvation. But our sufficiency is of God — To whom we do and must ascribe whatever qualifications we have for our office, and whatever success we have in it; who also hath made us — His apostles and others whom he hath sent into the work; able ministers — Greek, ος ικανωσεν ημας διακονους, literally, who hath made us fit, or sufficient; ministers of the new testament — Or covenant, rather, as διαθηκη is generally rendered. See the Introduction to the New Testament, p. 3. That Isaiah , 1 st, Of the covenant of grace, made with man after the fall; a covenant which makes provision for pardoning his guilt, renewing his depraved nature, and strengthening his weakness; purposes for which the former covenant, that of justice, established before the fall, made no provision; man, while in innocence, not needing it: 2d, And more especially, the new covenant here means the last and best dispensation of the covenant of grace, that made through the Messiah come in the flesh, in opposition to the two former dispensations of the covenant of grace, the Patriarchal and Mosaic. Not of the letter — Not of the law, fitly called the letter, from God’s writing the best part of it on the two tables; but of the spirit — Of the gospel dispensation, written on the tables of our hearts by the Spirit. Or rather, the apostle means that the true ministers of Christ are not merely ministers of the letter even of the gospel covenant; they not only bear testimony to, and enforce the literal knowledge of it, or that which is in mere theory, but the spiritual or experimental knowledge of it: that is, they not only endeavour to communicate to their hearers just, clear, and full views of the gospel in all its parts, but to bring them to have a lively and operative faith in its doctrines, producing in them a change of nature; to possess its graces, enjoy its privileges, and practise its duties. For the letter killeth — The law, the Mosaic dispensation, seals in death those who still cleave to it; but the spirit — The gospel, instrumental in conveying the Spirit of God to those who receive it with a true and lively faith; giveth life — Both spiritual and eternal. Yea, if we adhere to the literal sense even of the moral law, if we regard only the precept and the sanction, as they stand in themselves, not as they lead us to Christ, they are doubtless a killing ordinance, and bind us down under the sentence of death. Nor is this all that the apostle means: but if we rest in the literal and merely notional knowledge of the new covenant itself, it not only will not justify and save us, but will condemn us to a greater death than that to which we were exposed by the sin of Adam: our condemnation will be aggravated, and our future misery increased through our misuse, or abuse rather, of so gracious a dispensation, a remedy provided in great mercy and love for the healing of our spiritual disorders and the saving of our souls. In other words, if we content ourselves with having right views of the gospel, of its truths and duties, privileges and blessings, and do not receive them in true repentance, living faith, sincere love, and new obedience; if we be satisfied with understanding the nature of the graces of God’s Spirit, and of justification, regeneration, and sanctification, and remain without the real possession and enjoyment of these blessings, the light we have, and our correct ideas of these things, will only render us the more inexcusable before God, and expose us to greater wrath than could have come upon us, if we had not been favoured with that knowledge and these advantages. On the other hand, the spiritual and experimental knowledge of the new covenant in all its branches, the knowledge communicated by the Holy Spirit, giveth life. It quickens the soul, before dead to God and divine things, dead in a state of guilt, depravity, and weakness; it justifies the ungodly, sanctifies the unholy, unites to God those who had been alienated from his life, stamps them with his image, communicates to them his nature, and renders them spiritually minded, which is life and peace. And while it imparts the life of grace, it gives a title to, a meetness for, and a foretaste of, the life of glory. To spread this spiritual, experimental, and practical knowledge of the new covenant, therefore, is the chief concern, and endeavour of every true minister of Christ; and for this work every such a one is qualified by being savingly made acquainted with its nature, excellence, and glory, in consequence of which he can and will not only speak justly and clearly concerning it, but with zeal, fervency, and deep concern, that his message may be properly received and obeyed by all who hear him. Understanding the doctrines, possessing the graces, practising the duties, and enjoying the privileges of this new dispensation himself, he speaks with sincerity and pathos; speaks what he knows, and testifies what he has seen, or experienced; and his words, proceeding from the heart, and uttered with feeling, seldom fail to reach the heart: while in the mean time, his spirit and conduct, his holy tempers, words, and actions, strongly recommend his doctrine, and powerfully enforce all his exhortations, the Lord Jesus, according to his promise, being with him in all his ministrations, and giving efficacy to the word of his grace.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

2Co 3:5. [16] Λογίσασθαι, to devise [to think]) to obtain by thinking, much less to speak or perform. There seems to be here something of a mimesis [allusion to the words of the persons whom he refutes. Append.] For they do not think, whom God moves: i.e., they frame or work out nothing by their own thinking, 2Pe 1:21.—τὶ) anything; even the least thing.

[16] Ἐσμὲν, we are) even yet at this very hour.—V. g.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

2Co_3:5. Now comes the caveat, for which 2Co_3:4 has prepared the way,the guarding against the possible objection, that Paul considered himself (and Timothy) as originator of the ability for apostolic working. οὐχ ὅτι is therefore not to be taken as equivalent to on ὅτι οὐχ (Mosheim, Schulz, Emmerling), nor is πέποιθα to be supplied again after οὐχ (Emmerling); but we have here the quite common use of οὐχ ὅτι for οὐκ ἐρῶ, ὅτι. See on 2Co_1:24. Rückert finds in οὐχ ὅτι κ.τ.λ. a reason assigned for the πρὸς τὸν θεόν, or an explanation of it: In thus speaking, I would not have it thought that, etc. But if in πρὸς τ. θεόν there was meant to be conveyed the same idea as was further explained in 2Co_3:5, Paul would have expressed himself quite illogically, and in explaining or assigning a reason for it he must have written ὅτι οὐχ. No; the course of thought is: With this πεποίθησις, however, I do not wish to be misunderstood or misconstrued: I do not mean by it, that we are of ourselves sufficient, etc. With this connection πρὸς τὸν θεόν is not at variance; for by it God was not yet meant as author of the adequate ability (2Co_3:5 shows this very point), but as producer of the result.

λογίσασθαί τι] to judge anything (censere). The context furnishes the more precise definition which Paul had in view. 2Co_3:2-4; 2Co_3:6. He denies, namely, that of himself he possesses the ability to settle in his judgment the means and ways, and, in general, the mode of discharging his apostolic duties. If he has just been speaking in 2Co_3:2-4 with so much confidence of his prosperous and successful labour in Corinth, yet it is by no means his own ability, but the divine empowering, which enables him to determine by his own judgment anything regarding the discharge of his vocation. Accordingly, we can neither approve the meaning arbitrarily given to τί, aliquid praeclari (Emmerling; van Hengel, Annot. p. 219), nor agree with Hofmann, who, in consistency with his reference of πεποίθησις to 2Co_2:14-17, makes the apostle guard against the misconstruction that this, his πεποίθησις, rests on ideas which he forms for himselfon an estimate of his official working, according to a standard elaborated by his own mind. Even apart from that erroneous reference of the πεποίθησις, the very expression ἱκανοί would be unsuitable to the meaning adopted by Hofmann, and instead of it a notion of presumption would rather have been in place; the prominence given to ἱκανοτής by its being used thrice can only concern the ability which regulates the official labour itself. The dogmatic exposition, disregarding the context, finds here the entire inability of the natural man for all good. See Augustine, de dono persev. 13, contra Pelag. 8; Calvin: non poterat magis hominem nudare omni bono. Comp. Beza, Calovius, and others, including Olshausen. The reference also of the words to the doctrinal contents of the preaching, which was not derived from his own reflection (Theodoret, Grotius, de Wette, Neander, and others), is not suggested by the connection, and is forbidden by the fact that ἀφʼ ἑαυτῶν does not belong to λογίσασθε at all (see below). This also in opposition to Osiander, who finds the meaning. not human, but divine thoughts lie at the root of the whole of my official work.

ἀφʼ ἑαυτῶν] has its assured place after λογίσ. τι (see the critical remarks). The contrast that follows (ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ) decides what it belongs to in sense,namely, not to λογίσασθαί τι, but to ἱκανοί ἐσμεν,so that ἱκανοί ἐσμεν λογίσασθαί τι is to be considered as going together, as one idea. Mistaking this, Rückert thinks that either Paul has placed the words wrongly, or the order given by B C א (see the critical remarks) must be preferred.

On ἀφʼ ἑαυτοῦ, from ones own means, nemine suppeditante, see Wetstei.

ὡς ἐξ ἑαυτῶν] sc. ἱκανοὶ ὄντες λογίσ. τι, a more precise definition of the ἀφʼ ἑαντ. inserted on purpose (making the notice thoroughly exhaustive). The proceeding from (ἀπό) is still more definitely marked as causal procession (ἐκ): as from ourselves, i.e. as if our ability to judge anything had its origin from ourselves. Wolf arbitrarily refers ἀπό to the will, and ἐξ to the power; and Rückert wrongly connects ἐξ ἑαυτ. with λογίσ. τί; it is in fact parallel to ἀφʼ ἑαυτ. Paul is conscious of the ἱκανὸν εἶναι λογίσασθαί τι, and ascribes it to himself; but he denies that he has this ἱκανότης of himself, or from himsel.

ἡ ἱκανότης ἡμῶν] sc. λογίσασθαί τι.

Rückert finds in our passage, especially in ἀφʼ ἑαυτῶν, an allusion to some utterances, unknown to us, of opponents, which, however, cannot be proved from 2Co_10:7, and is quite a superfluous hypothesis.

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

2Co 3:5 . οὐχ ὅτι ἱκανοί κ . τ . λ .: not that we are sufficient of ourselves to judge anything as from ourselves; sc. , to judge rightly of the methods to be followed in the discharge of the Apostolic ministry; there is no thought here of the natural depravity of man, or the like. For the constr. οὐχ ὅτι … cf. 2Co 1:24 and reff. λογίζεσθαι is here used in its widest sense of carrying on any of the ordinary processes of reasoning ( cf. 2Co 10:7 , 2Co 12:6 ). The repetition ἀφʼ ἑαυτῶν … ἐξ ἑαυτῶν emphasises the statement of the need of God’s grace. St. Paul’s habit of dwelling on a word and coming back to it again and again (an artifice which the Latin rhetoricians called traductio ) is well illustrated in this passage. We have ἱκανοί , ἱκανότης , ἱκάνωσεν ; γραμμα (following ἐγγεγραμμένη in 2Co 3:2 ); διακονηθεῖσα , διάκονος , διακονία ; and δόξα eight times between 2Co 3:7-11 . With the sentiment ἡ ἱκανότης ἡμῶν ἐκ τοῦ Θεοῦ , cf. 1Co 15:10 and chap. 2Co 12:9 .

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

In that we are fit and meet to make other men partakers of so great a grace.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

The Greek is, "Not that we are (even yet after so long experience as ministers) sufficient to think anything OF ourselves as (coming) FROM ourselves; but our sufficiency is (derived) FROM God." "From" more definitely refers to the source out of which a thing comes; "of" is more general.

to think--Greek, to "reason out" or "devise"; to attain to sound preaching by our reasonings [THEODORET]. The "we" refers here to ministers (Pe2 1:21).

anything--even the least. We cannot expect too little from man, or too much from God.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 5. Not that we are sufficient of ourselves] We do not arrogate to ourselves any power to enlighten the mind or change the heart, we are only instruments in the hand of God. Nor was it possible for us apostles to think, to invent, such a scheme of salvation as is the Gospel; and if we even had been equal to the invention, how could we have fulfilled such promises as this scheme of salvation abounds with? God alone could fulfil these promises, and he fulfils only those which he makes himself. All these promises have been amen-ratified and fulfilled to you who have believed on Christ Jesus according to our preaching; therefore, ye are God's workmanship and it is only by God's sufficiency that we have been able to do any thing. This I believe to be the apostle's meaning in this place, and that he speaks here merely of the Gospel scheme, and the inability of human wisdom to invent it; and the words λογισασθαι τι, which we translate to think any thing, signify, properly, to find any thing out by reasoning; and as the Gospel scheme of salvation is the subject in hand, to that subject the words are to be referred and limited. The words, however, contain also a general truth; we can neither think, act, nor be, without God. From him we have received all our powers, whether of body or of mind, and without him we can do nothing. But we may abuse both our power of thinking and acting; for the power to think, and the power to act, are widely different from the act of thinking, and the act of doing. God gives us the power or capacity to think and act, but he neither thinks nor acts for us. It is on this ground that we may abuse our powers, and think evil, and act wickedly; and it is on this ground that we are accountable for our thoughts, words, and deeds.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

5. Not that we are competent. When he thus disclaims all merit, it is not as if he abased himself in merely pretended modesty, but instead of this, he speaks what he truly thinks. Now we see, that he leaves man nothing. For the smallest part, in a manner, of a good work is thought. In other words, it has neither the first part of the praise, nor the second; and yet he does not allow us even this. As it is less to think than to will, how foolish a part do those act, who arrogate to themselves a right will, when Paul does not leave them so much as the power of thinking aught! Papists have been misled by the term sufficiency, that is made use of by the Old Interpreter. For they think to get off by acknowledging that man is not qualified to form good purposes, while in the mean time they ascribe to him a right apprehension of the mind, which, with some assistance from God, may effect something of itself. Paul, on the other hand, declares that man is in want, not merely of sufficiency of himself, (αὐτάρκειαν,) but also of competency (ἱκανότητα,) which would be equivalent to idoneitas (fitness), if such a term were in use among the Latins. He could not, therefore, more effectually strip man bare of every thing good.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(5) Not that we are sufficient . . .—He had not used the word “sufficient” of himself, but it was clearly the implied answer to the question, “Who is sufficient for these things?” In the Greek there are two different prepositions for the one “of” in English. “Not as though we are sufficient of ourselves to form any estimate as originating with ourselves,” would be a fair paraphrase. The habit of mind which led St. Paul to emphasise the shades of meaning in Greek prepositions to an extent hardly to be expressed in English, and not commonly recognised, it may be, in colloquial Greek, is seen again in Rom_11:36.

Is of God.—The preposition is the same as in the second of the two previous clauses. The sufficiency flows from God as its source: originates with him.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

5. Not that we are sufficient] We here return to the idea touched upon in ch. 2Co_2:16, but then passed over on account of St Paul’s eagerness to assert the purity of his motives.

of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves] The two prepositions translated ‘of’ here are not the same in the Greek. The former signifies ‘from’ simply, but not excluding the idea of origination in some source outside us. The latter signifies ‘out of’ as from an original source.

but our sufficiency is of God] Cf. 1Co_3:9.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Not that we are sufficient of ourselves,.... Though we are sufficient for this work to which God has called us, and have such trust and confidence that he has blessed and owned us, and done such great things by us; yet we do not ascribe anything to ourselves, to any power of ours, to any self-sufficiency in us: for "we are not sufficient of ourselves" neither for the work of the ministry, nor for the conversion of sinners, nor for faith and hope in God, nor for any spiritual work whatever; not even to think anything as of ourselves; any good thing, either for our own use and benefit, or for the advantage of others; we are not able of ourselves to meditate with judgment and affection upon the word of God, to study the Scriptures, to collect from them things fit for the ministry; and much less with freedom and boldness to speak of them to edification; and still less able to impress them upon the heart: for though you who are the epistle of Christ are ministered by us, yet not by any power and self-sufficiency of ours;

but our sufficiency is of God; to think, to speak, and to act for his glory.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

5 Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God;

Ver. 5. Not that we are sufficient] Lest they should think him arrogant. Cyrus had this written upon his tomb, "I could do all things," παντα ποιειν εδυναμην, as Arrianus reports. So could Paul too; but it was through Christ which strengthened him, Php 4:13.

All our sufficiency is of God] Had not ministers then need to pray? Bene orasse est bene studuisse, saith Luther. And whether a minister shall do no more good to others by his prayers or preaching, I will not determine (saith a reverend writer), but he shall certainly by his prayers reap more comfort to himself; whereto I add, that unless he pray for his hearers as well as preach to them, he may preach to as little purpose as Bede did, when he preached to a heap of stones; and that if people pray not for their ministers, they may prove ministrorum opprobria, like Laban’s lambs, or Pharaoh’s kine; they may thank themselves for their minister’s insufficiency and their own non-proficiency.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Not that we are sufficient of ourselves - This is evidently designed to guard against the appearance of boasting, or of self-confidence. He had spoken of his confidence; of his triumph; of his success; of his undoubted evidence that God had sent him. He here says, that he did not mean to be understood as affirming that any of his success came from himself, or that he was able by his own strength to accomplish the great things which had been effected by his ministry. He well knew that he had no such self-sufficiency; and he would not insinuate, in the slightest manner, that he believed himself to be invested with any such power, compare note on Joh 15:5.

To think anything - (λογίσασθαι τι logisasthai ti). The word used here means properly to reason, think, consider; and then to reckon, count to, or impute to anyone. It is the word which is commonly rendered impute; see it explained more fully in the note on Rom 4:5. Robinson (Lexicon) renders it in this place, “to reason out, to think out, to find out by thinking.” Doddridge renders it, “to reckon upon anything as from ourselves.” Whitby renders it, “to reason; as if the apostle had said, We are unable by any reasoning of our own to bring people to conversion. Macknight gives a similar sense. Locke renders it, “Not as if I were sufficient of myself, to reckon upon anything as from myself:” and explains it to mean that Paul was not sufficient of himself by any strength of natural parts to attain the knowledge of the gospel truths which he preached. The word may be rendered here, to reckon, reason, think, etc.; but it should be confined to the immediate subject under consideration. It does not refer to thinking in general; or to the power of thought on any, and on all subjects - however true it may be in itself but to the preaching the gospel. And the expression may be regarded as referring to the following points, which are immediately under discussion:

(1) Paul did not feel that he was sufficient of himself to have reasoned or thought out the truths of the gospel. They were communicated by God.

(2) He had no power by reasoning to convince or convert sinners. That was all of God.

(3) He had no right to reckon on success by any strength of his own. All success was to be traced to God. It is, however, also true, that all our powers of thinking and reasoning are from God; and that we have no ability to think clearly, to reason calmly, closely, and correctly, unless he shall preside over our minds and give us clearness of thought. How easy is it for God to disarrange all our faculties, and produce insanity! How easy to suffer our minds to become unsettled, bewildered, and distracted with a multiplicity of thoughts! How easy to cause every thing to appear cloudy, and dark, and misty! How easy to affect our bodies with weakness, langor, disease, and through them to destroy all power of close and consecutive thought! No one who considers on how many things the power of close thinking depends, can doubt that all our sufficiency in this is from God; and that we owe to him every clear idea on the subjects of common life, and on scientific subjects, no less certainly than we do in the truths of religion, compare the case of Bezaleel and Aholiab in common arts, Exo 31:1-6, and Job 32:8.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

To think any thing of ourselves, that may deserve a reward in heaven. --- But Christ hath made us fit ministers of his New Testament by the Spirit: for the letter of the Old Testament killeth, but the Spirit of the New Testament giveth life. (Witham) --- The letter. Not rightly understood, and taken without the spirit. (Challoner) --- This verse, (6th) refers to that in the last chapter, where he says: And for these things who is so fit? Who is so capable of such a ministry? It is God alone who gives us strength, light and grace. I am far from giving a part only to God, and a part ot myself. It all exclusively belongs to him. (St. John Chrysostom)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

I would not have you think that we judge ourselves sufficient to work a change in the hearts of men; we are so far from that, that we have no sufficiency so much as to think one good thought, which is the lowest human act. Though the subject, upon which the apostle is here discoursing, be a sufficiency to work a work of grace in the hearts of men; yet here is a strong proof to prove the impotency of man’s will unto any thing that is truly and spiritually good: for though the apostle declares here his own and all other ministers’ insufficiency to the change of any man’s heart, yet he proveth it by an argument, concluding from the lesser to the greater; for if they be not sufficient of themselves, and as of themselves, to think any thing which is truly and spiritually good, they are then much less sufficient for so great a work as the conversion of souls. Nor doth that term,

as of ourselves, any thing alter the matter; for if we can think good thoughts, in any sense,

as of ourselves, it is not

of God, in the sense which the apostle is speaking of; who is not here speaking of God as the God of nature, (from whom indeed we derive our power of thinking), but as the God of grace, from whom we derive our power of thinking holy thoughts, and such as are truly and spiritually good. The apostle determineth all our sufficiency to spiritually good actions to be from God, our sufficiency to the lowest (which is thinking good thoughts) as well as to those of the highest sort; amongst which must those actions be accounted, by which men are made workers together with God, in the bringing of souls out of darkness into marvellous light; opening their eyes, turning them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, Act 26:18. Our sufficiency to think any thoughts, or to do any natural or moral actions, is from God, as he is the God of nature. But it appeareth from all the preceding discourse, that our apostle is here speaking of that sufficiency which floweth from God through the mediation of Christ: our power of thinking floweth from the providence of God towards all men; and if that had been all which the apostle had meant in saying,

our sufficieney is from God, it had been no more than what they might have learned from the heathen philosophers, who would have acknowledged, that all men’s sufficiency to natural actions is from the Divine Being, or the first Mover.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

5. Sufficient—Same word as in 2Co_2:16.

To think—To think out, or excogitate the truths of the gospel. Paul here entirely ignores the imputation that the gospel as by him preached is by him invented. No, it originates with God, from whom comes all his sufficiency even to preach it.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Not that we are sufficient of ourselves. He here reverts to the question asked in 2Co_2:16. He cannot bear the implication that any "confidence" on his part rests on anything short of the overwhelming sense that he is but an agent, or rather nothing but an instrument, in the hands of God. To think anything as of ourselves. He has, indeed, the capacity to form adequate judgments about his work, but it does not come from his own resources (ajf eJautwn) or his own independent origination (ejx eJautwn); comp. 1Co_15:10. But our sufficiency. Namely, to form any true or right judgment, and therefore to express the confidence which I have expressed. Is of God. We are but fellow workers with him. (1Co_3:19)

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Not that we are sufficient of ourselves - So much as to think one good thought; much less, to convert sinners.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

Observe here, 1. How the apostle having made an apology and defence for himself and his ministry, against those that did calumniate him, in the former verses; in the verse before us he acknowledges his great inability for this work, and that his whole sufficiency of service was from God; and this without doubt he mentions not only out of humility, but out of prudence also, in order to stop the mouths of those who might be apt to think he had too high an esteem of himself.

As if the apostle had said, "Far be it from me to think that I could procure the success of my ministry, that I have any such sufficiency of myself to convert souls; no, no, my sufficiency and success is all from God; for, alas! there is no proportion between such a sublime and supernatural service as that of the gospel ministry is and the impotency and weakness of man." Not that we are sufficient of ourselves, but our sufficiency is of God.

Observe, 2. The free and full acknowledgment which the apostle makes of the great things which God had done for him, and by him: he did not find, but made him a minister, an able minister; yea, an able minister of the New Testament, or new covenant; not a preacher of the law of Moses, but of the gospel of Jesus: Who hath made us able ministers of the New testament.

To be a sufficient and successful gospel minister, is a very great favour from God to any person: the clay of the gospel is better than the gold of the temple; the rags of the evangelical, more rich than the robes of the Levitical preacher: it is a greater honour to be, and a greater favour to hear, the meanest gospel preacher than to hear all Moses’ lectures.

Observe, 3. How our apostle here insensibly slides into a comparison which he makes between the law of Moses and the gospel of Christ, in which he magnifies and prefers the latter above the former; the law he calls the letter, the gospel the spirit; that is, a ministration of the Spirit. The letter killeth-that is, the law condemneth and curseth the sinner, the transgressor of it; but the Spirit of Christ revealed in the gospel enableth, as well as directeth, to obey, and so giveth life.

Note here, How false the Quaker’s and others’ gloss is upon these words: they by the letter will understand the whole written word of God contained in the scriptures of the Old and New Testament, the law and gospel both; and by the spirit, will have to be meant the inward and immediate teachings of the light within them.

Others, by the letter, understand the literal and historical sense of scripture in general; and by the spirit giving life, they understand the mystical and spiritual sense of scripture; but it is evident from 2Co 3:3, that by the letter he understands the law engraven in stone, the law as delivered by Moses with an appearance of the glory of the Lord upon mount Sinai; and by the spirit is meant the blessed Spirit of Christ given to the apostles to enable them to preach the gospel, and conferred upon all believers that did obediently hear and receive it.

William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

THE LETTER KILLETH AND THE SPIRIT MAKETH ALIVE

5. “We are not able to think anything from ourselves, as of ourselves, but our sufficiency is of God.” Unless the Holy Spirit sanctify and illuminate the intellect we are incompetent to even think God-like thoughts. No wonder the Savior forbade his own apostles to go out preaching till they were filled with the Holy Ghost, who is really the only preacher in all the world, others only being competent to preach through His immediate agency and presence.

6. “Who also empowered us ministers of the new covenant.” Christ is Mediator of the new covenant and Moses of the old, the latter being rudimentary and the former Christian perfection. Hence the people who remain in spiritual infancy, i. e., stop with justification, are spindled and dwarfed in the dispensation of Moses, three thousand years behind the age. “Not of the letter, but of the Spirit; for the letter killeth, but the Spirit maketh alive.” The man who depends on the simple Word for salvation without the Spirit, is like the murderer who employs a lawyer to search the statute-book to find his pardon. Nothing will be found there but his condemnation. The Bible says: “The soul that sinneth, it shall die.” Sad to say, the multitude of preachers in Christendom this day are ministers of the Word without the Spirit, and simply augmenting the condemnation and expediting the damnation of their people, unless they receive the Spirit, which is not very probable unless the preachers lead the way. The people swept through the churches down to Hell meet a more awful doom than the heathens, because they sin against light and knowledge. This dead-letter ministry has girdled the globe with the form without the power, from which God says, “Turn away.” No man can be a “minister of the Spirit” unless he has the Spirit. All he can do is to condemn you, sending mourning to the Spirit. Good Lord, help us to be ministers of the Spirit, and not simply of the letter. Satan knows that the Word without the Spirit will only expedite and augment damnation. Hence he sends out so many to preach who are strangers to the Holy Ghost. If we would be the ministers of the Spirit, we must receive Him into our hearts and let Him fill us and use us. We must recognize Him as the Leader of our meetings. This will knock out all human form and ceremony, and turn over the singing, praying, preaching and testifying to the Holy Ghost. Besides all this, we must be consciously possessed by the Holy Ghost. Will you be a minister of the Holy Ghost? They are scarce, and at a high premium in Heaven. We live amid awful issues. Every preacher nowadays is forced to decide between human authority and influence and the Holy Ghost. I am glad I passed this ordeal thirty years ago. Many are dying hard at that point now. Will you be a minister of the dead letter or the Holy Ghost?

William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

not that we are sufficient of ourselves, to account anything as from ourselves; but our sufficiency is from God ;

J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

5. Not that we are sufficient of ourselves. He would claim no credit for the work at Corinth, as though it was his own, for all his strength was of God.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

5. ἀφʼ ἑαντῶν before ἱκανοί ἑσμεν (אBC, Copt. Arm.) rather than after λογίσασθαί τι (ADFGP) or after ἱκανοί ἐσμεν (KL); and λογίσασθαι (אABKL) rather than λογίζεσθαι (CDFG); and ἐξ αὑτῶν (BFG) rather than ἐξ ἑαυτῶν (אACD).

5. οὐχ ὅτι ἀφʼ ἑαυτῶν ἱκανοί ἐσμεν. I do not mean that (2Co 1:24) we are sufficient (2Co 2:17) to account anything proceeding from ourselves as coming out of ourselves (i.e. being really originated by us); but our sufficiency comes from God. Whatever qualification the Apostle has, it is not one of merit; it is wholly a gift from above; comp. 2Co 4:7. The verse answers the question raised in 2Co 2:17. The words may mean: not that of ourselves we are sufficient to account anything as coming out of ourselves, &c. But in neither case do we get any support for the doctrine that the natural man is incapable of good. Nowhere else in Biblical Greek is ἱκανότης found. In ἠ ἱκανότης ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ there may be a reference to the Divine Name El Shaddai, which was sometimes understood as meaning ‘The Sufficient’; and ἱκανός is found in this sense Rth 1:20-21; Job 21:15; Job 31:2; Job 39:30 [Job 40:2]; Eze 1:24 (A). Comp. 1Co 3:6.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

5.] not that (i.e. ‘I mean not, that’ …:—not,’ not because,’ as Winer in his former editions: see edn. 6, § 61. 5. f) we are of ourselves able to think any thing (to carry on any of the processes of reasoning or judgment, or faith belonging to our apostolic calling: there is no ellipsis, ‘any thing great,’ or ‘good,’ or the like) of ourselves, as if from ourselves (ἀφʼ ἑαυτ. and ἐξ ἑαυτ. are parallel: the latter more definitely pointing to ourselves as the origin),—but our ability (λογίσασθαι τὰ πάντα) is from (as its source) God,

6.] Who also (= ‘qui idem;’ so Eur. Bacch. 572, ταῦτα καὶ καθύβρισʼ αὐτόν, ‘hæc eadem illi exprobravi.’ See Hartung, Partikellehre, i. p. 132) enabled us as ministers of the (or, as Stanley, “a:” but not necessarily from the omission of the art.: cf. Heb 12:24, καὶ διαθήκης νέας μεσίτῃ Ἰησοῦ) new Covenant (i.e. the gospel, Eph 3:7; Col 1:23, as distinguished from the law; see 1Co 11:25; Gal 4:24:—the πλάκες λίθιναι and σάρκιναι are still borne in mind, and lead on to a fuller comparison of the two covenants),—not of (governed by διακόνους, not by καινῆς διαθ.—‘ministers, not of’.…) letter (in which, viz. in formal and literal precept, the Mosaic law consisted), but of Spirit (in which, viz. in the inward guiding of the Spirit of God, the gospel consists. Bengel remarks: ‘Paulus etiam dum hæc scripsit, non literæ, sed spiritus ministerium egit. Moses in proprio illo officio suo, etiam cum haud scripsit, tamen in litera versatus est’): for the letter (mere formal and literal precept, of the law) killeth (as in Rom_7,—brings the knowledge of sin, its guilt and its punishment. The reference is not, as Meyer, to natural death, which is the result of sin even where there is no law; nor as Chrys. to the law executing punishment), but the Spirit (of the gospel, i.e. God’s Holy Spirit, acting in and through Christ, Who ἐγένετο εἰς πνεῦμα ζωοποιοῦν, 1Co 15:45. See also below, ver. 17) giveth life (not merely life eternal, but the whole new life of the man of God, see Rom 6:4, Rom 6:11; Rom 8:2, Rom 8:10). On the history of this meaning of γράμμα, see Stanley’s note.

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

5. οὐχ ὅτι …ἀλλʼ. The πεποίθησις is further explained, both negatively and positively, in order to exclude still more emphatically the suspicion of self-commendation. ‘I do not mean that (1:24) of ourselves we are sufficient (2:16) to account anything as originating with ourselves.’ He does not claim the right or power to judge that he and his fellows are the real authors of any part of the work; they claim no credit whatever. Experience has proved that as ministers they are competent, for the Corinthian Church exists; but all their competency comes from above.

The statement is particular, not general; and it has reference simply to the successful work at Corinth. The Apostle is not denying free will, nor is he declaring that the natural man can do nothing but evil. Calvin’s remark, Paulus non Poterat igitur magis hoininem nudare omni bona, is altogether beside the mark.

By a fanciful derivation, El Shaddai, as a name for God, was sometimes interpreted as meaning ‘The Sufficient One.’ In Rth 1:20, Rth 1:21, ὁ Ἱκανός, and in Job 21:15, Job 31:2, 39:32 [40:2]. Ἱκανός, is used as a Divine name. It is just possible that St Paul had this in his mind here; ‘Our sufficiency comes from the Sufficient One.’ Nowhere else in LXX or N.T. is ἱκανότης found.

ἀφʼ ἐαυτῶν should be placed before ἱκανοί ἐσμεν (א B C, Copt. Arm.) rather than after λογ. τι (A D E F G P, Latt.) or after ἱκ. ἐσμεν (K L, Syr. Hark.) or be omitted (17, Syr-Pesh.). λογίσασθαι (א A B K L P) rather than λογίζεσθαι (C D E F G). For έξ ἑαυτῶν, B F G have έξ αὑτῶν (WH. ii. p. 144).

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.