2 Corinthians 3:6
‘Who also hath made us able ministers of the New Testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life. ’
The text refers to ‘us’, the people of God as able ministers. Paul was indeed a Minister of the New Testament, but here, he was not referring to himself, but to the entire saints of God.
In other translations of the Bible, the word ‘able’ is translated in many other ways: In the New King James Version, the word able was translated into ‘competent’; in the New Living Translation, the word used is ‘enabled’. In the English Standard Version, the word used is ‘sufficient’; in the New American Standard Bible, the word used is ‘adequate’.
So what is the Bible saying? The words ‘sufficiency,’ ‘enablement,’ ‘adequacy,’ ‘capability,’ ‘worthiness,’ etc, convey the impression of ability and competence.
All children of God, as long as they are ‘born again’, are able ministers of the New Testament. The Bible did not say that only pastors are competent or able; the Bible says that we all are able ministers of the New Testament. If God says that we are able, who is man to say ‘you are not able’?
In Jeremiah 31:31, the prophet Jeremiah prophesied about the New Covenant that would be in place. That covenant or Testament became effective after the death and resurrection of Jesus.
In Hebrews 9:7, the Bible says:
‘For a testament is of force after men are dead, otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator liveth.’
No testament is of any effect until after the death of the testator.
The New Testament represents the terms under which we enter into a relationship with God through Jesus Christ.
Paul, differentiating further between the Old and New Testaments, says that the letter of the Old Testament ‘killeth’; but the spirit of New Testament ‘giveth life’.
The letters of the law in the Old Testament are good, but they did not give us the power to serve God. They did not change the stony hearts of the children of Israel.
But when we become ‘born again’ by the Spirit of God, our spirit man is regenerated, and the Spirit of God begins to dwell in our hearts.
The Holy Ghost then represents the ‘letters of the law, not written with hands.’
He represents the workings of the New Testament via our spirit man. He completes and fulfills the law by guiding us, leading us into all truths.
Paul the Apostle admonished Timothy in 1 Timothy 4:12 as follows:
Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity.
There is the tendency in the Body of Christ to ‘despise’ or to ‘look down’ on someone either due to one thing or the other.
In the case of Timothy, it was his youthfulness. But we are admonished not to ‘despise’ any minister because of his youthfulness.
Similarly, we are admonished not to despise or to look down on other ministers because of one shortcoming or the other. The Bible says that we are all able Ministers of the New Testament.
God has used men and women of diverse shortcomings in scriptures to maximum effect. God used Moses, a man who considered himself not eloquent enough to maximum effect.
God said to him: ‘Aaron thy brother shall be thy prophet’… but you are the one who will take my message to Pharaoh and lead my people out of Egypt.
God used Paul the Apostle, a persecutor of the church, a blasphemer, and a violent man to maximum effect.
The Prophet Ananias that God sent to Saul of Tarsus objected to God’s instruction, saying: ‘this man has done so much harm to your church’…why are you sending me to him? But God dismissed his objections:
‘But the Lord said unto him, Go thy way: for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel:’ (Acts 9:15)
“Go! This man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel.
I, therefore, want to encourage the people of God: do not allow any man to ‘despise’ your shortcomings.
The question then is: how are we to minister?
We look at 1 Peter 4:10-11. The Bible says:
‘As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.
If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God; if any man minister, let him do it as of the ability which God giveth: that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and dominion for ever and ever. Amen’
We observe from the scriptures above that every man has received a gift, and if we are to speak as oracles of God, we must do so according to the ability given to us by God.
The word ‘ability’ was examined at the beginning of this discourse. It means that each man or woman of God must minister according to the grace and ability given to him or her by God.
It is, therefore, unwise to seek to emulate or mimic someone else. Each man has God-given ability to minister, but we minister according to the grace given to us by God himself.
In Ephesians 3:7, Paul the Apostle wrote:
‘Whereof I was made a minister, according to the gift of the grace of God given unto me by the effectual working of his power’.
Therefore, we conclude that the ‘gift of grace’ is at work in each of us. It is not by power, or by might, but by the Spirit of God.
Do not emphasize your shortcomings, and do not allow anyone to despise you on account of your shortcomings.
May the Lord bless His Word.
Bro Ify Onabu
