Second Corinthians may be considered as the autobiography of Paul. In the first several chapters of this book there are many deep points concerning the life and work of Paul and his co-workers as ministers of the New Testament. They were not merely taught, edified, or instructed in the New Testament ministry. They were constituted with it. In the apostle's speaking concerning their ministry for God's new covenant, five very significant and expressive metaphors are used to illustrate how they, as ministers of the new covenant, and their ministry are constituted, how they behave and live, and how their ministry is carried out. (The Experience and Growth in Life, ch. 18, section 1)
 
The first of these metaphors is that of captives in the train of Christ's victorious procession…Paul was a captive of Christ, one captured, subdued, and fully gained by Christ and then put into His train of victorious procession. Many readers of the New Testament have no knowledge of the metaphor used in 2:14. But we may have the knowledge of this metaphor and yet not have much inner realization concerning its application. We may not have the realization, the sense, that we have been captured, subdued, possessed, and fully gained by Christ, the Victor, and that now we are captives in the train of His victorious procession. If we have an inward realization concerning this matter, it will make us a different kind of person. (The Divine Dispensing of the Divine Trinity, ch. 37, section 1)
 
Eventually, all the captives become incense-bearers. First, we are the captives in the procession celebrating Christ’s victory; then right away we become incense-bearers to scatter incense, or fragrance, the savor of the knowledge of Christ in His triumphant ministry. The apostles, being permeated with Christ, become a fragrance of Christ. They are not merely a sweet savor produced by Christ, but Christ Himself is the savor being exhaled in their life and work to God, both in those who are being saved, as a savor out of life unto life, and in those who are perishing, as a savor out of death unto death. The phrases unto death and unto life in 2:16 refer to the different effects of the apostles’ ministry upon different persons. (Elders’ Training, Book 6: The Crucial Points of the Truth in Paul's Epistles, ch. 4, section 1) 

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