^2:16to the latter an odor²⁵ from death to death, but to the former a fragrance from life to life. And who is adequate for these things?²⁶^2:17For we are not like so many others, hucksters who peddle the word of God for profit,²⁷ but we are speaking in Christ before²⁸ God as persons of sincerity,²⁹ as persons sent from God.

A Living Letter

^3:1Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? We don’t need letters of recommendation to you or from you as some other people do, do we?¹^3:2You yourselves are our letter,² written on our hearts, known and read by everyone, ^3:3revealing³ that you are a letter of Christ, delivered by us,⁴ written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on stone tablets⁵ but on tablets of human hearts.

^3:4Now we have such confidence in God through Christ. ^3:5Not that we are adequate⁶ in ourselves to consider anything as if it were coming from ourselves, but our adequacy⁷ is from God, ^3:6who made us adequate⁸ to be servants of a new covenant⁹ not based on the letter but on the Spirit, for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

Read in Logos

Footnotes

25 The same Greek word (ὀσμή, osmē) translated “odor” here (in relation to the stench of death) has been translated “fragrance” in 2:14 and in the next phrase of the present verse. The word itself can describe a smell or odor either agreeable or disagreeable depending on the context (L&N 79.45).
26 These things refer to the things Paul is doing in his apostolic ministry.
27 The participle καπηλεύοντες (kapēleuontes) refers to those engaged in retail business, but with the negative connotations of deceptiveness and greed—“to peddle for profit,” “to huckster” (L&N 57.202). In the translation a noun form (“hucksters”) has been used in combination with the English verb “peddle … for profit” to convey the negative connotations of this term.
28 Or “in the presence of.”
29 Or “persons of pure motives.”
1 The Greek construction anticipates a negative reply (“No, we do not”) which is indicated in the translation by the ‘tag’ at the end, “do we?”
2 That is, “letter of recommendation.”
3 Or “making plain.”
4 Grk “cared for by us,” an expression that could refer either to the writing or the delivery of the letter ( διακονέω 1). Since the following phrase refers to the writing of the letter, and since the previous verse speaks of this “letter” being “written on our [Paul’s and his companions’] hearts” it is more probable that the phrase “cared for by us” refers to the delivery of the letter (in the person of Paul and his companions).
5 An allusion to Exod 24:12; 31:18; 34:1; Deut 9:10–11.
6 Or “competent.”
7 Or “competence.”
8 Or “competent.”
9 This new covenant is promised in Jer 31:31–34; 32:40.