Everything Coming from God, Nothing from Me (2 Corinthians 3:4-6)

“And we have such trust through Christ toward God. Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God, who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.” (2 Corinthians 3:4-6 NKJV)

Where does our confidence come from under the new covenant of grace? We have received the grace of stewardship to minister the words of truth to the needy and the poor. We have such trust through Christ toward God. But our confidence does not come from ourselves but our sufficiency is from God. We are called and made sufficient as ministers of the new covenant. The old covenant is based on the Ten Commandments but the new, on the Spirit. We must die because we cannot keep the Law. No one can keep the Law by any means. Man is doomed to die of insufficiency of fulfilling the Law. No one is without exception under the old covenant. Man does try hard but no fulfillment at all.

Our sufficiency does not lie on how much we can do but on how much Christ can. We have nothing to contribute to receive the righteousness of God. We cannot love anyone with our fleshy determination and decision. God is love. Only Christ can love the enemies, even He demonstrated His unfailing and faithful love on the cross of Calvary while we were still sinners, enemies of God. Our sufficiency is from the grace of God and Christ crucified who came into our hearts by means the Spirit.

We can’t love anyone, even families, but Christ can, so we can. The indwelling Spirit of God is the source and dynamics of loving one another. That’s it, nothing coming from us, everything coming from the God of Christ Jesus. So, we completely and perfectly rely on Christ who is the gift of God within us. “For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.” (Romans 6:14 NKJV) We are freed from the law of condemnation and guilt because we are under grace. We are not delivered by keeping the law but by purely the grace of the blood on the cross. Nothing can separate us from such a love of God manifested and made in public in the blood of Christ Jesus our Lord.