S168P2 – Fragrant offerings: Christ through us
2Cor. 2:14-17
[T]hanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things? For we are not, like so many, peddlers of God’s word, but as men of sincerity, as commissioned by God, in the sight of God we speak in Christ.
The imagery in this passage follows a specific course. It begins with the knowledge of Christ. This is not the factual knowledge of Christ, for even the demons know who He is but are not saved. Our knowledge of Christ is intimate and comes with our spiritual conversion. As Paul said here, this is a sincere knowledge of Christ, so it does not include those who use Jesus for their own gain. We are not street peddlers looking for a quick dime. The honest Christian motivated by sincerity in sharing the knowledge of Christ is a sweet aroma to God, but He is not the only one who catches that scent. Others around us will notice it, but they will not all respond the same way.
When we allow Christ to live and speak through us to impact the world, we produce a fragrance. Actually, we only produce a fragrance to those who find this work pleasurable. For those who love the Lord, they will bask in the scent of life we emit. Those who belong to the kingdom of God will smell a sweet aroma just as He does. It reaches from the Earth to the heavens, and its impact is indeed spiritual. For those who want nothing to do with the Lord, we will produce a foul odor, or a fragrance of death. They will find us unpleasant, and they will not want to be around us. Both the saved and the perishing will discern this aroma, but they will discern it differently and not by anything we have done. This is the natural and inevitable consequence of our work.
As we share the knowledge of Christ, it is as if the smoke of our insense exposes the spiritual divide. Our work smells so sweet to the Lord, and some will be drawn to it. They will smell the sweetness that He smells. Even as the truth of Christ brings conviction, they are drawn closer. Many more will say that we are draped in a foul and deadly odor, and they will flee from us. After all, those gates are not of equal size. [Mt. 7:13-14] Those whose pride or desire to satisfy the flesh makes them hate the Spirit’s conviction will hate us as well. We must remember it is not us but the fragrance of Christ’s truth. Father, keep us faithful to spread the fragrance of Christ’s truth by telling it and living it regardless of the response it produces.