THE ‘ABLE’ OR ‘SUFFICIENT’ MINISTER
‘Able ministers of the new testament.’
The Revised Version renders this, ‘Sufficient as ministers of a new covenant.’ The ‘ministers’ are those who proclaim and represent and commend the covenant. There is required a certain ‘sufficiency’ on the part of its ministers. They must have certain adaptations. They may, from their character and spirit and mode of operation, do justice or injustice to the covenant with which they are entrusted. The man cannot be severed from the ‘minister.’
The ‘able’ or ‘sufficient’ minister of the new covenant must be one who has—
I. A settled belief in it as a revelation.
II. Genuine sympathy with its designs.
III. Strong faith in its power.
IV. Real harmony with its spirit.
Illustration
‘The trustees of a will could not honestly and energetically carry out its provisions if they had the uneasy suspicion that it was forged, or had been tampered with in important details. And no man can with sufficiency and power proclaim the Gospel of Christ if he is haunted with doubts concerning the genuineness of the records which contain its facts and principles. “We have not followed cunningly devised fables when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” ’