4 I can very confidently write these things about the work that Silas, Timothy, and I did among you, because God knows that what I write is true. We(exc) are true workers for God because of what Christ has done for us. 5 We (exc), by ourselves, do not have the ability to do this work. None of us apostles can say, "I have changed the lives of these people." God is the one who has given us this ability. 6 He is the one who enables us (exc) to be his messengers. He has enabled us to tell people the message about the new agreement that he is making with them. This is not a message about obeying all the written laws of his old agreement that he made with the Jewish people. Instead, it is a message about God giving us his Spirit. Previously, God condemned people to be separated from him forever if they did not obey his laws. But by God’s new agreement his Spirit enables people to live eternally.