Competence

             Such confidence we have through Christ before God.  Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God. 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. (II Corinthians 3:4-6)

Competence [1590s, "rivalry" (based on compete), also "adequate supply," both senses now obsolete; 1630s as "sufficiency of means for living at ease," from French compétence, from Latin competentia "meeting together, agreement, symmetry," from competens, present participle of competere, especially in its earlier sense of "fall together, come together, be convenient or fitting" (see compete).

Meaning "adequate range of capacity or ability, sufficiency to deal with what is at hand" is from 1790.] (Competence - Etymology, Origin & Meaning)

Granted, the word was chosen with its 1790 meaning when the NIV translators came to this verse. They may not have had a clue about the competitive meaning, but let’s just say that I’m fond of the idea of competence, but not sure I want to look at myself in the mirror over the question of whether or not it’s a source of rivalry for me (me v. everyone?)

What makes it harder is that when we think of competency, I suspect we tend to think in terms of fleshly capabilities. By this, I mean normal, day-to-day competencies. Are we competent in math, language, science, cooking, cleaning, fixing things, growing food, or beauty, getting along with others, etc. I’ve proven to myself that I am marginally competent in pressure canning turkey bone broth. Granted, I’m not sure I’m competent at the bone broth part, but I’ve pressure-canned something liquid that tastes like turkey. But for a few minutes, I wasn’t sure I was competent at the pressure-canning part.

None of that is what today’s passage is talking about. This competence deals with ministering a new covenant to others. Paul is saying God has given us all we need to represent a covenant that doesn’t rely on the individual's capacity to do enough to fulfill their side of the covenant. And again, if you’re like me, you probably have a skewed idea of what it means to be competent to minister the new covenant. For some, it might mean “winning” others to Christ, and you’re not competent unless you win at least some portion of the time. For others, it might mean actively evangelizing. You’re not competent unless you at least present the possibility of salvation to every person you meet. For some, competence might have to do with meeting the person’s every need. What’s your idea of “competence” as a minister of the new covenant? Do you live up to it? Could you be wrong about what it takes to be competent? It’s something we can pray about for ourselves and each other.