³ For ^(A)I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died ^(B)for our sins ^(C)in accordance with the Scriptures, ⁴ that he was buried, that he was raised ^(D)on the third day ^(E)in accordance with the Scriptures, ⁵ and that ^(F)he appeared to Cephas, then ^(G)to the twelve. ⁶ Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. ⁷ Then he appeared to ^(H)James, then ^(I)to all the apostles. ⁸ Last of all, as to one untimely born, ^(J)he appeared also to me. ⁹ For ^(K)I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because ^(L)I persecuted the church of God. ¹⁰ But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, ^(M)I worked harder than any of them, ^(N)though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. ¹¹ Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.

¹⁴ But ^(A)thanks be to God, who in Christ always ^(B)leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads ^(C)the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. ¹⁵ For we are the aroma of Christ to God among ^(D)those who are being saved and among ^(E)those who are perishing, ^16 (F)to one a fragrance from death to death, ^(G)to the other a fragrance from life to life. ^(H)Who is sufficient for these things? ¹⁷ For 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 ^(I)Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, ^(J)as some do, ^(K)letters of recommendation to you, or from you? ^2 (L)You yourselves are our letter of recommendation, written on our^[a] hearts, to be known and read by all. ³ And you show that you are a letter from Christ delivered by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of ^(M)the living God, not on ^(N)tablets of stone but on ^(O)tablets of ^(P)human hearts.^[b]

^4 (Q)Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God. ^5 (R)Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but ^(S)our sufficiency is from God, ⁶ who has made us sufficient to be ^(T)ministers of ^(U)a new covenant, not of ^(V)the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but ^(W)the Spirit gives life.