2 Corinthians 2:14 - 3:6
Let the Word Speak

Now thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and reveals through us the sweet aroma of his knowledge in every place. For we are a sweet aroma of Christ to God, in those who are saved, and in those who perish; to the one a stench from death to death; to the other a sweet aroma from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things? For we are not as so many, peddling the word of God. But as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God, we speak in Christ.

Are we beginning again to commend ourselves? Or do we need, as do some, letters of commendation to you or from you? You are our letter, written in our hearts, known and read by all men; being revealed that you are a letter of Christ, served by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tablets of stone, but in tablets that are hearts of flesh. Such confidence we have through Christ toward God; not that we are sufficient of ourselves, to account anything as from ourselves; but our sufficiency is from God; who also made us sufficient as servants of a new covenant; not of the letter, but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

World English Bible

The context of this letter from Paul to the church in Corinth is disagreement, lack of respect, and even rejection by the Corinthians of what Paul represented. They followed false teachings and sinful practices, and argued against the repentance Paul and Paul's representatives encouraged.

Paul loved that congregation too much to allow them to continue their rebellious ways without continuing to object, because he knew the damage they were bringing on themselves. At the same time, Paul chose not to fight back. He had many arguments for why they should listen to him, including his qualifications and successes as an evangelist around the world and his many efforts in direct support of this particular congregation. However, he did not allow his pride to interfere with the message God needed him to convey to this group. In this passage, Paul explained how instead of arguing back, he allowed the Word to speak through him.

First notice that Paul compares the knowledge coming from Christ to a sweet aroma that permeates wherever it is shared. Of course he did not create the aroma, but neither did he enhance the aroma, and elsewhere we read that Paul understood he was merely a container to carry the fragrance. There is no need to "peddle" the Word of God, with that Greek word hinting of a huckster in a marketplace trying to pass inferior merchandise on unsuspecting buyers. In contrast, Paul offers himself in sincerity as the vehicle for the Word to use.

Next notice that Paul places no value in credentials or achievements. Credentials draw attention to the messenger, but he was focused on the message and the effect of the message on those who received it. It must have been quite a shock for the Corinthians opposing Paul to read that their salvation was all the credit and acknowledgement he wanted for the work he had done in their congregation.

As much as Paul found joy in considering the lives that God had changed in his ministry, he was even more overjoyed with the power of God in his own life. If Paul's commendations were those who had come to know God in his ministry, it was the Spirit that wrote those commendations and the Spirit that guarantees God's relationship with believers.

Paul was the most accomplished evangelist of his day, the most prolific writer of New Testament books, and is still one of the most impassioned theologians of all times. Yet Paul understood that he was no more than a servant to others and a vessel for the Word. All of the power of creation, of resurrection, and of eternity lives in the Word, and our role is to permit the Word to speak freely through us.