Fragrance
| For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. 16 To the one we are the smell of death; to the other, the fragrance of life. And who is equal to such a task? 17 Unlike so many, we do not peddle the word of God for profit. On the contrary, in Christ we speak before God with sincerity, like men sent from God. (2Corinthians2:15-17) |
But there are two more things to highlight about Paul's image:
The first is that the aroma of Christ that we offer the world is not for us or even for the world primarily. The primary reason we bear the fragrance of Christ to the world is for God's glory and renown. "For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing..." God is glorified and delighted when people hear of His name and are saved and even when people reject the free offer of salvation and perish, God's justice is revealed.
This is hard to wrap our heads and hearts around, but it is paramount to understand although God does not intend for anyone to be lost, justice is as much part of God's nature as love is. When we are the fragrance of Christ to the world, we reveal that the decision we make about God is the most important decision that there is. There is no other decision as important as this. This decision has absolute priority and cannot be ignored - this glorifies God.
The second important aspect is highlighted in v.17 where Paul makes it clear that this important message should not be proclaimed with ulterior motives - whether for the sake of profit or ego we cannot and dare not take the gospel of Jesus to the world for our own sake - it needs to be about God. It needs to be for His glory.
The false teachers and trouble stirrers had made the Corinthians doubt Paul's sincerity and for much of the remainder of this letter, he (Paul) will go about defending his sincerity in a very self-effacing way.
So here's the bottom-line:
Anything we do for God is for God. It's not about others primarily: while we are concerned about the eternal decision that they must take - we are even more concerned about showing God's love and justice to the world. And it's definitely not about us....
Bach signed all his compositions JSB and SDG. The JSB was his own initials and the SDG stood for SOLI DEO GLORIA. We're the fragrance - He's the one we do it for!
