The Fragrance of Christ

The apostle Paul made the following statement in 2 Cor. 2:15-16, “For we are to God
the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are
perishing. To the one we are the aroma of death to death, and to the other the
aroma of life to life. And who is sufficient for these things?” (NKJV)

I like the phrase “the fragrance of Christ.” When I think of the word fragrance I
think of that which has a pleasant smell – a flower out of the garden. But there are
many wonderful fragrances when you live out in the country as I do. The smell of
new mown hay, the smell of a cornfield in July on a late summer evening about
dusk, the smell of the farm field after having just been turned over (plowed) in the
spring. All evoke pleasant thoughts; arouse an inner peace and contentment, a
satisfaction with God’s creation, and a comfort in knowing he is out there Lord over
all his creation. Strange how smells can direct one to thoughts of God but then God
created them that way. Nature is a witness of God (Rom. 1:20, also read God’s
answer to Job beginning in Job 38).

If we are a Christian when we think of Christ the thought of him should have the
same kind of effect on us as the aromas we have been talking about. It is pleasant
to think about Christ. Like the pleasant smells of a country evening in late summer
thoughts of Christ should bring a peace and contentment to our souls and they do,
that is if Christ is in us and we are in him. When Paul preached Christ those who
accepted Christ found the tree of life for Christ was and is that tree, a tree
figuratively speaking, with pleasant blooms, a sweet fragrance of life, bearing as its
fruit life itself.

But, as there are pleasant smells there are also unpleasant ones – the open sewer,
the hog pen, skunks, decaying animals killed in the road, etc. From those we flee.
Christ and his gospel are like the unpleasant offensive smell of death in those who
are rejecting him. Ever wonder why some just do not want to hear it, the gospel? I
am persuaded that deep down they know their guilt and their need but the desire is
to live their life as they please (the Bible in the newer translations sometimes uses
the phrase “selfish ambition,” or the word “selfishness,” or “self-seeking” with
regards to a certain state of mind) and they thus harden their heart as they do not
want to hear what they will not accept and that which condemns them.

To the one who hears the gospel and accepts it there is a sense of freedom, the
conscience is made clean, and burdens are lifted as the song goes “at Calvary.” To
the one who will not hear, does not want to hear, his view of Christ and his gospel is
a message of enslavement, of the loss of personal freedom. Thus the fragrance of
Christ is to the one party pleasantness while to the other offensive. One man’s
heart is hardened by the gospel of Christ while the other man’s is softened and
made tender but it is always a personal choice as to which it will be for either way
we allow it.
In Eph. 5:2 the New King James version of the Bible talks of Christ’s sacrifice of
himself for us as “an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma.” I
think the International Standard Version states it best as far as the meaning of the
passage goes when it says Christ “gave himself for us as an offering and sacrifice, a
fragrant aroma to God.” That is to say God was pleased. He was satisfied. Christ’s
sacrifice was sufficient.

The fragrance of Christ is the fragrance of life, of pleasantness. Each of us must

choose either the fragrance of life or the fragrance of death. We get to choose
which it will be. Moses, in speaking to the children of Israel in Deut. 30:19 spoke
words that are applicable to us today as well. “I call heaven and earth as witnesses
today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing;
therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live.” (NKJV) Why
not choose Christ?