2 Corinthians 2:14, commentary and pictures

Thanks be to God who always gives His people victory in Christ and makes the sweet scent of knowing Him known through them in every place they go. As in a victor's procession where incense meant coming freedom to those to be spared and coming death to those condemned, the message of Christ is life to those who receive Him and death to those who persist in unbelief. That triumph holds continually, not by human strength but by the working of the Holy Spirit, even through pruning, furnace-fire, suffering and apparent failure, as lives are changed from character to character into His image. It is kept by casting the helpless soul on Jesus and staying close to Him in entire submission, obedience to His law, and harmony with God in supreme love to God and love to neighbor, while persistence in rebellion brings defeat. The fragrance spreads not by display of talent or learning but by a Christlike character and life, in tender words, kind acts, unity among believers, and faithful witness beginning in the home and reaching every sphere of work.

Triumphal Fragrance Imagery

The image is that of a Roman triumphal procession in which incense accompanied the return of a victorious general. Captives marching in that procession who were destined for execution smelled death in the fragrance, while those who were to be spared smelled approaching freedom in it. The gospel is like that fragrance, for God causes triumph in Christ and makes the knowledge of Christ known through His messengers in every place. To those who accept Christ it is life, while to those who persist in unbelief it is death, because it signals their fate.

Paul himself is pictured as such a captive who, after being conquered by heaven's light, becomes an incense-bearer announcing Christ's victory. Thanks belong to God who causes the triumph. Every successful effort to dispel darkness and spread the light and knowledge of God and of Jesus Christ whom He sent is God causing that triumph in Christ, and it prompts thanksgiving to Him. Such success is carried upward and presented before the heavenly intelligences, thrills through all principalities and powers, and enlists the sympathy of all heavenly beings.

God Gives Continual Triumph

God always and continually causes His people, His messengers and His workers to triumph and to have victory in and through Christ in every place wherever they go and work, and this is not accomplished by their own human strength. The same triumph was seen in Paul and his fellow workers and in the change in the Corinthian believers and the advance of the gospel despite opposition. The canvasser's work is an example of this continual victory, for it is important gospel work that cannot be done by human strength alone but depends on connection with God and angelic help.

The hope of eternal life is a settled victory in the Redeemer between God and the soul for eternity, tested by the Word of God by which a person will stand or fall and where can be seen what is required to become a Christian, and it is not a merely supposed hope held on slight grounds. It is kept by keeping on the armor and staying on the battlefield until the victory is obtained.

That triumph holds even through pruning and furnace-fire and suffering and trial, where those who follow inclination and judge by appearances see only failure and loss. Christ shows its meaning, for when tried in every possible way He triumphed in God continually. Through Christ a person may come off conqueror in the Christian warfare, with courage to war it and hope of victory, by drawing strength from God to follow duty rather than inclination, gaining strength and strong faith by exercise in trying circumstances, enduring the cross and glorying in the cross of Christ. Therefore God will lead on to victory, and the believer is not to sink down in despondency and doubt but to look up and be of good cheer.

This triumph of trusting disciples is secured by an almighty decree given before the world was made, and Christ rejoiced that He can do more for His followers than they ask or think. Truth armed with the omnipotence of the Holy Spirit will conquer in the contest with evil, and the blood-stained banner will wave triumphantly over His followers. The life of His trusting disciples will be like His own life, a series of uninterrupted victories, not seen to be such here but recognized as such in the great hereafter.

Always triumphing comes by casting the helpless soul on Jesus, pressing close to the Redeemer and keeping hold of His hand without separation, keeping the mind in captivity to Christ and the whole being in subjection to Him, and seeking Him with all the heart for deliverance from temptation. It requires entire submission and coming under the rule of Christ and obedience to His law, being free from sin and its condemnation, for no one can be saved in rebellion. This triumph is assured even as believers are tested to see whether they will walk in God's law and remain loyal to His kingdom. God gives His power to the church through Christ as His people prepare to receive it and serve as usable, pure channels, so that when they are humble, obedient and faithful Christ can bestow His gifts and manifest His power, while persistence in sin and disloyalty brings defeat and failure instead. The triumph is given when His people sanctify their souls by obeying the truth, so that the whole being, body, mind and soul, is in harmony with God, loving God supremely and neighbor as self in a freedom crowned with glory beyond what has entered the heart of man.

The triumph is the working of the Holy Spirit upon human minds, changing believers from glory to glory into the image of the Lord. It is the result of beholding with open face the glory of the Lord and being changed into the same image from glory to glory, which is from character to character, with God shining in the heart to give the light of the knowledge of His glory in Jesus Christ as treasure in earthen vessels so that the excellency of the power is of God and not of self.

Sharing Christ's gained victory by faith does not mean that battles with self have ended, but requires daily resisting wrong inclinations and exercising the powers of the renewed nature, relying on Christ for strength in every trial.

God works powerfully through those who yield to His control and leads them onward from victory to victory. He sustains the one who pleads with Him for sustaining power with Christ close beside them and makes them to triumph in Him, filling them with hope and courage and faith and love for souls.

The promise applies to a peculiar work that the world cannot appreciate because it is not understood by the world, so each person must stand individually in God in order to share that triumph. It especially causes those who win souls to triumph, including experienced ministers instructing young men who desire to enter the ministry by taking them along to show them how to win souls to Christ and leading them forward in successful evangelistic work prepared for by Bible study and work in the canvassing field.

Making Knowledge Known Everywhere

God makes known the fragrance of His knowledge — the knowledge of Himself and of Christ, of Jesus Christ whom He sent — by believers and messengers in every place, wherever they go and work. Through them He makes Christ’s knowledge and righteousness evident, carrying the fragrance of Christ’s life and grace into the world. Every successful effort to dispel darkness and spread that light of the knowledge of God is taken upward and presented before the heavenly intelligences, thrilling through all principalities and powers and enlisting the sympathy of all heavenly beings. The confidence with which His messengers speak is not spiritual pride but deep knowledge of Christ and the truth of God’s Word, grounded in their calling from God, so that those called to preach speak with the assurance of a sanctified conscience as His ambassadors.

That fragrance is shown in every place not by display of knowledge, superior talent, or philosophy, but by a soul emptied of natural self that keeps self out of sight to let Christ appear and exalt Christ. When advocates of truth are sustained by the Word and let true light shine through them in clear, bright beams with a patient, kind, forbearing spirit, angels stand close beside them to keep them in peace and give them pure, calm words to speak that are as a sweet odor. That sweet odor proves they have the Spirit of Christ and of the truth, and makes the efforts of adversaries of truth powerless. Constant union with Christ makes the fragrance of His character manifest in daily work, in a well-ordered life that blesses others and sincerely seeks to do God’s will to glorify Him, with His sanctifying presence.

The fragrant influence is seen in a Christlike character and a life like Christ’s, who is truth. As Christ abides in the heart, pride and harshness give way to sympathy, and Christ lives through believers to bless those they meet and shine in the world, so that love, peace, and unity spread a fragrant influence to all who come in contact with the workers. Through those who love Jesus God makes known in every place a pure, fragrant atmosphere of Christlike character, which is heaven-born love freely given to all within their sphere and not confined to a favored few. It is shown in tender words and kind remembrances that help those who hide their soul hunger, it increases as it is freely used in blessing others, and by it God is glorified, for the heavenly gifts freely and richly bestowed are to be freely bestowed on others. Those in Christ always spread the fragrance of His righteousness by their influence in every place, and this requires entire consecration to God’s service as co-workers with Him, daily communion with Him, and overcoming worldliness and love of dress, so that life is different from a worldling and proves belief in the Word; where this fragrant influence is missing, faith is not of the character that will meet Jesus in peace and enter the city of God, and gives no credentials of enlistment in the army of the Lord Jesus.

When believers are united with Christ and with one another in Christian affection, their work carries that fragrant influence everywhere, while division, suspicion, and dissension work against God’s purpose. Through consecrated institutional life God makes manifest the fragrance of His knowledge by workers in every place. When the love and fear of God and the sense of His goodness and holiness circulate through every institution, an atmosphere of love and peace pervades every department, every word spoken and every work performed carries an influence corresponding to heaven, Christ abides in humanity and humanity abides in Christ, and not the character of finite man but the character of the infinite God appears in all the work. Then the divine influence imparted by holy angels impresses the minds brought in contact with the workers, and from those workers a fragrant influence goes forth.

Fragrance of Life or Death

Those who proclaim Christ become a sweet fragrance of Christ and a pleasing fragrance to God among both those who are being saved and those who are perishing. God continually gives triumph in Christ and makes the knowledge of Him known through His people wherever they go and work, and their witness is that fragrance to God.

That fragrance has opposite outcomes, life for those being saved and death for those who perish. To those who accept Christ it is life and approaching freedom, while to those who persist in unbelief it is death, because it signals their fate. The image draws on the custom of incense accompanying a victorious general's return, where captives destined for execution smelled death in it while those to be spared smelled approaching freedom. Paul is pictured as such a captive who, after being conquered by heaven's light, becomes an incense-bearer announcing Christ's victory, and his triumph includes the change in the Corinthian believers and the advance of the gospel despite opposition.

The triumph is the working of the Holy Spirit upon human minds, changing believers from glory to glory into the image of the Lord and making the knowledge of Christ known through them in every place as an influence that brings life to those being saved and death to those perishing. This triumph belongs to those obedient to His law, who are free from sin and its condemnation, and it requires entire submission and coming under the rule of Christ, because no one can be saved in rebellion. The canvasser's work is an example of this fragrance to God, an important work that cannot be done by human strength alone but depends on connection with God and angelic help, with different outcomes for those who hear it as explained in the following verses.

Living and Sharing Fragrance

Those who live in close companionship with Christ, casting the helpless soul upon Him, pressing close without separation and keeping mind and whole being in subjection to Him, give evidence that they are led and taught of God by helping souls away from temptation. They speak thanksgiving to God and speak in Christ in sincerity before God without corrupting the Word, making His knowledge visible in words and conduct that represent His meekness and faithfully seek to win souls. Such triumph comes from seeking Him with all the heart for deliverance from temptation and holding His hand without letting go.

The love and knowledge of Christ living in the heart cannot be concealed but like sweet fragrance influence everyone met. That spirit is like a spring in a desert, refreshing those who are perishing and awakening in them desire for the water of life. Love for Jesus leads to work for the blessing and uplift of others, with love, tenderness and sympathy toward all under God's care.

Believers are to display Christ openly so that His meekness, humility and love refresh others like fragrance, letting spiritual gifts and grace reach others through witness and good works rather than keeping them to themselves. The season of Pentecostal refreshment and the light received from God are given for this purpose of sharing with the world. The gospel and divine grace strengthen and expand those who share it, while conflicts and rebuffs build stability of faith, so that clothed in righteousness they can face opposing influences without losing purity.

Those who have received Christ by faith make Him known through guarded, studied speech after being warmed and invigorated by the truth of the Word and refreshed by His living water within. The talent of speech may be a great blessing or a great curse, and they do not shut themselves away for fear of contamination but freely impart what they have freely received. By this communication the true Christian becomes a life-giving influence whose words help and bless, whose surrounding atmosphere saves rather than harms, and who even when compelled to be with the frivolous stands on guard as a soldier clad in divine armor. His words lead minds to God and sow seeds of truth and righteousness that bear fruit.

God makes the fragrance of Christ's character known in every place beginning in the home where God is loved and honored. It is spread by not grasping salvation for self alone but by giving to others the blessings received and working as Christ worked in going about doing good. This self-giving answers the love shown when God gave His Son to die, in which the Father gave Himself, and where it is done the fragrance enters the worker's own life and the lives of others, joy is made full and the Saviour is honored.

The canvassing and publishing work is an important gospel work that cannot be done by human strength but depends on connection with God and angelic help as workers share the truth and call for His help. Canvassers, colporteurs and young ministers carry the fragrance of Christ's life as they visit people, converse, present publications and seek to bless them. They are themselves blessed through this work, and imparting the light of Scripture increases their own knowledge and gives them more to share.

Those who share God's Word make Christ's grace known by both words and conduct in visiting families and speaking with love for souls, carrying the fragrance of His grace to bring great good. The grace of Christ is like sweet perfume carried into sickrooms by faithful physicians and nurses who can point the sick and dying to the Saviour. Every Sabbath school teacher must bear about the precious fragrance of Christ's grace, since the Sabbath school is a missionary field open to all who love God to put heart-piety and soul-burdened loving service to work. The greatest earnestness and deepest spirituality are demanded of such workers, and simplicity of true religion cherished in superintendents and teachers brings angels into the school to impress and win souls.