But thanks [be] to God, who always leads us in triumph in the Christ, and makes manifest the odour of his knowledge through us in every place.
Paul has just described a journey that went wrong: an open door at Troas he could not use, and a restless heart that drove him on to Macedonia. Then he breaks off into thanks, and the picture he uses to praise God is a victory parade.
This thanksgiving does not come out of success. One writer traces the state of mind behind it:
Paul had gone to Troas to preach the gospel, and had hoped to meet Titus there. He did not find him. So although the Lord had opened a door to him, Paul had no rest in his spirit and could not settle down to his work. He was too anxious for news from the church at Corinth... In this state of mind Paul finds his comfort: whatever his own failures in service, he could still thank God, who always led him and his companions in triumph in Christ, and made the fragrance of His knowledge known in every place.
In this picture Paul is not the victor. He is one of the captives being led:
He is able to thank God for it all: God "always leads us about in triumph in Christ." He might have said, "If I had had a little more faith, I could have stayed at Troas and preached the gospel there." Instead he comforts himself that God leads him about in triumph everywhere. The thought is of captives led in a victory parade; he was Christ's prisoner... We see a heart that has been knocked about, and here it overflows.
If Paul is the captive, the glory on show belongs to another. That shifts what the servant's circumstances are actually for:
The triumph is not theirs but His. They are His willing captives, led along in His victory parade. He has triumphed over them, and over all their circumstances too, making all these things serve His perfect will. And through them He made the fragrance of His knowledge known. Their willing surrender to His leading was a precious witness to the greatness of His triumph and glory.
The second half of the verse keeps the same picture. One writer shows where the image comes from:
He turns his joy over their repentance into thanksgiving to God. Instead of leaving him to feel that he had given up evangelistic work, God "always leads us in triumph in Christ, and makes the fragrance of His knowledge known through us in every place." The picture is a Roman triumph, where they burned spices in great quantity. Paul takes hold of this too, to show his testimony to Christ in the gospel going out everywhere. But in such a procession the sweet perfumes went with life for some of the captives and death for others. That is a natural and powerful way to point to the two outcomes of the gospel.
The word "always" covers the bad days too. One writer names what the triumph overcomes:
If God leads, it will be in triumph — triumph over the failure of believers, the opposition of sinners, the schemes of the enemy, and the pressure of circumstances. But it will be triumph "in Christ." It is not triumph in the flesh, or by human ability or power. And the more that difficulties and distresses of every kind are overcome in and through Christ, the more the sweetness and blessedness of the knowledge of Christ will show in every place.
So what travels with the procession is the knowledge of God:
As they preached the gospel, Paul and his fellow-workers spread the heavenly fragrance of the knowledge of God wherever they went. Everyone who came under the influence of the word learned what Christ was to God. Whatever people might think of Christ, He was a sweet fragrance to God. To those who received Paul's testimony it was like a life-giving fragrance from the realm of life. To those who rejected it, it was like a deadly smell from the region of death.
- Led, not leading. Paul is not the victor in this picture. He is a captive walking in Christ's victory parade, and the triumph on show is Christ's.
- Led through failure. Paul gives thanks after leaving an open door at Troas. The thanks cover his failures in service, not only his successes.
- Led always. The triumph holds over the failure of believers, the opposition of sinners, the schemes of the enemy, and the pressure of circumstances. And it is triumph "in Christ," not by human ability.
- Led everywhere. Wherever the procession goes, the fragrance goes with it. God spreads the knowledge of Christ through His servants in every place.
- Led to two ends. In a Roman triumph the incense meant life for some captives and death for others. The same message brings life to those who receive it and death to those who refuse.
For we are a sweet odour of Christ to God, in the saved and in those that perish
Paul has just pictured his service as a victory parade. Now he says what he and his fellow workers are to God — and how one fragrance can mean life to some and death to others.
The picture comes from a Roman victory parade: a general entering the city with his captives behind him.
It is said that the Romans burned sweet spices at the triumphs of their generals. They entered the city with a crowd of captives behind them. To those who shared in that triumph, the burning spices were an aroma of life. But the captives were to be handed over to the lions, and to them the same spices were an aroma of death. The scent was a foretaste of either life or death. So it is with the excellence of Christ. Some bow to Him by grace and receive forgiveness and life. To them the sweet scent of His praise is a foretaste of life in eternal fulness and joy. Others reject His grace in pride. To them these same praises tell of judgment — eternal separation from the light and love and joy of heaven.
Paul does not say he is a sweet aroma in himself. What rises to God is the fragrance of another life, carried by his.
And by grace, this was the fragrance the Lord's devoted servant gave off as it rose to heaven — "the aroma of Christ." Could any testimony be sweeter, richer, or more fragrant to God? What a reproduction of that lovely life! It shone in its moral perfection, without a single break, from the manger to the cross. How sweet its fragrance to God!
Here the audience changes. The offering goes up to God, and the hearers' response does not set its value.
The verse before said what the apostles' preaching is to people. Now we are told what God's messengers are to God Himself, seen in the effects their ministry produces. The words are bold, but true. Paul knew nothing among men but Jesus Christ and Him crucified. He felt that angels witnessed what he preached on earth, and that God approved it... Let people listen or refuse, the proclamation of that Name is a continual incense before God... Whether people are saved or lost, God's will is done, and the One who does it, in grace or in judgment, is the Son. An aroma of Christ goes up to God even from the fire that is never quenched.
So a preacher who sees no fruit has lost nothing before God.
Through them He was making known the fragrance of His knowledge in every place. He did this where the gospel might seem to fail as well as where it plainly succeeded — in those who were being saved and in those who were perishing. Those who preached it were still a sweet aroma of Christ to God. He delighted in the proclaiming of His power and grace in Christ.
The message itself is one message. What divides the hearers is what they do with the One it announces.
He preached Christ as the One who died and rose again. He preached this whether people believed and were saved, or did not believe and perished. If they did not believe and were perishing, then the news of the death of Christ simply meant death for them. If He died for sins, and they refused Him, they certainly must die in their sins. If some believed, then news of His risen life brought the fragrance of life for them. Because He lived they should live also.
Kelly draws the same line from the side of faith, adding that the hearer who believes sees more in the crucified Jesus than a dead man:
Such is the message where it is mixed with faith; for faith sees and hears Him as the Son of God, yet Son of man, who died for man, for sins, but rose in the power of an endless life, that we might live also, and live of His life, where sin can never enter, nor death have dominion any more.
This verse can become a cushion for fruitless preaching. One writer pushes back hard.
It is true, wonderfully true, that unfolding the truth glorifies God and magnifies Jesus Christ, whether people will hear or refuse. But should that fact weaken, even a little, our eager desire for results in souls? We do not for a moment believe it. The preacher should look for results, and should not be satisfied without them... Some preachers only succeed in driving their hearers away. Then they comfort themselves by saying, "We are a sweet aroma to God." We believe this is a great mistake, and a fatal delusion.
- Source. The fragrance is not the servant's own; it is Christ's life reproduced through him, going up to God as a sweet aroma.
- Direction. The preaching goes up to God first. Proclaiming that Name is a continual incense before Him, whether people listen or refuse.
- Reach. One aroma reaches both crowds. At a Roman victory parade the same spices meant life to the victors and death to the captives.
- Division. What you do with Christ divides the two. Refuse the One who died for sins, and you die in them. Believe, and His risen life becomes yours.
- Caution. God measures the aroma, so no faithful work is wasted. Even so, commentators warn preachers not to use that truth to excuse driving hearers away.
to the one an odour from death unto death, but to the others an odour from life unto life; and who [is] sufficient for these things?
Paul has just pictured himself in God's triumphal procession, spreading the fragrance of Christ wherever he goes. Now he shows what that fragrance does to the people who breathe it in — one message, two opposite ends, and a question the preacher cannot answer on his own.
Paul's readers knew the scene behind this strange phrase. Older translations read "savour" where the ESV has "fragrance."
In 2 Corinthians 2:16 the unusual expression, "sweet savour of death," will strike the reader. It will help him to know that the expression is a figure of speech. It refers to the Roman triumphal processions. On those occasions they used sweet perfumes. They often killed many captives, and spared others. So the "sweet savour" was a "savour of death" or of "life." In the same way, says the apostle, the gospel is a means of life when it is received. But when it is not received — however sweet it is — it is only a cause for condemnation.
Each phrase describes a whole course, not just a moment. One writer traces the first road from its start to its end.
"From death to death." That is the Spirit's summary of the course of unrepentant man. As a child of the first Adam he is born to die, and he lives only to sin. When sin has run its course, it brings him through the judgment to a second and eternal death. He refuses instruction from his Maker and makes light of the grace of his Redeemer, so his punishment will match his offence. He has despised the birthright of sovereign grace. So he must enter his final portion as a natural heir of wrath, with the added condemnation of rejected love.
The message itself does not change. What changes is what a person does with the death and resurrection at its centre.
He preached Christ as the One who died and rose again. That was his message, whether men believed and were saved, or did not believe and perished. If they did not believe and were perishing, then the news of the death of Christ simply meant death for them. If He died for sins, and they refused Him, they certainly must die in their sins. If some believed, then news of His life in resurrection brought the fragrance of life for them. Because He lived they should live also.
This is why hearing a sermon is never a neutral act.
People seem to forget the responsibility involved in hearing the gospel preached. They do not seem impressed in the smallest degree by one weighty fact. The gospel never leaves any unconverted person where it finds him. He is either saved by receiving it, or made more guilty by rejecting it. So it becomes a serious matter to hear the gospel.
The outcome splits in two. God's pleasure in the message does not.
Paul knew nothing among men but Jesus Christ and Him crucified. He felt that what he preached on earth had the witness of angels and the approval of God... Whether men listen or refuse, the proclaiming of that Name is a continual incense before God. And in His hand the pleasure of the Lord will prosper, whether in judgment or in grace.
Both outcomes end with the whole universe bowing before God. Paul's cry is not only about the hardship of the work.
Solemn thought! Every mouth will be closed and all the universe will bow before God. Well may the apostle add, "Who is sufficient for these things?" He means not only the service with its hard trials, but also the solemn and eternal results.
The same question presses on every preacher since Paul.
How solemn then is the effect of a true preaching of Christ! What eternal issues hang on it! This is so, whether the lips that speak it are Paul's in the first century or ours in the twentieth. No wonder Paul raises the question, "Who is sufficient for these things?" He raises it, but does not answer it at once. He answers it in verse 5 of the next chapter. Since the whole thing is of God, there is no sufficiency but of God.
That weight should shape how a servant handles the message. Verse 17 draws the line.
If the gospel is a word of delivering grace, it makes the truth shine out. That deepens the servant's sense of responsibility. This is just as it should be — full liberty instead of bondage, but a solemn responsibility, felt as never before... He did not, like the many, traffic in the word of God.
- Fragrance. The image is a victory parade with perfume burning. The same sweet smell meant life for some captives and death for others.
- Fragrance divides. One message, two whole courses. "From death to death" ends in judgment. "From life to life" ends in resurrection life.
- Fragrance never fails. Whether people listen or refuse, the preaching of Christ's name rises to God as continual incense.
- Fragrance obligates. The gospel leaves no hearer where it found him — he is either saved by receiving it or made more guilty by refusing it.
- Fragrance needs no human strength. Paul's "Who is sufficient?" hangs unanswered until 3:5 — the whole work is God's, so the sufficiency is His too.