II Corinthians 3:5
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Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim that anything comes from us, but our competence comes from God.
Commentaries
Excerpts gathered from published commentaries to ground the reading.
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.
Open source ↗The apostle makes an apology for his seeming to commend himself, and is careful not to assume too much to himself, but to ascribe all praise unto God (Co2 3:1-5). He then draws a comparison between the Old Testament and the New, and shows the excellency of the later above the former (Co2 3:6-11), whence he infers what is the duty of gospel ministers, and the advantage of those who live under the gospel above those who lived under the law (Co2 3:12 to the end).
Open source ↗Original language
The Hebrew and Greek words behind this passage, with Strong's numbers — from openscriptures (CC BY-SA).
Cross-references
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But He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is perfected in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly in my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest on me.
I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.
But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace to me was not in vain. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me.
For it is God who works in you to will and to act on behalf of His good purpose.
I am the vine and you are the branches. The one who remains in Me, and I in him, will bear much fruit. For apart from Me you can do nothing.
Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, with whom there is no change or shifting shadow.
For I will give you speech and wisdom that none of your adversaries will be able to resist or contradict.
I planted the seed and Apollos watered it, but God made it grow.
Now we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this surpassingly great power is from God and not from us.
By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as an expert builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one must be careful how he builds.