<p>3:5- see on Mt. 3:11.</p><p><i>Not that we are sufficient of ourselves, to account anything as from ourselves; but our sufficiency is from God- </i>&quot;Account&quot; is the same word as &quot;impute&quot; see on Rom. 2:26, and I explained on :4 that Paul believes that the Corinthians are counted righteous, they have righteousness imputed to them, and so he strives to see them likewise. The Greek for &quot;sufficient&quot; is also translated &quot;worthy&quot;.&nbsp; Our worthiness is from God, for Paul has just said that none of us of ourselves are worthy or sufficient (2 Cor. 2:16). But he now clarifies that it is not that he is of himself counting them righteous; he does so because God has done so. He will proceed to explain that this is possible through the ministry of the Spirit; we are being made in reality what we are in status, which is &quot;in Christ&quot;. Because <i>our</i> face / image is being changed into <i>His</i> image, &ldquo;even as by the spirit of the Lord&rdquo; (2 Cor. 3:3,5,18). We look in the mirror, and see Christ in us. This looking in the mirror is used by James as a figure for self-examination (James 1:18,22-25). By doing the word of truth, we find we will live lives of looking in the mirror, of self-perception. This is the essence of self-examination; to perceive the Christ-man within us, and that all other behaviour is our being unfaithful to our true self, living out a persona. We are to see ourselves as being Christ; we are to have a high view of ourselves in this sense, whilst despising and seeking to dismantle the personas we so often act out which are unfaithful to Him. See on 2 Cor. 11:5.</p>