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2 Corinthians 2:14-3:6
Contemporary English Version
2 Corinthians 2:14-3:6
Contemporary English Version
14 I am grateful that God always makes it possible for Christ to lead us to victory. God also helps us spread the knowledge about Christ everywhere, and this knowledge is like the smell of perfume. 15-16 In fact, God thinks of us as a perfume that brings Christ to everyone. For people who are being saved, this perfume has a sweet smell and leads them to a better life. But for people who are lost, it has a bad smell and leads them to a horrible death.
No one really has what it takes to do this work. 17 A lot of people try to get rich from preaching God's message. But we are God's sincere messengers, and by the power of Christ we speak our message with God as our witness.
God's New Agreement
3 Are we once again bragging about ourselves? Do we need letters to you or from you to tell others about us? Some people do need letters telling about them. 2 But you are our letter, and you are in our[a] hearts for everyone to read and understand. 3 (A) You are like a letter written by Christ and delivered by us. But you are not written with pen and ink or on tablets made of stone. You are written in our hearts by the Spirit of the living God.
4 We are sure about all this. Christ makes us sure in the very presence of God. 5 We don't have the right to claim that we have done anything on our own. God gives us what it takes to do all we do. 6 (B) He makes us worthy to be the servants of his new agreement that comes from the Holy Spirit and not from a written Law. After all, the Law brings death, but the Spirit brings life.
Footnotes
- 3.2 our: Some manuscripts have “your.”
2 Corinthians 2:14-3:6
New International Version
2 Corinthians 2:14-3:6
New International Version
14 But thanks be to God,(A) who always leads us as captives in Christ’s triumphal procession and uses us to spread the aroma(B) of the knowledge(C) of him everywhere. 15 For we are to God the pleasing aroma(D) of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing.(E) 16 To the one we are an aroma that brings death;(F) to the other, an aroma that brings life. And who is equal to such a task?(G) 17 Unlike so many, we do not peddle the word of God for profit.(H) On the contrary, in Christ we speak before God with sincerity,(I) as those sent from God.(J)
3 Are we beginning to commend ourselves(K) again? Or do we need, like some people, letters of recommendation(L) to you or from you? 2 You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everyone.(M) 3 You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God,(N) not on tablets of stone(O) but on tablets of human hearts.(P)
4 Such confidence(Q) we have through Christ before God. 5 Not that we are competent in ourselves(R) to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God.(S) 6 He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant(T)—not of the letter(U) but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.(V)
Contemporary English Version (CEV) 
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New International Version (NIV) 
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