And such confidence have we through the Christ towards God
Paul has just called the Corinthians themselves a letter from Christ, written by the Spirit of the living God. This verse names the ground of that bold claim: the confidence runs "through Christ," and it faces "toward God," not Paul's own record as a worker.
Can a believer be sure of where he stands with God? One writer answers first for every Christian, then for Paul's own service:
"Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God." Christianity does not only shut out despair; it gives assurance. And that assurance stands on the firmest ground there is with God — Christ Himself. His work puts the believer into the same acceptance, nearness and favour that our Lord enjoyed through His own personal relationship with God and His perfection as man. That is what a Saviour like Him means, aims at, and achieves. Anything less would treat Him and His work lightly. But here the apostle speaks of confidence about his ministry, which is just as true and flows from the same grace.
The little word "such" ties the confidence to something already said. The changed lives Paul has just described gave him his footing:
The effect of his preaching was a joy to see in the changed lives of the Corinthians, which the Spirit had produced. This leads the Apostle to speak of his confidence about his ministry. He was confident that, by the grace of God given to him through Christ, his ministry was the truth that the Spirit could use to give life.
The evidence at Corinth was mixed. One commentator explains why the confidence had to run through Christ, not through what the converts looked like:
He knew, sadly, that the flesh was in believers, and even stood out in them. So his confidence about them had to be confidence through the Lord. And that is why it is a ground of confidence that never fails. He was sure that they really were God's own workmanship, and so he could speak as he does here.
Commentators differ over where the emphasis falls. Some read the trust as covering Paul's own fitness for the work. One writer argues the main subject is the effect of that work. He pictures Christ's letter at Corinth as a blotted, half-readable document:
What trust? Is he thinking here of his own fitness as a minister of the Church by the grace of God, or of the effect of that ministry? I have no doubt that the second is the main meaning of these words, though the first is of course included… And to an eye that saw as Paul saw, Christ's letter, then on open display at Corinth, might look ugly. It was full of blots and rubbed-out lines. Its genuineness even looked doubtful, because God's finger had traced it so faintly, while the flesh had written in its own bold insertions. Yet Paul did not stumble at this evidence of the enemy's power. He still trusted, through Christ, in the One who is above that proud enemy.
This confidence is not self-belief. It is real, but the ability behind it is on loan. Cut it off from its source and it goes:
God had not chosen the apostles because they were able in themselves for matters so great and wonderful. Such work is far beyond any human ability. But when He chooses someone, He supplies the ability to carry out the work He entrusts to that person… Paul would not separate the ability from its source in any way. Do that, and the ability is lost at once.
The same writer puts both sides together. Paul was "unshaken in his trust" in the face of everything that could oppose him, and that was "because he trusted no longer in himself" (A. Pridham).
- Christ is the channel. The confidence runs "through Christ." His work sets the believer in the same acceptance, nearness and favour that He Himself enjoys as man. No ground is firmer.
- God is the direction. The trust faces toward God, not toward other people, and not toward the servant's own record.
- Souls are the evidence. The Spirit changed lives at Corinth. Paul pointed to them as proof that his message was truth the Spirit uses to give life.
- Flesh does not cancel it. The flesh was still at work in the converts, so the confidence had to run through the Lord. That is why it could never fail.
- Competence is on loan. God supplies the ability along with the calling. Separate the two, and the ability is gone.
not that we are competent of ourselves to think anything as of ourselves, but our competency [is] of God;
At the end of chapter 2 Paul asked who is equal to such a ministry. This verse answers in two halves: he has no resource in himself, and his fitness comes wholly from God.
Paul asks his question in 2 Corinthians 2:16 and leaves it hanging. One writer traces the reply to this verse:
Eternal issues hang on the true preaching of Christ, whether the words are Paul's in the first century or ours today. No wonder the question comes up: "Who is sufficient for these things?" Paul raises it there but does not answer it at once. He answers it in verse 5 of the next chapter. The whole thing is of God, so there is no sufficiency but of God. If only every servant of God kept this in mind! It would make us deeply earnest and dependent on the power of God.
The denial reaches further than we might expect. Other translations read "not that we are competent of ourselves to think anything as of ourselves," and the writers below follow that wording. Paul cannot even think the work out of himself.
The thoughts of man are not the thoughts of God, and an apostle of Christ is no exception… Self-help is the most attractive of nature's idols, and as a minister of God he would have nothing to do with it. What is right and even necessary in everyday matters must be given up in the true service of Christ, and overcome there as an obstacle… Paul admits that he can neither think nor act out of himself. The thought is the parent of the work, and man's thoughts can neither plan nor direct the work of God. He was emptied of self so that he might be filled more completely with the energy of God.
That has a sharp edge for anyone who handles the Bible with confidence in their own mental powers:
Even the apostles, who were able ministers of the new covenant with wonderful gifts and qualifications, used to say that they could not of themselves think anything as coming from themselves, and that their sufficiency was of God. If such mighty men of God declared their inability to think a right thought apart from the teaching of the Spirit, how appalling it is in these days to find so many relying on learning and natural ability, and expressing their opinions of the Scriptures with such boldness.
Verse 4 speaks of confidence; this verse denies all confidence in self. Both stand together:
"Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God." Christianity not only shuts out despair but gives assurance, and on the firmest ground with God, even Christ… Yet with it goes the most earnest denial of any competency of his own, while he owns that God gave it to him for service under the new covenant.
Older translations end the verse "our sufficiency is of God." One writer weighs that small word "of":
Paul does not allow that the power is "from" God, as something apart from Him, given over to us. No — it is divine, and yet inseparable from Him who works. It is "of God" and yet not "of us." That does more than deny that the power could be ours: the word Paul uses stresses even more strongly that the power is of God and not from us.
God's choice of a servant is never based on what the servant already has:
God did not choose the apostles because of any competency of their own. Matters so great and wonderful lie far beyond human competency in any case. But when He chooses a vessel, He supplies the ability for the work He entrusts to it… Paul would not separate the competency from its source in any way. Cut it off from its source and it is gone at once.
The lesson is not Paul's alone:
All the Lord's servants must learn this lesson sooner or later. They have nothing in themselves, in their position, or in their circumstances that God can use. In a word, all our resources and strength lie outside ourselves, in Him: our sufficiency is of God.
Skipping the lesson has a name:
Everyone who works for the Lord should remember that the work needs power from on high. To take up His work apart from His grace and His Spirit is presumption. It slights the Lord, it harms us, and it gives Satan an opening he is quick to seize.
- Question — Paul asks in 2 Corinthians 2:16, "Who is sufficient for these things?" This verse answers: there is no sufficiency but of God.
- Emptied — Paul cannot even think the work out of himself. Emptied of self, he is filled with the energy of God.
- Confident — He claims no competency of his own, yet his confidence through Christ toward God stands firm. Both are true at once.
- Inseparable — the power stays in God's hand and is never handed over. Cut it off from its source and it is gone.
- Chosen — God does not pick the qualified; He qualifies the ones He picks. To work apart from His Spirit is presumption.