The Preacher and His Work According to 2 Corinthians 2

The Insufficiency of His Work

As Paul contemplated the profound effect his preaching had on various people, it seemed to raise a question in his mind. He asked, “And who is sufficient for these things? (2 Corinthians 2:16b). Brother Winkler observed in class, “Paul seemed almost bowed down by these thoughts.” Thayer says the word translated sufficient means “sufficient in ability” as it is used in this passage. What Gospel preacher hasn’t at sometime asked himself, “Am I up to this task?”

Paul would answer his question a few verses later. He wrote, “Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God; Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament…” (2 Corinthians 3:5-6). When Jesus appeared to Saul on the Damascus road, He promised to deliver him from the people and from the Gentiles unto whom he was being sent (Acts 22:16-18). Not only had Paul depended on his Savior for that protection, he also depended on Him for the power to do his work. He acknowledges as much when he wrote to Timothy saying, “At my first answer no man stood with me, but all men forsook me: I pray God that it may not be laid to their charge. Notwithstanding the Lord stood with me, and strengthened me; that by me the preaching might be fully known, and that all the Gentiles might hear: and I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion” (2 Timothy 4:16–17). And then, there is that famous statement of Paul when he said, “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me” (Philippians 4:13). He also said, “And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who hath enabled (same word in Phil. 4:13, MAH) as me, for that he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry” (1 Timothy 1:12). Paul was not a superman who by his raw talent and ability became the great preacher he was. He was a man who proclaimed the power of God (cf. Romans 1:16) with the help of God.

But how can we be up to the task almost two thousand years later? Indeed, The Lord has promised to be with us (Matthew 28:18-20; Hebrews 13:5-6). Though we do not depend on any miraculous intervention, we must have faith in this great promise. Additionally, remember the instructions Paul gave Timothy. He wrote, “And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also” (2 Timothy 2.2). Pay close attention to that word “able” near the end of the verse. It is from the same word translated “sufficient” in 2 Corinthians 2:16 and 3:5. When we imitate the example of Paul, teaching what he taught, we can be assured that we can be up to the task! We cannot do it in and of ourselves. It is not through our raw talent or ability that we are able. We are to be proclaimers of the power of God depending on the help of God!