Think about sending a text. You know it has been received and read, and you are waiting (impatiently) for a response. Suddenly, a little word-bubble icon pops up to let you know the other person is tapping out a response. Still, you must wait (even if impatiently) for the actual message to come through. Waiting patiently for news from others isn’t a strength in today’s culture. Can you imagine the circumstances Paul described in this section of 2 Corinthians?
Paul wrote a severe reprimand letter (now lost to history) to the church at Corinth to address a situation in Corinth that worsened after his first letter we call 1 Corinthians. Paul sent the letter through Titus, hoping it would have the intended effect. When he and Titus were unable to connect as planned, Paul became anxious, thinking perhaps the letter had the wrong effect on the church.
In verses 14 and following, after Paul finally met up with Titus in Macedonia and heard a good report from the church in Corinth, he began to celebrate and rejoice over the leadership of God in his life.
His words offer a good reminder. The life of the Christian, in simplest terms, is following the leadership of Christ. If we, by His grace, follow Him faithfully, several things will be true in our lives.
When we follow Christ, we walk in His victory (verse 14). Paul’s metaphor here recalls generals who, after a great conquest, returned with their troops to their home city with a victory parade. Often the parade included captured opposition troops. The procession served as a long, visible declaration of victory. A similar description is found in Colossians 2:15: “And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it.”
The Colossians passage signals that Jesus defeated the evil spiritual powers in the world once and for all.
Perhaps you have observed the old practice of pulling to the side of the road when a funeral procession passes on the other side. The gesture of courtesy demonstrates respect for the deceased and for those who lost a loved one. I don’t want to minimize how hard and difficult life can be. Sometimes, it may feel like a long, painful funeral procession. But these passages ultimately remind us those following Christ aren’t in a funeral procession but a victory parade.
Recall the words of the old gospel song:
Oh, victory in Jesus, my Savior forever!
He sought me and bought me with His redeeming blood;
He loved me ‘ere I knew Him, and all my love is due Him;
He plunged me to victory beneath the cleansing flood.
When we follow Christ, we spread His “aroma” (verses 14-15). Paul told the Corinthians that Jesus spreads the knowledge of Himself everywhere through us. I’m sure you have heard the old saying, “You are the only Bible some people will ever read.” This passage essentially says, “You are the only Christian some people ever smell.”
Do you “smell” like a Christian?
As Christians, God uses our lives and actions to spread the fragrance of Christ to the world. This fragrance elicits different responses. The message of a crucified Savior,
dying like a criminal between two thieves, is utter nonsense and folly to the unbelieving world — both then and now. To this group, Christians are the aroma of death leading to death. (This language hearkens back to 1 Corinthians 1, where Paul established the preaching of the cross as foolishness to those who perish.)
However, to those “being saved,” the fragrance of our lives communicates the power and wisdom of God. These individuals see the beauty and wisdom and power of God displayed at Calvary. To those who believe the gospel, who hear and accept the good news, it is the aroma of life that leads to life.
There isn’t a third option.
After 15 straight years of losses to the University of Alabama, in 2022, the Tennessee Volunteers sent a last-second knuckleball kick through the uprights in Neyland Stadium in Knoxville, Tennessee, to defeat their rivals. The crowd went crazy, and cigar smoke soon filled the air. The thick, pungent smoke was the “smell of victory” for almost everyone there. But not me. As an Alabama fan, surrounded by a hundred thousand cheering Tennessee fans, the aroma smelled awful. It was the noxious scent of defeat. That day, the same smell produced different responses depending entirely on your team.
Paul told the Corinthians the aroma of our lives, as Christ-followers, permeates the world and produces different effects or responses.
We see this in Paul’s own ministry, in the city of Athens, when he preached at Mars Hill to a group of pagan philosophers. At the end of the sermon, after Paul preached about Jesus and the resurrection, Luke records: “Some mocked: and others said, We will hear thee again of this matter....Certain men clave unto him, and believed: among the which was Dionysius the Areopagite, and a woman named Damaris, and others with them” (Acts 17:32, 34).
These pagans had differing responses to the aroma of Paul’s preaching. Some continued to mock. They smelled the aroma of death. Others believed, and the aroma of the gospel led them to life.
When we follow Christ, we proclaim His Word simply (verse 17). In the final verse of this passage, Paul emphasized the proclamation of God’s Word by first stressing the negative. We are not like those who corrupt or “peddle” the Word of God. The word used here calls to mind annoying and dishonest sales tactics, those who cross ethical lines to make a profit.
When it comes to sharing the Word of God, we aren’t peddling or selling anything. The Word of God doesn’t need our help. We aren’t called to smooth out the rough edges, adapt it to fit the culture, or to make it politically correct. Instead, we are to proclaim it or preach it simply.
“Preaching” in this sense isn’t just the work of pastors, but the work of all Christians to share the gospel. So, Christian, preach or proclaim the Word.
Preach it cleanly, with sincerity and ethical purity or cleanness. In contrast to false teachers who profit from or manipulate the Word of God, Paul said to live upright and honest lives in the sight of everyone, with nothing to hide.
Preach it authoritatively. We are commissioned; that is, we are sent into the world with a message from God. Later in this epistle, Paul described us as ambassadors for Christ.
Preach it verbally. Speak clearly and openly of Christ. While a godly lifestyle is important, we must also share the words, the message of the good news of Christ.
Billy Graham preached the gospel to more than 200 million people who attended one of his 400 crusades, simulcasts, and evangelistic rallies in 185 countries and territories. A 2005 Gallup poll revealed 35 million people in America — one in six U.S. adults — had heard Billy Graham preach in person. He was an outstanding preacher and communicator and a spiritual counselor to several U.S. presidents. His clear and compelling gospel sermons were packed with one simple phrase used again and again: “The Bible says…”
This is our responsibility and privilege as well, to let our proclamation be “the Bible says.”
Paul rejoiced over God’s guidance in his life, leading him in victory, leading him to spread the fragrance of Christ, and leading him to preach God’s Word. No matter where your life takes you, if you follow Jesus, these things will be true of you as well.
