¹⁶to those on the one hand an odor from death to death, and to those on the other hand a fragrance from life to life. And who is qualified for these things? ¹⁷For we are not like the majority who peddle the word of God, but as from pure motives—but as from God—we speak before God in Christ.

New Covenant Ministry

3Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we, like some, need letters of recommendation to you or from you? ²You are our letter, inscribed on our hearts, known and read by all people, ³revealing that you are a letter of Christ, delivered by us, inscribed not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on stone tablets but on tablets of human hearts.

⁴Now we possess such confidence through Christ toward God. ⁵Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God, ⁶who also makes us adequate as servants of a new covenant, not of the letter, but of the Spirit, for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

Read in Logos