Ministers of the New Covenant

¹⁴ But thank God! He has made us his captives and continues to lead us along in Christ’s triumphal procession. Now he uses us to spread the knowledge of Christ everywhere, like a sweet perfume.

² Live a life filled with love, following the example of Christ. He loved us^[a] and offered himself as a sacrifice for us, a pleasing aroma to God.

³⁷ No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.

¹⁵ Our lives are a Christ-like fragrance rising up to God. But this fragrance is perceived differently by those who are being saved and by those who are perishing. ¹⁶ To those who are perishing, we are a dreadful smell of death and doom. But to those who are being saved, we are a life-giving perfume. And who is adequate for such a task as this?

¹⁷ Thank God! Once you were slaves of sin, but now you wholeheartedly obey this teaching we have given you.

¹⁵ Thank God for this gift^[a] too wonderful for words!

¹⁵ In this way, he disarmed^[a] the spiritual rulers and authorities. He shamed them publicly by his victory over them on the cross.

¹⁹ They were convinced by the power of miraculous signs and wonders and by the power of God’s Spirit.^[a] In this way, I have fully presented the Good News of Christ from Jerusalem all the way to Illyricum.^[b]

¹² They sang,