Confident and Competent

2 Corinthians 3:6 He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant—not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

I’ve spent a good share of my Christian life learning about the “new covenant.” This is what I’ve learned: There’s a difference between confident and competent. Those two words are metaphors for “letters and Spirit.”

The “letter” does have power. It has the power to make you confident in what you know and that’s a good thing but not the whole story. That confidence can become a dangerous thing if you begin to believe that’s where the power of the letter lies.

The “Spirit” can use your confidence “—not of the letter but of the Spirit;” to build life-giving power into what you know. That makes you confident and “competent as ministers of a new covenant.”