4 Now we have such confidence before God because of the Christ; 5 not that we are competent of ourselves to reckon anything as being from ourselves, but our competence is from God*Competence is basic to everything that is done in this world; anything done by an incompetent will almost always be inferior. This is certainly true in the spiritual realm, where work done ‘in the flesh’ is poor work.— 6 indeed, He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant;*Note that Paul is clearly aware that he is promoting a new covenant. The old covenant was characterized by "letter", while the new is characterized by "Spirit" (or "spirit"). not of letter but of Spirit, because the letter kills, while the Spirit gives life.*I have capitalized ‘Spirit’, but ‘spirit’ is also true. The ‘spirit’ of a message has to do with its purpose, which should take into consideration the local context.