This is the Secret Behind our Excellence

2 Corinthians 3:5
Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God.

New Living Translation
It is not that we think we are qualified to do anything on our own. Our qualification comes from God.

Amplified Bible
Not that we are sufficiently qualified in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency and qualifications come from God.

Contemporary English Version
We don’t have the right to claim that we have done anything on our own. God gives us what it takes to do all we do.

Good News Translation
There is nothing in us that allows us to claim that we are capable of doing this work. The capacity we have comes from God;

Apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthian church many letters for many reasons. This time round he is defending his ministry and that of his colleagues. He tells the Corinthians that they are a recommendation letter of their ministry.

2 Corinthians 3:1-3
(1) Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, like some people, letters of recommendation to you or from you? (2) You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everyone. (3) You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.

The lifestyle of the Corinthians and all other believers is a testimony of what God can do. How they live tells the world of the power of God. Those observing the Corinthian Christians are supposed to be attracted to the God they worship. The Corinthian church is a letter commending their religious leaders for the work they have done among them. What kind of letter am I and who do I commend? What kind of letter are you and who do you commend?

What would happen if your customers become your recommendation letter? Would your goods and services ever sell? What if your clients become your recommendation letter? What if your patients become your recommendation letter? What if your students became your recommendation letter? What if your students became your recommendation letter? What if the people you once led and now you have no power over them, became your recommendation letter? Apostle Paul and his colleagues tell us that, the church members of the church in Corinth which they started, are their recommendation letters.

Clearly, Apostle Paul was bragging about their achievements among the Corinthians. He was proud of the progress they were making in Christ. At this point, it would be tempting to celebrate Paul as a very competent leader. Paul acknowledges that he is competent, but he deflects the glory from himself to God!

Apostle Paul in our text today acknowledges that they have proved to be competent. They have been successful in all they did. They have shown that they are qualified and adequate. However, Paul tells us that they fully acknowledge that their competence is from God. It is God who made them competent. It is God who makes them adequate and qualified. The secret of their success is empowerment by God!

The various Bible versions quoted above tell it in an excellent way. Paul points us to God as the source of the excellence we see in him and his colleagues. What is the source of your competence and mine? Is it our experience? Our connections? Our academic qualifications?

Acts 22:3
“I am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city. I studied under Gamaliel and was thoroughly trained in the law of our ancestors. I was just as zealous for God as any of you are today.

Paul was highly educated under the best professor Gamaliel. Paul wrote thirteen to fourteen out of the twenty-seven books of the New Testament. Paul started so many churches in Asia Minor (present-day Turkey). Paul took the gospel all the way to Caesar’s household. Paul was a great Theologian whose books need proper preparation academically to deeply decipher. Paul confidently faced death by beheading. Paul as a Christian preacher, Theologian, and evangelist was very successful. Paul tells us that success is purely from God.

In our text today, Apostle Paul a very successful person and professional tells us that his success is from God and God alone. Dear God, grant us success and you granted Apostle Paul, in Jesus’s name, Amen!

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