¹⁶^oto one a fragrance from death to death, ^oto the other a fragrance from life to life. ^pWho is sufficient for these things? ¹⁷For we are not, like so many, peddlers of God’s word, but as men of sincerity, as commissioned by God, in the sight of God we speak in Christ.

Ministers of the New Covenant

3^qAre we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, ^ras some do, ^sletters of recommendation to you, or from you? ²^tYou yourselves are our letter of recommendation, written on our¹ hearts, to be known and read by all. ³And you show that you are a letter from Christ delivered by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of ^uthe living God, not on ^vtablets of stone but on ^wtablets of ^xhuman hearts.²

⁴^ySuch is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God. ⁵^zNot that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but ^aour sufficiency is from God, ⁶who has made us sufficient to be ^bministers of ^ca new covenant, not of ^dthe letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but ^ethe Spirit gives life.

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Footnotes

1Some manuscripts your
2Greek fleshly hearts

Cross references

o[Luke 2:34; John 9:39; 1 Pet. 2:7, 8]
pch. 3:5, 6
qch. 5:12; 10:12; 12:11
r[ch. 11:4]
s[Acts 18:27; 1 Cor. 16:3]
t[1 Cor. 9:2]
uSee Matt. 16:16
v Ex. 24:12
w Prov. 3:3; 7:3; Jer. 17:1
x Ezek. 11:19; 36:26; [Jer. 31:33; Heb. 8:10]
y Eph. 3:12
z[Eph. 2:8]
aSee 1 Cor. 15:10
b Eph. 3:7; Col. 1:23, 25; [ch. 4:1; 5:18; 1 Tim. 1:12]
c Jer. 31:31; Luke 22:20; 1 Cor. 11:25; Heb. 8:8, 13; [ver. 14; Heb. 9:15]
dSee Rom. 2:27
e[John 6:63; Rom. 8:2]