Greek: Function of ὅτι in 2Cor 2:14-15

Question

14 Τῷ δὲ θεῷ χάρις τῷ πάντοτε θριαμβεύοντι ἡμᾶς ἐν τῷ Χριστῷ καὶ τὴν ὀσμὴν τῆς γνώσεως αὐτοῦ φανεροῦντι δι᾽ ἡμῶν ἐν παντὶ τόπῳ· 15 ὅτι Χριστοῦ εὐωδία ἐσμὲν... (2Cor 2:14-15)

I am translating this passage at the moment. And although I have dealt with much more problematic issues (like e.g θριαμβεύοντι) I'm stuck on the little ὅτι...

I wonder why NA28 put a semicolon before it. Not taking this into account, I would say that ὅτι refer to "Τῷ δὲ θεῷ χάρις" and it introduces a fact for which the apostle gives thanks (cf. Rom 6:17) - "thanks be to God (...) that we are a sweet aroma of Christ"...

But participles θριαμβεύοντι and φανεροῦντι must have very similar function there. I suppose that editor of NA interprets only mentioned participles as referring to fact for which Paul gives thanks, but ὅτι as something else.

Now I wonder what other meaning of ὅτι would be suitable in this passage; and if is it for sure a better option than my previous understanding. For example I know that ὅτι sometimes introduces some general statement, but it applies to citations and we have no citation there. Moreover sometimes it is a marker of causality, but I doubt that Paul intends to express a cause there.

Would you mind to give me some advice how to resolve this problem?

Answer 1

The ὅτι clause is explaining the participial clause governed by φανεροῦντι. How can it be that it is δι᾽ ἡμῶν that God is manifesting τὴν ὀσμὴν τῆς γνώσεως αὐτοῦ? In the sense that (ὅτι) Χριστοῦ εὐωδία ἐσμὲν...