7 July 2026 – Your are fully equipped in God
2 Corinthians 3:5 Not that we are adequate in ourselves so as to consider anything as having come from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God.
It’s not just Paul that had to defend and explain the calling on his life constantly. If you think about it, every believer in Christ will face the world that asks questions about your faith.
When a believer lives unashamedly in Christ, their competence will often irritate those around them, and before long they'll find themselves defending their faith—not just to non-believers, but often, as Paul discovered, to fellow believers as well.
On more than one occasion after proclaiming the truth of the Gospel and teaching and admonishing others, Paul and his friends had to defend their authority, calling, liberty, and faith in Christ because people wanted to know who gave them their competence.
But this is actually a privilege — because from way back then until this very day, people have searched for proof of where such faith, boldness, and authority come from. And that’s why I love what Paul wrote, for he didn’t hesitate to point straight to the answer—God Himself.
Believers in Christ are not adequate in themselves, for their adequacy comes from God.
The Greek word Paul used here was ἱκανοί (hikanoi) which means "sufficient, qualified, adequate, fully equipped, competent."
By using the very word, Paul helped every believer in Christ to thus remember FROM WHERE AND THROUGH WHOM we are competent, FROM WHERE AND THROUGH WHOM our qualification comes, FROM GOD AND THROUGH GOD.
To this day, the world wants to measure your competence by your education or your religious knowledge and practices, while Paul helps us all who believe in Christ to understand that our competence comes from God alone, not through effort or our skills, only through God.
Furthermore, by stating this, Paul confessed that his life and adequacy are also not because of his experiences as a Christian—for it's God who fully equips us in Christ and the Holy Spirit who leads us to be sufficient.
Only by remaining in Christ, God enables every believer to be competent as ministers of the New Testament (2 Cor. 3:6)!
Christians often think they will grow in competence through more theological education, more experience, and more loyalty towards certain patterns of tradition that will qualify them to be a stronger Christian, while true competence is a gift of God in Christ Jesus!
By faith in Christ, we are declared competent, adequate, and sufficient, not at all because of ourselves, but because of God's work, calling, and equipping in us to the glory of Christ!
Amen