13. But I had no peace because I did not find my brother Titus. So I said goodbye and went to Macedonia.
14. But thanks be to God, who always leads us in victory through Christ. God uses us to spread his knowledge everywhere like a sweet-smelling perfume.
15. Our offering to God is to be the perfume of Christ that goes out to those who are being saved and to those who are being lost.
16. To those who are being lost, this perfume smells like death, and it brings them death. But to those who are being saved, it has the sweet smell of life, and it brings them life. So who is good enough to do this work?
17. Certainly not those who are out there selling God’s message for a profit! But we don’t do that. With Christ’s help we speak God’s truth honestly, knowing that we must answer to him.