2 Corinthians 2:14-16

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?

These verses are often used as a reassurance for Christians when they come to feel beleaguered by the world. To be sure, Paul took great consolation in the understanding that the ministry of Christ brings both salvation and joy to the believer but frustration and consternation to the non-believer. Yet this verse is often taught as if the fragrance of Christ were some literal perfume. We just spritz on a little Jesus and it produces positive and negative effects on those who catch a whiff. If we have a bad day, we chalk it up to some ethereal sense of Christ that prompted negative responses from others.

However, the promise of this verse is not in some passive, intangible scent of Christ. To be sure, our obedience to Jesus does bear fruit in our behavior to even the casual observer without even our awareness but Paul made these comments directly in relation to his speaking about Christ. The fragrance he mentions is the message of the risen Christ. We can see this by looking at verse 14 where he refers to the fragrance as “the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere”. It is very much the reactions to the gospel to which he is referring.

That said, we should carefully examine ourselves and the responses our life elicits. Does our life bear witness to what we say we believe? Do our words bear out, even proportionally, the truth that is in our hearts? Do we propagate the fragrance (as Paul puts it) of Christ through our words and actions? Is our conversation seasoned with talk about our Savior? Or are our love ballads to Christ empty words that have no bearing upon our non-worship service lives?

Paul spoke of the Lord going before them and working through them as they traveled and spoke about the risen Christ. Is the same true of us? Is Christ working through us to produce fruit? Of course not everyone is an evangelist or preacher like Paul. This concept doesn’t even need be confined to actually sharing our faith (as we have come to call it). It can simply be that our lives so radically revolve around Christ that he naturally permeates our conversations with our friends, our family, our church, and yes, our non-believing acquaintances.

God works through us in ways intangible and mysterious but we must also commit ourselves fully to serving Him with our whole being in every arena of our lives. The results then are out of our hands. To some the person of Christ will be freedom, relief, and redemption. To others, foolishness, intolerance, and frustration. Our service is based upon our calling not upon the results. Let us abandon ourselves that we may truly be the fragrance of Christ to the world.