Does It Smell Good or Bad?

My family always makes fun of me for smelling my food before I eat it. Do you do that? I find that some of my friends do it and others think it is weird. The sense of smell is an interesting gift God has given to us that sometimes we take for granted. There are many good odors in life, but there are also very bad odors that make us turn the other way. For example, when I was a kid I used to always love filling up the car gas tank with my Dad because I love the smell of gasoline. However, I also know many other people in my life who dislike the smell of gasoline. Isn’t that interesting – one specific odor but two different reactions or responses to that one odor? Keep this concept in mind as we go through a quick study of the passage in 2 Corinthians 2:14-16.

Let me give you a quick background of the passage which we will be looking at today. The Apostle Paul has already written his first letter or epistle to the church at Corinth, and in that letter there were many corrections or rebukes by Paul to the Corinthian believers. With this backdrop in mind Paul writes in his second letter to the Corinthians his desire to visit them twice on his missionary journey to Macedonia – on the way there and on the way back (2 Corinthians 1:16). However, it seems Paul changes his mind from his original plan and does not visit them on this missionary trip. He goes into detail about why he changed his mind in 2 Corinthians 1:14-24, 2:1-4. Basically in summary Paul says that he did not change his mind due to a vacillating and capricious heart, but rather he did not want to visit them at this particular time because he did not want to distress them or hurt them in person by them taking his rebukes in the wrong way (see 2 Cor. 1:23, 2:1). So even though he does not meet them in person he reminds them of the promises of God which are “Yes” and “Amen” in Christ Jesus, and he tells them that he wrote the first letter with a heart full of love toward them.

After Paul describes what happened in terms of this “change in plans” he goes on to describe how he went to Troas to preach the gospel of Christ but again felt restless in his spirit even though a door of opportunity was opened to him in Troas, and instead departed to Macedonia (2 Cor. 2:13-14). So, Paul essentially does not go to Corinth as he had originally planned and he also leaves Troas fairly quickly even though there was an open door for ministry there. Interestingly it seems Paul is all over the place and some might look at this as not sticking to the “course” or “plan of God” and hence he is not being used by God in “ministry”. However, Paul does not think this is the case by the following verses we are focusing on today:

“But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place.

For we are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing;

to the one an aroma from death to death, to the other an aroma from life to life And who is adequate for these things?”
- 2 Corinthians 2:14-16 (NASB)


So Paul starts off this section of Scripture with the small but powerful word “But” which makes the transition to this climactic passage. He has just gone through an entire discourse more or less from the end of 2 Corinthians 1 to 2 Corinthians 2:13 about ministry plans being changed, changing the course of traveling to different cities, etc. However, he reminds us that God always leads His people in triumphal procession no matter where we are in life by manifesting His sweet aroma through us in every place.

A few words which really stand out to me in the first section of this passage are “always”, “triumph”, and “every”.

Paul says he thanks God that God “always” (not sometimes) leads us in triumph in Christ. This is an amazing and encouraging statement we read from God’s Word. No matter what season you find yourselves in at the moment whether you are living on the mountain top or in the valley of the shadow of death God always leads you in triumphal procession in Christ. What a great hope we have in God that He is always leading us in triumph whether we recognize it or not.

Paul has this confidence not to mislead us into thinking that we should not have plans or a course of action in life. This sort of thinking can potentially lead us into aimless living and complacency; rather we are to focus and put God first in our lives trusting Him and knowing He will direct our steps. Paul rests in God’s divine sovereignty knowing that wherever he is at in life God has a purpose for him in that place. Do not fret child of God the Bible says the steps of a righteous man or woman are ordained by God.

Furthermore, the Bible says in Colossians 2:15 “And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.” Praise the Lord this same triumph is in the children of God when we are in union with Christ and have put our faith and trust in Him. This is why Paul can say “He always leads us in triumph in Christ”. When the enemy comes against you remember you are paraded by God on a red carpet in triumph because of the finished work of Calvary. You are the apple of God’s eye through faith in Jesus Christ. The triumph Paul speaks of here is not inherent in ourselves but rather is appropriated by the finished work of Jesus Christ defeating sin, death, and the grave once and for all. So, anyone who puts their trust in Him will never be put to shame.

The effect of this triumph is the manifestation of the sweet aroma of God through us who believe and results in continual fragrance unto God in every place we are find ourselves in. Are you a follower of Christ who does not see this fragrance of God in your life in “every” place you go? Then pray to God and ask Him to reveal to you the surpassing greatness of His infusion of love in you which should be spreading to every arena of your life. God fully intends that His people are a fragrance unto Himself in “every” place. We all must humble ourselves and recognize where we fall short and ask God for His Name sake to empower us by His Holy Spirit so we can manifest the fragrance of Christ wherever we go.

Now verse 15-16 talks about this sweet aroma or fragrance of Christ manifesting itself as the aroma of life to those who are being saved and as the stench of death to those who are perishing. Remember what I spoke about at the beginning of this blog, namely the one odor having two very different reactions in people? This one aroma of Christ – the sweet fragrance of God’s love manifested through the God-man Jesus Christ in which He died for the ungodly (which is all of us) so that we might find life in Him; smells differently from one person to another.

To one person it may “smell” like something good – something better than life itself and according to this passage from “life to life”. It ends up being a vital fragrance and a living fragrance where eternal life begins and only gets better.

To another person it may “smell” like something bad – something that they do not want. A fragrance that makes them look the other way or causes them to get mad, angry, upset, etc. To them it ends up being a fatal odor; the smell of doom.

What does the fragrance of Christ smell like to you? Is it good or bad? Every person on this planet has to answer this question since Christ has defeated the principalities and powers; either you are for Him or you are against Him there is no in between.

Remember this fragrance of Christ is an effect of the triumph of Christ. As we saw earlier the triumph of Christ took place at the cross; it is a done deal which leads to one particular aroma. See the following verse from 1 Corinthians 1:18-19:

“For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written: "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate."

You see the Bible says Christ came into the world by God’s initiative of love not to condemn the world but to save the world. However, men love darkness more than the light and hence do not come into the light of Christ.

Right now if the cross is foolishness to you and hence the fragrance of Christ is a fatal odor to you I plead out of love for you to repent and ask God to save you and give you a new heart so that the fragrance of God will manifest itself in your life and be a sweet smell of God’s love, peace, joy, and hope.

If the fragrance of Christ is already a sweet fragrance to you and is life to you, but you have forgotten that He leads you always in triumph in Christ in every place – be encouraged today through His Word and through the power of the Holy Spirit!

One final point is Paul ends this section of Scripture with a rhetorical question – “And who is adequate for these things”. The fragrance of Christ which is the sweet aroma of God that diffuses out of the followers of Christ as mentioned earlier is not naturally from ourselves lest we boast. Paul makes this point of adequacy clear in 2 Corinthians 3:5 where the Bible says “Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God…”

As Kristian mentioned in the inaugural blog on this site the verse from Romans 11:36 –"For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever."

The passage we looked at today fits perfectly with this concept. From God comes the manifestation of the fragrance of Christ which goes through our lives when we are found in Him and it goes back to Him by the aroma of the knowledge of God being manifested in every place we go!

Blessings,