In both 2 Corinthians 5:20 and Ephesians 6:20 Paul says that he and his co-workers were ambassadors of Christ. An ambassador is one sent by a particular authority to contact certain people. The faithful believers are ambassadors sent by God, the highest authority in the universe. They are one with God, representing God to carry out His purpose in Christ on this earth.
In Luke 16:1 the Lord illustrates the believers, saved by the love and grace of the Triune God, as His stewards, to whom He has committed His possessions.
In 1 Peter 4:10 Peter tells us that all the believers, who have received a gift, should minister “it among themselves as good stewards of the varied grace of God.”
In 1 Corinthians 4:1 Paul considers himself and his co-workers as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. The Greek word for stewards is the same root as the word economy or dispensation in 1 Timothy 1:4 and Ephesians 1:10. It means a dispensing steward, a household administrator, who dispenses the household supply to its members. The apostles were appointed by the Lord to be such stewards, dispensing God’s mysteries, which are Christ as the mystery of God and the church as the mystery of Christ (Col. 2:2; Eph. 3:4), to the believers.
The believers are also symbolized by captives of Christ in His triumphal procession. Paul says, “Thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in the Christ” (2 Cor. 2:14a). Here Paul uses the metaphor of a procession held in honor of the victory of a Roman general. Conybeare explains that the “verb here used means to lead a man as a captive in a triumphal procession; the full phrase means, to lead captive in a triumph over the enemies of Christ.…God is celebrating His triumph over His enemies; Paul (who had been so great an opponent of the gospel) is a captive following in the train of the triumphal procession.…” Paul once fought against Christ, the heavenly General, but eventually he was defeated, subdued, and captured and thereby became a captive of Christ. After he was captured, he was placed in Christ’s triumphal procession as one of the captives in a train of defeated foes.
The picture portrayed in 2 Corinthians 2:14 is that of a victorious Roman general leading a procession of former enemies who had been captured by him. As the general returned to the capital, the captives followed him in a procession to celebrate his victory. Paul uses this to illustrate how Christ has gained the victory and has captured the apostles and so many other believers, who have become captives of Christ to follow Him in His triumphal procession.
In 2:14a Paul specifically says that it is God who leads us in triumph in the Christ. God always leads the believers in such a triumphant way. As a captive in the triumphant procession, Paul did not do anything according to his own choice, preference, or taste. On the contrary, he was truly led by God, and he took God’s leading, no matter what it was. As the metaphor in 2:14 indicates, Paul considered himself a captive who had been placed in Christ’s triumphal procession. There is no choice for such captives. Because Paul, a captive, was willing to be led by God, wherever he went was according to God’s leading.
(Conclusion of the New Testament, The (Msgs. 099-113), Chapter 13, by Witness Lee)