IN NEED OF CONFIDENCE

Paul has raised the matter of our sufficiency to carry out Christ's ministry. "Who is sufficient (ἱκανός) for these things?" (2 Cor. 2:16). Where do we find our worthiness in ministry? When the task looms large, and our need is great where do we turn for confidence that we can accomplish the mission? What qualifies us for ministry?

Three times in 2 Corinthians 3:4-6 Paul uses variants of the word translated "adequate, sufficient or worthy" (ἱκανός) to answer his question. The adjective was primarily used in reference to a numerical quantity being large enough to meet a need which, by extension, came to mean competent or qualified when used of people (BAGD, p.374). For example, the word was used of a large quantity of wheat sufficient to meet the tax requirements. The neuter form of the adjective was commonly used for posting bail as security in a legal case (MM, Vocabulary, p.302). Sufficient to meet a need easily shifts into sufficient to undertake a task as Paul uses it here.

The adjective was used in the Septuagint translation of the Old Testament (LXX) to translate a Hebrew word meaning need. ἱκανός was used to describe what someone needed to alleviate hunger, perform a sacrifice or help a friend. The word focused on the idea of need. This explains why the LXX uses ἱκανός to translate "Shaddai" the name of God. God is "El-Shaddai," the Almighty one who is sufficient for our needs! Paul follows the LXX usage when he connects our competency - adequacy - with our need. (TDNT, 3:728-729). God is sufficient to meet our insufficiency because He is "El-Shaddai."

Paul says "we are not adequate in ourselves" (ἀφ᾿ ἑαυτῶν ἱκανοί), but our adequacy (ἱκανότης) comes from God (ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ). Paul shifts from the adjective ἱκανοί to the noun ἱκανότης which refers to qualification or fitness to perform a task (BAGD, p.374). The relative pronoun beginning verse 6 (ὅς) points back to God in verse 5. God made us adequate (ἱκάνωσεν) to be servants! He qualifies us to became slaves. The verb means "to make sufficient," often carrying the connotation of empowering or authorizing someone to carry out a task (BAGD, p.374).

Now we can understand Paul's words opening verse 4. "Such confidence we have through Christ toward God." We have (ἔχομεν) confidence. The present tense verb indicates that we have confidence continuously in ministry - an assertion Paul himself needed to remember given his previous despair! We, too, need the reminder regularly in life. The word translated "confidence" (πεποίθησιν) is in the emphatic position at the start of this whole unit of thought. The noun comes from the perfect tense form of the verb meaning to depend on, trust in or place our confidence in someone (πείθω). The perfect tense of the verb can carry the force of "believe in" the sufficiency of God similar to its usage in the LXX (BAGD, p.639).

We have now come full circle in Paul's thought process. We are needy. We are not competent in ourselves. We are not qualified to even be servants of God. Who is qualified for these things? Not me! Not you! Nobody. We are qualified only as we recognize our neediness and His sufficiency. We become competent in His competency. The irony of our faith is that our confidence begins with our need. Our confidence in ministry develops as we discern His sufficiency in our need.