2 Corinthians 3:4 Now we have such confidence in God through Christ. 3:5 Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as if it were coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God, 3:6 who made us adequate to be servants of a new covenant not based on the letter but on the Spirit, for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. [NET]
Not based on whether we are adequate but based on the adequacy given to us by Jesus. The letter kills; this is the Law that bases our adequacy on our performance. The Spirit gives life that bases our adequacy on Jesus’s performance. In whom we believe.