You can’t see it, hear it, or touch it, but scent is powerful.
The smell of things like crayons, petunias, and colognes evoke memories that
transport me to the past and bring to mind people and places I might not
otherwise recall.
Some
celebrities have fragrances named after them. Fans can identify with an actress
or singer by dabbing on the scent bearing her name. Along those lines, Ladies
Home Journal published a quiz to help readers determine the perfect fragrance
for them. The idea is that every woman, to be memorable, should have a specific
scent associated with her.
The
idea of a signature scent is not new. God introduced it as part of worship. In
the tabernacle, a certain scent was to be associated with the Lord (Exodus 30:
34-35). The people were forbidden to use this fragrance for anything but
worship (vs. 37-38).
This
idea continues under the new covenant, but with a stunning difference. Instead
of using incense to make people think of Him, God uses Christians as His
“signature scent” to the world (2 Corinthians 2: 14-15). The fact that God
identifies Himself with us in such a powerful way is a truly humbling thought,
and causes me to ask, “What do people think about God as a result of being
around me?”
Introduction:
A believer’s triumphs are all in Christ. To him be the praise and glory of all,
while the success of the gospel is a good reason for a Christian’s joy and
rejoicing. In ancient triumphs, abundance of perfumes and sweet odors were
used; so the name and salvation of Jesus, as ointment poured out, was a sweet
savor diffused in every place. Unto some, the gospel is a savor of death unto
death.
They reject it to their ruin. Unto others, the gospel is a savor of life
unto life: as it quickened them at first when they were dead in trespasses and
sins, so it makes them livelier, and will end in eternal life. Observe the
awful impressions this matter made upon the apostle, and should also make upon
us. The work is great, and of ourselves we have no strength at all; all our
sufficiency is of God.
But what we do in religion, unless it is done in
sincerity, as in the sight of God, is not of God, does not come from him, and
will not reach to him. May we carefully watch ourselves in this matter; and
seek the testimony of our consciences, under the teaching of the Holy Spirit,
that as of sincerity, so speak we in Christ and of Christ.
How
do we smell?
1.
Fragrance of Christ’s Knowledge (v. 14) ~
The
victory we have in Jesus is always constant, not occasional. Christians are
always victorious in Christ. As Paul points out in the verses which follow, the
victory we have in Christ is not measured in terms of the number of those who
are saved due to our proclaiming the gospel. The victory and triumph Christians
experience are results of the faithful proclamation of the gospel, whether or
not men believe in Christ.
When
Titus gave Paul good news about the Corinthians (Chap. 7: 5-7), Paul bursts
forth with a hymn of praise. This interruption became an extended digression.
Paul did not resume the story of his trip to Macedonia and his meeting with
Titus until chap. 7: 5. In chap. 2: 14 – 7: 4 there is a long account of his
ministry. God … leads us in triumph: Paul used the metaphor of the Roman
triumphal procession to praise God. When a Roman general was victorious in a
war, he led his army and the captives in a parade down the main street. God is
the General Who has conquered. Paul is one of His officers following in His
train. In the Roman procession, priests carrying censers filled with incense
followed the conqueror. Paul the priest set forth the fragrance of Christ by
preaching the gospel. The KJV translates verse 14 in a way which indicates that
Christ leads us to triumph.
There is a sense in which this may be true, but the
term is never employed in this way. The form of the verb indicates it is Christ
who triumphs over us. For this reason, A. T. Robertson writes, “… [The] picture
here is of Paul as captive in God’s triumphal procession.”
While
we are sharers in the victories of our Lord, the point here is that Christ is
victorious over us. He has “taken us captive” by saving us from our sins. Paul
paints a somewhat different picture than Robertson does. Is Paul so burdened
with his cares concerning the Corinthian saints that his deeply troubled spirit
hinders his ministry in Troas? Who is adequate for the gospel ministry when the
minister’s heart is deeply troubled about truly spiritual concerns? God is! God
is victorious over our weaknesses, so that He actually employs our weaknesses
in a way which brings about His purposes - to His glory. He triumphs over our
weaknesses; He triumphs in and through our weaknesses. Now we see how Paul can
give thanks for the successful ministry he has in Troas, even though he is
troubled in spirit at the time.
2.
Smelling of Christ (v. 15) ~
Paul
further explains how the preaching of the gospel (even by those troubled in
spirit) is always God’s triumph in Christ. Through His saints, God produces a
sweet aroma, the aroma of Christ. Have you ever noticed how godly saints exude
a kind of Christ-likeness? This is what Paul describes for us. He says that
where Christians live out the life of Christ (which surely includes righteous
suffering - such as Paul’s suffering in Troas), a sweet aroma ascends God-ward.
Godly living, which includes the proclamation of the gospel, manifests Christ
to men, and thus, it brings pleasure and glory to God. The preaching and the
living out of the gospel are sweet smells to God. We say, “That is like music
to my ears.” Paul says, “Godly living and the preaching of the gospel are perfume
to God’s nostrils” (compare Philippians 4: 18).
When
I think of the word fragrance I think of that which has a pleasant smell - a
flower out of the garden. But there are many wonderful fragrances when you live
out in the country as I do. The smell of new mown hay, the smell of a cornfield
in July on a late summer evening about dusk, the smell of the farm field after
having just been turned over (plowed) in the spring. All evoke pleasant
thoughts; arouse an inner peace and contentment, a satisfaction with God’s
creation, and a comfort in knowing he is out there Lord over all his creation.
Strange how smells can direct one to thoughts of God but then God created them
that way. Nature is a witness of God (Romans 1: 20, also read God’s answer to
Job beginning in Job 38).
If
we are a Christian when we think of Christ the thought of him should have the
same kind of effect on us as the aromas we have been talking about. It is
pleasant to think about Christ. Like the pleasant smells of a country evening
in late summer thoughts of Christ should bring a peace and contentment to our
souls and they do, that is if Christ is in us and we are in him. When Paul
preached Christ those who accepted Christ found the tree of life for Christ was
and is that tree, a tree figuratively speaking, with pleasant blooms, a sweet
fragrance of life, bearing as its fruit - life itself.
But,
as there are pleasant smells there are also unpleasant ones - the open sewer,
the hog pen, skunks, decaying animals killed in the road, etc. From those we
flee. Christ and his gospel are like the unpleasant offensive smell of death in
those who are rejecting him. Ever wonder why some just do not want to hear it,
the gospel? I am persuaded that deep down they know their guilt and their need
but the desire is to live their life as they please (the Bible in the newer
translations sometimes uses the phrase "selfish ambition," or the
word "selfishness," or "self-seeking" with regards to a
certain state of mind) and they thus harden their heart as they do not want to
hear what they will not accept and that which condemns them.
To
the one who hears the gospel and accepts it there is a sense of freedom, the
conscience is made clean, and burdens are lifted as the song goes "at
Calvary." To the one who will not hear, does not want to hear, his view of
Christ and his gospel is a message of enslavement, of the loss of personal
freedom. Thus the fragrance of Christ is to the one party pleasantness while to
the other offensive. One man’s heart is hardened by the gospel of Christ while
the other man’s is softened and made tender but it is always a personal choice
as to which it will be for either way we allow it.
Illustration:
Putting on a beautiful fragrance / scent to suppress or completely expel the
real smell of our body odor. That’s what the fragrance of Christ does. It kills
the bad stuff and makes Himself profound. Some may like that fragrance and are
able to associate themselves to it, whereas some get offended and reject it
completely. The fragrance of Christ is the fragrance of life, of pleasantness.
Each of us must choose either the fragrance of life or the fragrance of death.
3.
Aroma of life and death (v. 16) ~
In
a Roman triumphal procession the leader would be followed by priests, officers,
soldiers and captives. The Roman leader would display his treasures and
captives amidst a cloud of incense burned for the gods. The Aroma of the event
represented victorious life to the soldiers and slavery or death to the
captives. In the same way, when the gospel is preached, it gives life to those
who accept it, but it represents death and judgment to those who reject it.
Believers recognize the life-giving aroma of the message. To non-believers,
however, its odor is foul, like their own death.
Some
Christians suppose that God is glorified only when unbelievers are converted by
the preaching of the gospel. But this is not what Paul says. Paul says God is
glorified (and pleased) by the preaching of the gospel, period, whether men
believe or reject the gospel. And so, that sweet smell of the gospel (to God)
is the smell of death unto death for those who are perishing in their sins,
while it is the smell of life unto life for those who are being saved. The
gospel of Jesus Christ is offensive to unbelievers. Using Paul’s analogy here,
the gospel “stinks” to them, smelling like death, which is the exact outcome of
those who reject the gospel. But to those who are being saved, the gospel is
like perfume, attracting them to Christ and leading them to eternal life.
We
are not adequate for “these things,” as Paul makes clear in this text. What
“things”? For what are we inadequate? We are not adequate to manifest Christ to
a dying world. We cannot live like Christ, in and of ourselves. And we are not
adequate to present the gospel in a way which convinces and converts sinners.
Saving sinners is an impossible task. When Paul asks who is adequate for these
things, he wants us to understand that no one is - in their own strength.
We
are not adequate to save men because we must not employ humanly deceptive or
persuasive devices to “con” people to faith in Christ. The gospel is offensive
(it stinks) to the unbeliever. It is a stumbling block to the Jews and
foolishness to the Gentiles (1 Corinthians 1: 23). When we proclaim the gospel,
we should do so knowing that there is no human way unsaved men will receive the
gospel and repent. Our only hope is that God will sovereignly intervene,
bringing about conversions that would not happen in any other way. Apparently
Paul answers this question in chap. 3: 5 – it is God alone who makes us
sufficient.
4.
Perfume of sincerity and integrity (v. 17) ~
And
then, once again, in the closing verses there comes the unhappy echo. Some
preachers in Paul’s days were ‘peddlers’ of God’s Word, preaching without understanding
God’s message or caring about what happened to their listeners. They weren’t
concerned about furthering God’s Kingdom – they just wanted money. The gospel
peddlers do not believe that salvation is the work of God, and they do not
trust Him to give sight to the spiritually blind or to give life to those
spiritually dead.
They are, however, very concerned with results. They want to
be successful, and their motivation for such ambition is questionable. Many
such peddlers considered Paul not fit to preach Christ and thought he was using
the gospel as traffic, an excuse to line his own pockets. Today there are still
religious teachers who care only about money (evidence on most television and
radio ministries), not about the truth. Those who truly speak for God should
have sincerity and integrity, and should never preach for selfish reasons (1
Timothy 6: 5 – 10).
Once
again Paul uses the word eilikrineia for purity. His motives will stand the
penetrating rays of the brightness of the sun; his message is from God; it will
stand the very scrutiny of Christ Himself. Paul never feared what men say,
because his conscience told him that he had the approval of God and the “Well
done!” of Christ. Paul and his fellow-laborers in the gospel are not gospel
peddlers. They speak the truth of the gospel, plainly, and with purity of
motive. They do not speak so as to please men and gain their approval and
applause; they speak in the sight of God, seeking to glorify Him by accurately
representing His Son, and thereby pleasing Him with the sweet smell of Christ.
A life lived for Jesus Christ has a pleasing aroma. Do we really smell like the
sweet aroma of Christ?
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