On the pronouns, see comments on 2 Cor. 3.4.

The words Not that which begin this verse indicate that Paul is clarifying his preceding words, lest the readers misunderstand (see also 1.24). God’s New Covenant makes this relationship explicit by inserting the word “However”: “However, it is not that….” Some languages may have to begin this verse by saying “I do not mean to say that…” (compare New Century Version: “I do not mean that we are able to say…”). And others may say “But it is not true that….”

In the context the word anything refers to the gospel and the call to preach the gospel, what Good News Translation calls “doing this work.”

Verse 5 consists of two parts that contrast with one another: reliance on self and reliance on God. God’s New Covenant heightens the contrast that is implicit in Greek by adding the word “No” at the beginning of the second half of this verse: “No, such competence as we have comes to us from God.”

The words competence and “capacity” (Good News Translation) may be particularly difficult to translate into some languages. The term has to do with adequacy for a task and is translated elsewhere in this letter as “enough” (2.6) and “sufficient” (2.16). Used with the negative in 1 Cor 15.9 it yields the meaning “unfit.” Some possible models to translate this idea are as follows: “God gives us what it takes to do all that we need to do” (Contemporary English Version) or, using the causative form of the verb, “but it is God who causes us to be able to do this work” or “God is the one who makes us fit for the task,” but this may anticipate a form that will have to be used in the following verse. Another possible model is “all our ability comes from God” (Knox).

Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellingworth, Paul. A Handbook on Paul’s Second Letter to the Corinthians. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1993. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .