4 We are confident of all this because of our great trust in God through Christ. 5 It is not that we think we are qualified to do anything on our own. Our qualification comes from God. 6 He has enabled us to be ministers of his new covenant. This is a covenant not of written laws, but of the Spirit. The old written covenant ends in death; but under the new covenant, the Spirit gives life. NLT

This next paragraph demonstrates that all that Paul wrote in the preceding one was not boasting. He was acutely aware that his own competence, and that of every other genuine preacher, is ‘’from God’’. He is the One – the only One – who ‘enables’ authentic ministry. Furthermore, this authentic ministry is one of ‘’the Spirit’’ and ‘’life’’.

As Jesus said in John 6:63:

‘The Spirit alone gives eternal life. Human effort accomplishes nothing. And the very words I have spoken to you are spirit and life’’ NLT.

‘The new covenant of Christ, in which Paul is a minister, imparts the Spirit to the inner recesses of the heart and brings a new creation. Paul’s words encourage pastors to persevere at, and give priority to, the word of God. They should not deprive themselves of the reassurance which comes from seeing the effects of faithful ministry. Organizational and administrative matters have their place, but they are peripheral and not at the centre of the ministry by which Christ changes lives from the inside out.’ Paul Barnett.