DISCOURSE: 2006
THE EXTENT OF MAN’S IMPOTENCY
2 Corinthians 3:5. Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God.
COMMONLY as these words are cited, they are not easy to be satisfactorily explained. There is an evident abruptness in them: and they appear to go far beyond what the context requires. The Apostle had spoken of the success of his ministry: and “thanked God for making manifest the savour of the knowledge of Christ by him in every place [Note: 2 Corinthians 2:14.].” He had appealed to the Corinthians, as living witnesses of the power of Christ in his ministry; seeing that they were, in fact, “epistles of Christ, known and read of all men [Note: ver. 2, 3.].” And he trusted that God would yet further manifest his power, in carrying on amongst them, and in other places, the work of men’s salvation, through the instrumentality of his ministry [Note: ver. 4.]. But whilst he spoke thus, did he arrogate any thing to himself, as though these effects were produced by any powers of his own! No: he utterly disclaimed all such pretensions; and declared, that, so far from being able to convert others by any powers of his own, he had not of himself a sufficiency even to think a good thought: his sufficiency even for that, and much more for all his ministerial success, was from God alone.
The word which we here translate “think any thing,” means also to reason [Note: λογίσασθαι.]: and if it could have borne the sense of convincing by reasoning, that is the sense we should have preferred; because that would have been the precise idea which the subject called for. But, as no such construction can be put upon it, we are convinced that the version given to it in our translation is right; and that the Apostle must be understood as going designedly beyond what the occasion called for, and as intending to intimate, not only that he could not convert others by any power of his own, but not even excite any good thought within his own bosom, unless he were strengthened for it from above. He had before said, “Who is sufficient for these things [Note: 2 Corinthians 2:16.]?” and here he ascribes all his sufficiency, for every part of his ministry, to God alone [Note: See the repetition of the word in in ver. 5, 6. ἱκανοὶ, ἱκανότης, ικάνωσεν, the force of which is lost in our translation.].
To mark fully the meaning of the Apostle, I will endeavour to shew whence all our sufficiency arises,
I. For the communicating of good to the souls of others—
Whatever force there may be in the reasonings of men, or whatever fascination in their eloquence, it is certain that neither the one nor the other have any power to convert a soul to God—
[Our blessed Lord spake to many, in vain. Though he spake as never man spake either before or since, yet did he not convince all his hearers. If “some said, He is a good man; others said, Nay, but he deceiveth the people [Note: John 7:12.].” Nor did his miracles produce the same effect on all. The poor man, whose eyes he had opened, argued with the Pharisees in vain, because their minds were not open to conviction: “Herein is a marvellous thing,” said he, “that ye know not from whence this Jesus is, and yet he hath opened mine eyes. Since the world began, was it not heard, that any man opened the eyes of one that was born blind. If this man were not of God, he could do nothing.” And what was the effect of this reasoning? It only incensed them the more; and caused them to pass on the poor man a sentence of excommunication [Note: John 9:30-34.]. One would have thought that the raising of Lazarus from the grave, after he had been dead four days, should have carried conviction to all: but the chief priests, instead of being duly influenced by it themselves, sought to put Lazarus to death, in order to obstruct the influence of this miracle on the minds of others [Note: John 12:10-11.]. Thus it was also with the Apostles. When, in consequence of the Holy Spirit being poured out upon them on the day of Pentecost, they were enabled to address persons of different countries, each in their own particular language, some, who beheld this stupendous miracle, only “mocked at it, and said that the Apostles were full of new wine,” and in a state of intoxication at nine o’clock in the morning [Note: Acts 2:11-15.]. So when Paul pleaded the Saviour’s cause before Festus and Agrippa, Festus, who was full of prejudice, cried out, “Paul, thou art beside thyself; much learning hath made thee mad:” whilst Agrippa, who was more intelligent and more candid, said, “Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian [Note: Acts 26:24-28.].” In fact, truth hath no force with those who have not eyes to see it.]
Whatever good, therefore, is done to any man, it must be ascribed to God alone—
[It was “the Lord who opened the heart of Lydia to attend to the things that were spoken by Paul [Note: Acts 16:14.]:” and to a want of such a divine operation did he ascribe the obstinacy of the Jews whom he addressed at Rome. After expounding the Scriptures from morning to evening to many of them in vain, he said, “Well spake the Holy Ghost, by Esaias the prophet unto our fathers, saying, Go unto this people and say, Hearing, ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing, ye shall see, and not perceive: for the heart of this people is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing; and their eyes have they closed, lest they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them [Note: Acts 28:23-27.].” So true is that declaration of Solomon, “The hearing ear, and the seeing eye, the Lord hath made even both of them [Note: Proverbs 20:12.].” And most important is this truth for the instruction of all who minister in holy things, that they may know where to look for the success of their labours for “neither is he that planteth any thing, nor he that watereth, but God that giveth the increase [Note: 1 Corinthians 3:6-7.].”]
From the same divine source must be derived all our sufficiency,
II.
For the exercising of good in our own souls—
The foregoing observations illustrate the Apostle’sargument. What I shall now adduce is for the illustration of his particular assertion, that “of himself he could not even think a good thought.”
There is not, in unassisted man, an inclination to entertain a good thought—
[“The heart of the sons of men is full of evil [Note: Ecclesiastes 9:3.]:” yea, “every imagination of the thoughts of their hearts is evil, only evil, continually [Note: Genesis 6:5.].” What is morally good may arise in the hearts of many: but what is spiritually good must be put there by the special agency of the Holy Ghost. Kindness, benevolence, compassion, though certainly referable to God as their prime Author, exist in the minds of many who are not partakers of saving grace: but hatred of sin, and love to God and Christ, and holiness, find no place in the bosom of an unconverted man: there is between him and them as great a difference as between “light and darkness, or Christ and Belial:” they have not, they cannot have, communion with each other [Note: 2 Corinthians 6:14-15.]. As well might a stone ascend of itself, or a spark descend, as an ungodly man give birth to that which is so foreign to his nature, as spiritual good is to a carnal heart.]
Nor is there in unassisted man a capacity to cherish what is truly good—
[We are told, from unquestionable authority, that “the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned [Note: 1 Corinthians 2:14.].” This may be illustrated by the metaphor which St. Paul makes use of in the preceding context. He has spoken of “spreading the savour of the knowledge of Christ;” and has stated, that, in his ministry, he was to some “a savour of death unto death, and to others a savour of life unto life [Note: 1 Corinthians 2:14-16.].” Now we know that odours have very different effects on different persons: the very same odour which to one may be grateful and reviving, to another may be offensive and injurious: and none but God could reverse these tendencies. So, to some, the sublimest truths of the Gospel appear only as “foolishness, whilst to others they are the wisdom of God and the power of God.” And whence is this, but because a spiritual discernment has been given to the one, whilst the other possesses only that natural intellect which is conversant with earthly things? In a word, “to the one it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven; but to the other it is not given [Note: Matthew 13:11.]:” nor, till “God, of his own good pleasure, has given us to will and to do what is pleasing in his sight [Note: Philippians 2:13.],” shall we ever do it, or ever so much as will it. Our sufficiency for the one, as well as for the other, must come from God alone: for “without Christ we can do nothing [Note: John 15:5.].”]
See, then, in this subject,
1.
What matter there is for humiliation—
[It is scarcely possible to conceive any thing more humiliating than the declaration in my text. And if any man doubt the truth of it, let him look: back and see, even in the space of the longest life, who ever, by the force of his own natural powers, entertained so much as one thought that was truly in accordance with God’s perfect law, or fully consonant with his Gospel? I have said before, that things morally good are attainable by the natural man; but things spiritually good are altogether out of his reach. Only keep in mind this important distinction, and no language that can be used can be too strong to declare our destitution of all good, and our dependence upon God for every good disposition or desire — — —]
2. What matter there is for encouragement—
[Was Paul’s sufficiency derived from God alone? Then I also may obtain all that I need. Since the same source and fountain is open for me also, why need I be discouraged at the thought of my own impotency? If God, in instances without number, “has revealed unto babes what he has hidden from the wise and prudent [Note: Matthew 11:25.],” and “by things which are not, has brought to nought things that are [Note: 1 Corinthians 1:28.];” what need have I to be discouraged? Whatever be my duties, whether personal or official, God can strengthen me for them; yea, and “he will perfect his own strength in my weakness [Note: 2 Corinthians 12:9.].” “I will be strong then in the Lord, and in the power of his might [Note: Ephesians 6:10.],” and address myself to every duty in dependence on him. Then shall I not fail in any thing that I undertake: for “I can do all things through Christ who strengtheneth me [Note: Philippians 4:13.].”]