2 Corinthians 3:5

ἀφʼ ἑαντῶν before ἱκανοί ἑσμεν (אBC, Copt. Arm.) rather than after λογίσασθαί τι (ADFGP) or after ἱκανοί ἐσμεν (KL); and λογίσασθαι (אABKL) rather than λογίζεσθαι (CDFG); and ἐξ αὑτῶν (BFG) rather than ἐξ ἑαυτῶν (אACD).

5. οὐχ ὅτι�ʼ ἑαυτῶν ἱκανοί ἐσμεν. I do not mean that (2 Corinthians 1:24) we are sufficient (2 Corinthians 2:17) to account anything proceeding from ourselves as coming out of ourselves (i.e. being really originated by us); but our sufficiency comes from God. Whatever qualification the Apostle has, it is not one of merit; it is wholly a gift from above; comp. 2 Corinthians 4:7. The verse answers the question raised in 2 Corinthians 2:17. The words may mean: not that of ourselves we are sufficient to account anything as coming out of ourselves, &c. But in neither case do we get any support for the doctrine that the natural man is incapable of good. Nowhere else in Biblical Greek is ἱκανότης found. In ἠ ἱκανότης ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ there may be a reference to the Divine Name El Shaddai, which was sometimes understood as meaning ‘The Sufficient’; and ἱκανός is found in this sense Ruth 1:20-21; Job 21:15; Job 31:2; Job 39:30 [Job 40:2]; Ezekiel 1:24 (A). Comp. 1 Corinthians 3:6.