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In 2 Corinthians 2:14-17 the Apostle Paul changes his tone from the way he had been writing in earlier verses, switches it up and begins a sudden, spontaneous outburst of doxological praise saying, “But thanks 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.” (ESV)

This passage is often overlooked, but it is such a powerful summary of the reality of Christian ministry that we decided to use it as our “theme” passage. R.C. Sproul’s ministry name “Renewing Your Mind” is a spin off of Romans 12:1, John Piper’s ministry name “Desiring God” is a spin off of his doctrine of Christian Hedonism, John MacArthur’s ministry name “Grace To You” is a spin off from greetings used in the epistles, and our ministry name “Spreading the Fragrance” is a spin off of the rich passage we just read (2 Cor. 2:14-17).

When we look to this passage of Scripture we find some weighty truth. First, it begins with thanks to God. It is our mission never to proceed without a heart of thanksgiving to God for creating us, loving us, and most importantly sending His Son Jesus to die on a cross in our place for our sins, according to the Scriptures. We aim to express our thankfulness to Him through all our speech and conduct, always acknowledging that every good gift comes from above and that apart from his grace we can do nothing of ourselves.

But this thankfulness that Paul mentions is to God revealed in Christ. Therefore, when we mention the term God we refer to the Triune God revealed in Scripture, not some abstract concept of deity. The Bible says that God revealed Himself in many ways at many times, but in these last days He has given us a final revelation of Himself through His Son. Look at the beauty of how the author of Hebrews put it:

“Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs. (Heb. 1:1-4 ESV).

We read that Jesus Christ was appointed the heir of all things, and the Creator of all things. This should modify the way we read Genesis 1:1 because the noun “God” now has revealed meaning unknown to the human author Moses. It should now be read, “In the beginning Jesus Christ the Son of God created the heavens and the earth.” This truth can also be seen from many other passages (Heb. 2:10, Col.1:16-17, John 1:3, 1 Cor. 8:6).

The fact that Paul gives thanks to God for his revelation in Christ is emphatically demonstrated in his following analogy. Paul says God in Christ, “leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere.” This vivid imagery portrays the celebratory victory procession of conquest, a concept widely know throughout the Roman Empire and beyond.

Simon Kistemaker comments: The scene Paul portrays with this imagery is that of a victorious Roman general who leads his armies in a triumphal parade into the capital of the empire. The general parades the prisoners of war through the streets and exhibits them to all the spectators, while the sweet fragrance of burning spices fills the air. At the conclusion of the procession, these captives usually are executed as a tribute to the conqueror. For the victors, the flagrance is sweet; for the captives, the fragrance is the smell of death.

R.C.H. Lenski comments: “The figure of a commander and his generals celebrating a grand triumphal procession is most apt. All that history tells us about these old Roman triumphs which were granted to a successful commander by the emperor is brought to mind by the first distinctive term employed by Paul…He extends the imagery when he adds the words about the odor, for in these triumphal processions flowers were strewn, vessels burning incense were carried. That was sweet odor for the victors, but for the vanquished, who marched as captives in the procession, it meant execution at the end of the march. The entire imagery is magnificent.”

John MacArthur comments: “Paul drew from the imagery of the official and exalted Roman ceremony called the Triumph, in which a victorious general was honored with a festive, ceremonial parade through the streets of Rome…The imagery comes from the strong, sweet smell of incense from censers in the Triumph parade, which, along with the fragrance of crushed flowers strewn under horses’ hooves, produced a powerful aroma that filled the city. By analogy, every believer is transformed and called by the Lord to be an influence for His gospel throughout the world.”

This image of victory illustrates Paul’s creativity as an image bearer of God as he expresses his pure apostolic jubilation. He continues with the metaphor drawing the parallels between the perspectival reception of the victory and the perspectival reception of the gospel. In Paul’s words, he is likening the gospel to the sweet aroma of Christ to those on the side of the victor, and the fragrance of death to the conquered - for it foretells their soon and inevitable destruction by death.

An interesting modification to the analogy that Paul “may” have made is in the use of the word “everywhere,” as opposed to the “local” fragrance such a triumph parade may have produced. The Greek adverb here rendered as “everywhere,” whenever it is used (as found in Plato), refers to “a marker of highest degree on a scale of extent, completely, wholly, everywhere (BDAG). I think what Paul may have been saying is that since he had been commissioned to take the gospel to the Gentiles, which is basically everyone else besides Israelites, that his spreading of the fragrance of the knowledge of God was effective everywhere that God’s elect were scattered.

In closing, I would like for you to see the richness of this passage (2 Cor. 2:14-17) and recall to mind the imagery Paul used by Inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Then look around at your “sphere of influence” that God has placed you in. First of all, is there an aroma of Christ? Does the metaphor of spreading the fragrance fit the lifestyle you are now living? Do your friends, family, co-workers, and neighbors get a whiff of that knowledge of God? I ask because if they can’t metaphorically smell it then we shouldn’t bother with the next question which is: Is it a fragrance of life or death? This seems like a hard saying at first, but as Jesus taught us in John 6, hard sayings shouldn’t be softened in order to make them more palatable, in fact, sometimes the heat must be turned up like he did!

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.

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Note: In an effort to enhance STFMAG online readers’ experience, we have installed RefTagger, a free plugin courtesy of Logos Bible Software. RefTagger makes it easy for you to access the text of Scripture by hovering your mouse pointer over any Scripture citation that appears on this site. Try it out and see how RefTagger saves you time (Eph. 5:16).