Not I

2 Corinthians 2:16 KJV

To the one we are the savour of death unto death; and to the other the savour of life unto life. And who is sufficient for these things?

Being in the ministry has been one of the most joyful and at the same time the difficult of occupations. The responsibilities of the ministry, the responses of men and women to my ministry,

• The people whose lives have been so positively changed through this  ministry (though I believe it is not me but Christ in me) and still
• The people who have become so openly opposed to and would tell you harmed by this ministry (though I believe their opposition is not to me but Christ in me)

is overwhelming at times.

But I am in good company. This is exactly the sentiment that the Apostle expresses in this context. That there are those whose lives are so transformed and others whose lives are so offended by the message of the Gospel is above human ability to bear. No man is sufficient for these things. It must be Christ at work or we will surely fail in the work.

Who is sufficient for these things? Not I.

Barnes wrote on this passage,

"And who is sufficient for these things? - For the arduous and responsible work of the ministry; for a work whose influence must be felt either in the eternal salvation, or the eternal ruin of the soul. Who is worthy of so important a charge? Who can undertake it without trembling? Who can engage in it without feeling that he is in himself unfit for it, and that he needs constant divine grace? This is an exclamation which anyone may well make in view of the responsibilities of the work of the ministry. And we may remark:

(1) If Paul felt this, assuredly others should feel it also. If, With all the divine assistance which he had; all the proofs of the unique presence of God, and all the mighty miraculous powers conferred on him, Paul had such a sense of unfitness for this great work, then a consciousness of unfitness, and a deep sense of responsibility, may well rest on all others.

(2) It was this sense of the responsibility of the ministry which contributed much to Paul’s success. It was a conviction that the results of his work must be seen in the joys of heaven, or the woes of hell, that led him to look to God for aid, and to devote himself so entirely to his great work. People will not feel much concern unless they have a deep sense of the magnitude and responsibility of their work. People who feel as they should about the ministry will look to God for aid, and will feel that he alone can sustain them in their arduous duties."