For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish:
Those who make known Christ are as bearers of fragrant incense in His triumphal procession, spreading the knowledge of His victory in every place. Their faithful witness is pleasing to God whether hearers are saved or perish, for its acceptance with Him does not depend on how men receive it. The same witness becomes life that leads to life for those who believe and receive Christ, and death that leads to death, condemnation and ruin for those who persist in unbelief and reject Him. What is fragrant to God is pure and is Christ's own — His righteousness, grace, goodness, mercy and love formed in His people by the Holy Spirit — while self-centeredness and joining the world in spirit and methods are abhorrent to Him. Bearing it is therefore a sacred trust that succeeds only through Christ and the Spirit, as every influence draws either with Him toward life or away from Him toward death and will be met again in judgment.
Words and Triumphal Imagery
Those who carry the knowledge of Christ are like incense-bearers in a victorious procession, announcing His triumph and making the fragrance of His knowledge manifest in every place. To those who accept Christ the fragrance signals life and salvation, like incense signaling that prisoners will be spared, while to those who persist in unbelief it signals approaching death and judgment, like incense signaling that condemned captives are nearing execution.
The savor is unto God: the faithful witness is a pleasing fragrance to God among both those who are saved and those who perish, regardless of how hearers respond. Their work makes Christ's knowledge known everywhere they go, yet its outcome differs, to some a savor of death unto death and to others a savor of life unto life. A corrupt example can reverse this influence, becoming a savor of death that leaves needy souls to perish despite the gospel being presented to them.
Every successful effort to dispel darkness and spread the light and knowledge of God and of Jesus Christ whom He sent causes triumph in Christ and makes the fragrance of His knowledge known in every place. News of each success is carried upward and set before the heavenly intelligences, moves through all principalities and powers, and draws the sympathy of all heavenly beings. Paul's confidence in this work is not spiritual pride but deep knowledge of Christ and the truth, held with a sanctified conscience as one called by God to preach as God's ambassador. Yet the responsibility is so great that no one is sufficient for it through personal ability alone.
What is fragrant to God is pure: love to God has this character, while self-centeredness and actions shaped by evil are abhorrent to Him. Joining the world and adopting its spirit and methods likewise provokes His disgust, in contrast to the verse's image. Christ's virtues and excellencies, formed in a person through the influence of the Holy Spirit and cooperation with truth by faith, become the savor of the whole being — body, soul, and spirit — pleasing to God. Those who labor in word and doctrine are this sweet savour when they keep self out of sight and let Christ appear, with the soul emptied of natural self and rash temperament, speaking pure and calm words as God's delegated messenger acting in His place. This is revealed not by show of knowledge or superior talent or philosophy but by a patient, kind, forbearing spirit that witnesses for God and lets the true light shine through in clear, bright beams, with Jesus beside him to help reveal Christ's Spirit and not his own natural temperament and angels close beside him keeping him in peace and giving him words that show he has the Spirit of Christ and of the truth. Truth, when enthroned in the heart and kept in the conscience, becomes the savor of the whole person and a means of saving many souls, its influence testifying to the power and validity of truth.
The fragrance itself is Christ's own: He gives His purchased people whom He loves and claims as His own the fragrance of His own righteousness, goodness, mercy and love so they can share it with fallen humanity. Through Jesus they become a pleasing influence to God and a saving influence in the world, Christ's influence made known through their character and their lives testifying to the power of the truth. Teachers who receive His love show His gentleness as they guide His children, the fragrance being His righteousness given to those He loves and has purchased through His sufferings. All honor belongs to Christ, not to them: when they enter their Lord's joy, they give God praise and credit Christ for doing it all.
Life to Some Death to Others
The same gospel witness is a savor of life unto life to those who accept Christ and a savor of death unto death, condemnation and ruin, to those who persist in unbelief and reject it. Its reception carries eternal consequences, so those who bear it must live the truth they preach and speak with spiritual life and earnestness. The message must arrest attention and press hearers to a plain choice of whom they will follow, for multitudes stand in the valley of decision and destinies hang on their response. Hearing alone is not enough, for truth must be received by faith to work in the heart, and faith working through love purifies the soul, opens the way for heaven-sent blessing, and keeps the great principles of the law, while without it even a glorious message of hope does no good. Its preaching requires the Spirit of God with self-denial and devotion, carrying the fragrance of the gospel throughout the world and bringing life to those who receive Christ.
Light is given so that people may believe, and after hearing no one stands as before. Those who receive the light and act on it gain life and understanding, with truth brought into the life always reformative, calling for active working faith that does the will of God day by day, makes sin appear exceeding sinful, and is obeyed amid the perils of the last days as if each day were the last. Those who reject it turn light into darkness, add new sin, and are condemned in proportion to the light received, with neglect of so great salvation written in the books of heaven. The truths sent out, whether by voice or arranged for publication as invitations of mercy, reproofs, warnings, threatenings, or encouragements, become to God a pleasing fragrance of Christ that brings life to those who receive them and death to those who reject them, and the matter left by rejection is decided at the judgment where the truth spoken will judge the hearer in the great day of final reckoning. The message therefore must be warned to the world and carried to important places and regions beyond, widening beyond small places into large influential cities such as San Francisco and Oakland and San Jose after the example of Christ placing Himself in the great thoroughfares of travel, even though it requires self-denial and lifting the cross and only some will heed it.
Noah's preaching illustrates this dividing work, for the warning was given for 120 years and only eight souls believed and entered the ark. The same message that gave life to believers condemned the world that refused it, for light was given that people might believe and rejection of that light proved their ruin. Likewise Christ had many hearers but few followers, sowing gospel seed by the lakeside and thoroughfares upon all kinds of soil. The worldwide warning to cities, villages, nations, kindreds, tongues, and people, given with angels working with humble believing preachers, convicts and saves hearers who accept it and leaves those who reject the light without excuse, so laborers must sow beside all waters in all cities and nations to which they can gain access and not be discouraged when results are not at once seen. People have sufficient light to accept saving truth and obey God's commandments, and the world's moral darkness does not lessen the duty to give the warning that must be given.
Rejected truth hardens the heart, forfeits the spiritual blessing it would have given, and brings divine judgment. Gospel truth ruins if it does not save, and the soul that refuses to listen to the invitations of mercy from day to day soon becomes hardened, so that even the most urgent appeals can be heard without an emotion stirring the soul. Those who meet God's advancing truth and the power He reveals in it, as in successful medical missionary work, with suspicion and jealousy show this rejecting response unless they are baptized with the Holy Spirit.
Paul before Felix and Drusilla shows the application, for the gospel he preached was a savor of life or death to its hearers, a witness for those who accept it and against those who reject it, with those who received it on the path to life and those who rejected it facing death. He therefore spoke urgently without flattery, seeking to awaken them to the danger to their souls rather than trying to win their favor. He was mindful that he must answer to God for his words, actions, motives, and spirit.
Public presentations decide destiny at the moment, for the preaching of solemn truths, warnings, reproofs, and invitations at camp-meetings acts upon every hearer as either life or death. Those who come with earnest desire and hungering for spiritual help and strength, who let the truth enter the heart, receive the heaven-sent instruction with faith and thanksgiving, and desire to be cleansed from all defilement, find it purifying and ennobling them unto life. Those who come only to see and be seen, who hear without letting truth into the heart and without desire for cleansing, make the same meetings unto death and would be better to remain at home, for hearing places heavier responsibility on the hearer than before hearing, with the burden to hear aright in order to impart to others what is heard. Presenting the truth to hundreds in a meeting brings souls to a decision for life or death resulting from that meeting, so the preacher must enter that work free from oppression upon his spirits, because a heavy weight binding his spirits forces him to labor through it while trying to present the truth at the decisive moment.
Sacred Responsibility of Witness
Christ's ministers and ambassadors bear a sacred and solemn responsibility before God, for their influence decides between life for those who accept truth and death and ruin for those who reject it. Public preaching must therefore be followed with sincere personal labor to save souls, through conversation, prayer and godly example. In Corinth the workers proclaimed the message in words and revealed it in daily life with clarity and solemn responsibility because souls were in danger, and God's grace and power accompanied the work so that many believed and were baptized.
No one is sufficient for so great a responsibility alone, for success comes only through Christ and the Holy Spirit and not through human fluency, skill, or power to read hearts and save souls. The minister becomes a savor of life when consecrated, devoted, distrustful of self and looking to Jesus, serving as an instrument through whom truth reaches those already under the Spirit's conviction, while turning hearers away makes the influence death. Every successful effort to dispel darkness and spread the knowledge of God and of Jesus Christ triumphs in Christ and makes the fragrance of His knowledge known in every place, pleasing to God among both the saved and the perishing. News of each success is carried upward and set before the heavenly intelligences, moves through all principalities and powers, and draws the sympathy of all heavenly beings. When consecrated workers whom the Spirit can use present truth in humble simplicity with Christ as their sufficiency, the truth itself bears its own savor of life unto life to impress hearts.
Every human agent gives out an influence that either draws with Christ toward life or draws away from Christ toward death. Daily words and actions are a savor of life unto life or of death unto death under the notice of God, with believers a spectacle to the world, to angels and to men, whatever is at heart revealed in character and influence upon associates. Impressions made on minds cannot be erased but lead to eternal life for the saved or eternal death for the perishing, so the worker will meet his work again in eternity and meet around the great white throne the souls driven from Christ, bruised and wounded to death. Those whose unconverted character comes between Christ and souls, who hinder God's work in hearts, turn souls from truth and cause them to despise the message, will answer to God for the harm, while God Himself takes care of the consequences. In the judgment there is a face-to-face meeting with those who might have been helped into right, safe paths by choice words and counsel through daily connection with God and living interest in saving souls.
With the end near every passing hour carries eternal weight in making ready a people for the great scenes soon to open. Words spoken to people today, works done, and the spirit in which the message is borne mold the destiny of souls and become to them a means of everlasting life or of eternal death. Those who believe the truth are a fragrance to God, and their witness accompanies either acceptance of God's warning with holiness shown in actions or its rejection.
The message must therefore be lived by its bearers and spoken with spiritual life and earnestness, for conduct and manner of presenting truth affect the decisions hearers make. The warning of the Lord's coming must be presented attractively and in the power of the Holy Spirit, and every believer is to be a pleasing, fragrant witness with influence purified from selfishness and marked by love for souls. When presented in an unchristian spirit it becomes unpalatable and brings truth into disrepute. If pure doctrines are presented mingled with self, with peculiar traits of character and an unpurified spirit that misrepresent pure and holy truth, the offering depreciates the truth and is pronounced strange fire by God, strengthens prejudice, turns unbelievers from light and evidence, and causes the loss of many souls who might have been saved.
Character That Spreads Fragrance
Becoming a sweet savour begins when the helpless soul casts itself upon Christ, presses close to the Redeemer, keeps hold of His hand without separation, holds the mind in captivity to Him and the whole being in subjection to Him. It is entire submission under His rule, for no one can be saved in rebellion, and those who triumph in Him make the fragrance of His knowledge known in every place, a pleasing aroma to God among both those being saved and those perishing. This is the working of the Holy Spirit on human minds, where the Spirit brings liberty and beholders of the glory of the Lord are changed into the same image from glory to glory, so that those obedient to the law of God are free from its condemnation and free from sin. It requires breaking up present wrong associations, placing oneself in the light, and yielding to the influences of the Spirit until He molds and fashions the entire experience, for without that molding and without striving to reach the gospel standard faith suffers shipwreck, Satan's net holds the soul, and eternal life is lost. It requires entire consecration of life to His service, daily communion with God, overcoming inclination to worldliness and love of dress, and a life different from that of a worldling that evidences belief in the Word and carries credentials of enlistment in the army of the Lord Jesus, without which no one will meet Jesus in peace or enter the city of God. Such consecrated influence uses God-given talents in the family and to bless others, helping souls away from temptation and giving evidence of being led and taught of God.
The fragrance comes not by large expensive buildings, rich furniture, or tables loaded with delicacies giving influence and success, but by faith which works by love and purifies the soul. It comes when the believer is consecrated, devoted, distrustful of self and looking to Jesus, softened and refined by the Holy Spirit with even thoughts brought into subjection to Christ, so that sanctified life and speech exert an influence like a savour of life in doing Christ's work. The Holy Spirit works upon mind and heart, and the atmosphere of grace surrounding the believer makes that person a savour of life unto life and enables God to bless the work. Canvassers and all who belong to Christ need this daily conversion and dependence on God, for their words and deeds as Christ's fragrance can be a life-giving influence leading others toward life. The differing effects on hearers show the Spirit working in their hearts alongside God's work through human messengers, and no minister has power in himself to read hearts or save souls, for the work depends on Christ and the Holy Spirit.
The outward mark is Christ's presence as a fragrance to God among both saved and perishing, with the love of Christ in the heart revealed in spirit and temper, stilling unruly passions and winning people to Him. Careless words and deportment do great harm and become an influence of death leading to death, while daily practice of the pure principles of the gospel, holy conversation, a word in season about the soul and its perils, and Christ's teachings cherished in the heart make life and conduct a savour of life unto life. Words spoken without Christ's patience and gentleness do not convert hearers but create hardness of heart, becoming a savour of death unto death. Words spoken in correcting or reforming can therefore be life or death: sharp severe words may wound the soul and stir the erring to rebellion, while reproof spoken in love reforms rather than exasperates, and Christ supplies force and power for this work through His Holy Spirit. Passionate words that dishonor God bring death to those who hear them.
A worldly, unconsecrated, selfish or dishonest life reverses the influence to death, for influence is either life-giving or destructive and when evil traits remain they defile the person and damage that influence. Receiving God's Word produces faith that works by love and purifies the soul, helping remove those traits, while failure to reform and live by principle rather than impulse makes influence destructive rather than life-giving. Those who claim to be Christians while indulging defiling lusts such as tobacco, defiling body soul and spirit and in blindness of passion refusing to overcome appetite, become conformed to the habit and in fellowship with the world, have no right to the name Christian because a Christian is Christlike, and misrepresent Christ in practical life. By so doing they fail to become a savour of life unto life and become a savour of death unto death, and when judgment sits and all are judged according to deeds done in the body each will be judged personally and stand before God to hear the sentence, where numbers in fellowship in lustful practices neither excuse iniquity nor lessen condemnation for destroying brain nerve power and physical health. Decided reform in economy, denial of selfish spending, control of appetite, and faithful training of children makes the savour one of life unto life, while refusal brings entrance into temptations not now dreamed of and shuts the person and the children out from being among the overcomers around the throne of God. Likewise professed followers who do no positive good and fail to carry out His work, and a preacher who sometimes carries the Lord's message and draws people yet fails to remain humble and practice his teaching, keep life from matching witness and leave an influence that is a savour of death unto death.
The talent of speech must be carefully studied, guarded and sanctified, for power to speak to associates can be a great blessing or a great curse. Lips must be sanctified through conversion so words bring life rather than death, vain talk must be reformed, and believers should encourage and strengthen one another to do God's will. Everything done or said is under God's notice, believers are a spectacle to the world, to angels and to men, whatever is at heart is revealed in character and has influence on associates, and the light of truth perceived from God's Word must be seen in being doers of the Word, with lamps trimmed by Christ's grace, bringing forth good things from the treasure of the heart and copying the Pattern to represent Christ, constantly clothed with His righteousness. Hasty spirit, passionate words, slang phrases, foolish talk, cheap words, unreliable conduct, unkind judgment and vain talk bring forth evil things that sow seeds for harvest, hurt souls and spoil Christian influence, and in the judgment there is face-to-face meeting with those who might have been helped into right safe paths by choice words and counsel through daily connection with God and living interest in saving souls. By contrast, watching, praying, sanctifying the self, bringing every word and thought into captivity to Christ, being circumspect in words and actions, respecting authority, speaking only kind peace-making words, and refusing reckless speech, careless spirit, and sowing of disaffection, suspicion and jealousy makes influence life unto life, while carelessness harms the worker's own soul, leaves a wrong example, and spreads evil like leaven unto death. Those who have received Christ by faith are not to shut themselves in for fear of contamination but to impart as freely as they have received, with souls warmed by truth and refreshed by drinking the living waters as a well springing up to everlasting life, so that words help and bless others, the whole surrounding atmosphere is saving and not harmful, and even when compelled to be with the frivolous the believer clad in divine armor speaks words leading minds to God and sowing seeds of truth and righteousness that will bear fruit. Foolish words can counteract the Spirit's influence and hinder the message of grace from reaching the heart, while Christ's words spoken in the assembly of the saints can be a savour of life unto life.
Abiding in Christ with daily connection gives a living interest in saving others, for thoughts words and actions reveal the heart and make influence a savour of life or death. Those who serve God are to make Christ known wherever they work, so words and actions are a sweet savour of Christ to God among both the saved and those perishing, reflecting His meekness and faithfully representing the sacred work entrusted to them, otherwise their example is not one God can acknowledge when every case is judged. Conduct among unbelievers carries influence for good or evil, life leading to life or death leading to death, and a life marked by holiness purity and Christian grace commends the faith to others. Leaders and educators therefore bear responsibility to set a worthy example free from coarseness and trifling. Those who appreciate Christ bearing their own sins and the sins of every mortal reveal the fragrance of His character in life, fragrant in words with His love pervading them like fragrant flowers and with speech fitting and precious like apples of gold in pictures of silver, and seeking God with all the heart is individual work that does not hunt up the sins of others, because every person gives off an influence leading either toward life or toward death. Its effect depends not on fluency or skill but on God's Spirit working through a heart shaped by Christ, so ministers must live and speak as His representatives, preaching with the Spirit's power as a savour of life to those saved and of death to those perishing.
Witness in Daily Callings
In evangelism and publishing the verse means that workers who always triumph in Christ make the fragrance of His knowledge manifest in every place, being themselves to God a sweet savor of Christ among both the saved and the perishing. Ministers carry that fragrance when they speak with people from house to house, and experienced ministers fulfill it by instructing young men who desire the ministry, taking them to places visited to show them how to win souls. The canvasser's faithful service makes Christ's knowledge known, and the intelligent, God-fearing, truth-loving canvasser who goes from house to house presenting truth carries with him the fragrance of Christ's life as he converses with the people. That canvassing position is equal to that of the gospel minister, and young ministers and those fitting for the ministry do much good by working in the canvassing field and presenting publications, gaining an experience they cannot gain by simply preaching. Consecrated workers whom the Holy Spirit can use have Christ as their sufficiency, and when they present truth in humble simplicity the truth bears its own savor of life unto life. In thus carrying Christ's fragrance to bless others they themselves are blessed, obtain an experience in faith, greatly increase their knowledge of the Scriptures, and constantly learn how to win souls for Christ.
In teaching, the love of Christ living in a teacher is a sweet fragrance and a savor of life to the children influenced, binding children to the teacher's heart even when they have inherited objectionable traits of character. Through Christ's imparted grace teachers become God's agents and laborers together with Him to enlighten, encourage, lift up, and help purify children from moral defilement, so that God's image is revealed in them and their characters are transformed. A teacher whose heart is filled with Christ's love is thus a sweet fragrance to God and a savor of life to those in care, and the words of a converted teacher who lovingly seeks to lead people to Christ are a savor of life unto life. Ministers as educators of youth are to God a sweet savor of Christ to all with whom they come in contact, a savor of life or of death, sowing day by day seed that will spring up and bear fruit. They must therefore set a worthy example corresponding to their holy calling, helping the young to be frank yet modest and dignified in all associations and putting away all coarseness and trifling, because whether they will or not their words and acts decide the life-or-death influence they exert. Youth who yield their hearts to Jesus can themselves be a sweet savor to Christ, and their response is connected with the earnest, personal work of teachers seeking their salvation through personal appeals, prayer, godly school atmosphere and Sabbath-school labor.
In medical work a reformer whose life is hid with Christ can by precept and example be a savor of life unto life to others, for a physician's right spirit and holy life are a living instruction making his work a Christian influence for good. The faithful, God-fearing physician and nurse carry the grace of Christ as sweet perfume into every sick-room entered, and there is no missionary field more important and no place where greater good can be done than this work lived under the scrutiny of God. To be this fragrance is to bring the true healing balm to the sin-sick soul, to point the sick and dying to the Lamb of God who takes away sin, and to speak openly of eternal interests and a sin-pardoning Saviour, which in nine cases out of ten makes sufferers better in mind and body, because Jesus limits the power of Satan and heals maladies of body as well as soul. The Christian physician carries this decisive spiritual influence in the sickroom and in daily life, where careless words and deportment do great harm and become an influence of death leading to death, while practicing the pure principles of the gospel, keeping holy conversation, speaking a word in season about the soul and its perils, and cherishing Christ's maxims in the heart makes personal example an influence of life leading to life. Workers become this sweet savor not by imposing buildings or tables provided with delicacies to please patients, but by faith that works by love and purifies the soul, the atmosphere of grace surrounding the believer's soul with the Holy Spirit working upon mind and heart enabling God to bless the work and convincing patients that the truth taught is reality and not cunningly devised fables. In the sanitarium this same fragrance is expressed through character and influence by showing Christian brotherly love, criticizing less, and bringing a wholesome, Christlike spirit to the work, while those who labor with Christ to heal and restore souls become a savor of life to people who are perishing as the Holy Spirit changes hearts and enables the work.
In home, business and leadership every believer is an influence that brings either eternal life or eternal death to those around. In marriage to an unbeliever, a wife who enjoys the religion of Christ, is imbued with His Spirit, is assimilated to His image, lives the truth, and shows true interest and love for the truth lets her light shine in good works so that her husband, seeing them, may be led to obedience of all God's commandments, and her influence becomes one that leads to life, while without that living religion the same influence leads to death. In business relations with the unconverted every professing Christian has an influence unto God that is a savor of Christ either unto life or unto death, being either under Christ's rule heeding His instruction and doing positive good as living stones receiving light from the chief Cornerstone, or under the control of the enemy doing incalculable harm as stones that take up room in the building but emit no light. Those not under God's control, though professing to be Christians, contribute nothing to the efficiency of the gospel, bear no fruit to the glory of God, and God cannot cooperate with them. Ministers and their wives are to be a savor of life unto life through a pure, holy influence with conduct representing Christ rather than spreading harm, and a person's conduct and countenance make an impression on others that can lead toward life or death through Christlike example and acknowledging God in all ways with Christian courtesy rather than a surly dictatorial spirit. Men bearing responsibilities in God's institutions exert an influence that is a savor of life unto life with a living connection with God in Christian experience, but if unsanctified, disobedient, selfish, and depending on themselves for wisdom they are a savor of death unto death, doing great harm by exerting influence in wrong lines and revealing their true character in determination to carry out their own will and purposes.
In all of life the one who loves God carries fragrance wherever he goes, a wholesome atmosphere surrounding the soul shown in a well-ordered life and godly conversation that inspires faith and hope and courage in others. People connected with God are a sweet savor of Christ through lives fragrant with deeds of love and goodness, elevating and blessing others through thoughtful kindness and earnest, systematic labor, and the person who faithfully uses the gifts entrusted by God and offers the fruit of that stewardship to Him is a pleasing fragrance to God, a savor of life unto life. God makes His workers a savor of life unto life to the people they reach so that souls are saved and made to succeed in overcoming, and this influence comes from love for souls and from knowing the value of the soul, given in answer to crying to God for help to save souls. Those working as the Lord's helping hand to bring others to the knowledge of the truth are either a savor of life unto life or of death unto death. The unselfish worker becomes the fragrance of Christ's love in personal work for souls when becoming acquainted with people, reading Christ's words to them, lifting up Jesus crucified, and presenting truth in loveliness, simplicity and sincerity, watching for souls as one who must give an account, letting the tenderness of Christ pervade the heart, having a love for souls that appears as tender solicitude and humble earnest heartfelt prayer for those visited, and laboring unselfishly in cooperation with Him who gave His own life for the life of the world to make an impression on human hearts. It belongs to a life of untiring good-doing, working at all hours and never off duty, finding and using opportunity to work for God everywhere, at all times and in all places.
Those who make known Christ are as bearers of fragrant incense in His triumphal procession, spreading the knowledge of His victory in every place. Their faithful witness is pleasing to God whether hearers are saved or perish, for its acceptance with Him does not depend on how men receive it. The same witness becomes life that leads to life for those who believe and receive Christ, and death that leads to death, condemnation and ruin for those who persist in unbelief and reject Him. What is fragrant to God is pure and is Christ's own — His righteousness, grace, goodness, mercy and love formed in His people by the Holy Spirit — while self-centeredness and joining the world in spirit and methods are abhorrent to Him. Bearing it is therefore a sacred trust that succeeds only through Christ and the Spirit, as every influence draws either with Him toward life or away from Him toward death and will be met again in judgment.
Words and Triumphal Imagery
Those who carry the knowledge of Christ are like incense-bearers in a victorious procession, announcing His triumph and making the fragrance of His knowledge manifest in every place. To those who accept Christ the fragrance signals life and salvation, like incense signaling that prisoners will be spared, while to those who persist in unbelief it signals approaching death and judgment, like incense signaling that condemned captives are nearing execution.
The savor is unto God: the faithful witness is a pleasing fragrance to God among both those who are saved and those who perish, regardless of how hearers respond. Their work makes Christ's knowledge known everywhere they go, yet its outcome differs, to some a savor of death unto death and to others a savor of life unto life. A corrupt example can reverse this influence, becoming a savor of death that leaves needy souls to perish despite the gospel being presented to them.
Every successful effort to dispel darkness and spread the light and knowledge of God and of Jesus Christ whom He sent causes triumph in Christ and makes the fragrance of His knowledge known in every place. News of each success is carried upward and set before the heavenly intelligences, moves through all principalities and powers, and draws the sympathy of all heavenly beings. Paul's confidence in this work is not spiritual pride but deep knowledge of Christ and the truth, held with a sanctified conscience as one called by God to preach as God's ambassador. Yet the responsibility is so great that no one is sufficient for it through personal ability alone.
What is fragrant to God is pure: love to God has this character, while self-centeredness and actions shaped by evil are abhorrent to Him. Joining the world and adopting its spirit and methods likewise provokes His disgust, in contrast to the verse's image. Christ's virtues and excellencies, formed in a person through the influence of the Holy Spirit and cooperation with truth by faith, become the savor of the whole being — body, soul, and spirit — pleasing to God. Those who labor in word and doctrine are this sweet savour when they keep self out of sight and let Christ appear, with the soul emptied of natural self and rash temperament, speaking pure and calm words as God's delegated messenger acting in His place. This is revealed not by show of knowledge or superior talent or philosophy but by a patient, kind, forbearing spirit that witnesses for God and lets the true light shine through in clear, bright beams, with Jesus beside him to help reveal Christ's Spirit and not his own natural temperament and angels close beside him keeping him in peace and giving him words that show he has the Spirit of Christ and of the truth. Truth, when enthroned in the heart and kept in the conscience, becomes the savor of the whole person and a means of saving many souls, its influence testifying to the power and validity of truth.
The fragrance itself is Christ's own: He gives His purchased people whom He loves and claims as His own the fragrance of His own righteousness, goodness, mercy and love so they can share it with fallen humanity. Through Jesus they become a pleasing influence to God and a saving influence in the world, Christ's influence made known through their character and their lives testifying to the power of the truth. Teachers who receive His love show His gentleness as they guide His children, the fragrance being His righteousness given to those He loves and has purchased through His sufferings. All honor belongs to Christ, not to them: when they enter their Lord's joy, they give God praise and credit Christ for doing it all.
Life to Some Death to Others
The same gospel witness is a savor of life unto life to those who accept Christ and a savor of death unto death, condemnation and ruin, to those who persist in unbelief and reject it. Its reception carries eternal consequences, so those who bear it must live the truth they preach and speak with spiritual life and earnestness. The message must arrest attention and press hearers to a plain choice of whom they will follow, for multitudes stand in the valley of decision and destinies hang on their response. Hearing alone is not enough, for truth must be received by faith to work in the heart, and faith working through love purifies the soul, opens the way for heaven-sent blessing, and keeps the great principles of the law, while without it even a glorious message of hope does no good. Its preaching requires the Spirit of God with self-denial and devotion, carrying the fragrance of the gospel throughout the world and bringing life to those who receive Christ.
Light is given so that people may believe, and after hearing no one stands as before. Those who receive the light and act on it gain life and understanding, with truth brought into the life always reformative, calling for active working faith that does the will of God day by day, makes sin appear exceeding sinful, and is obeyed amid the perils of the last days as if each day were the last. Those who reject it turn light into darkness, add new sin, and are condemned in proportion to the light received, with neglect of so great salvation written in the books of heaven. The truths sent out, whether by voice or arranged for publication as invitations of mercy, reproofs, warnings, threatenings, or encouragements, become to God a pleasing fragrance of Christ that brings life to those who receive them and death to those who reject them, and the matter left by rejection is decided at the judgment where the truth spoken will judge the hearer in the great day of final reckoning. The message therefore must be warned to the world and carried to important places and regions beyond, widening beyond small places into large influential cities such as San Francisco and Oakland and San Jose after the example of Christ placing Himself in the great thoroughfares of travel, even though it requires self-denial and lifting the cross and only some will heed it.
Noah's preaching illustrates this dividing work, for the warning was given for 120 years and only eight souls believed and entered the ark. The same message that gave life to believers condemned the world that refused it, for light was given that people might believe and rejection of that light proved their ruin. Likewise Christ had many hearers but few followers, sowing gospel seed by the lakeside and thoroughfares upon all kinds of soil. The worldwide warning to cities, villages, nations, kindreds, tongues, and people, given with angels working with humble believing preachers, convicts and saves hearers who accept it and leaves those who reject the light without excuse, so laborers must sow beside all waters in all cities and nations to which they can gain access and not be discouraged when results are not at once seen. People have sufficient light to accept saving truth and obey God's commandments, and the world's moral darkness does not lessen the duty to give the warning that must be given.
Rejected truth hardens the heart, forfeits the spiritual blessing it would have given, and brings divine judgment. Gospel truth ruins if it does not save, and the soul that refuses to listen to the invitations of mercy from day to day soon becomes hardened, so that even the most urgent appeals can be heard without an emotion stirring the soul. Those who meet God's advancing truth and the power He reveals in it, as in successful medical missionary work, with suspicion and jealousy show this rejecting response unless they are baptized with the Holy Spirit.
Paul before Felix and Drusilla shows the application, for the gospel he preached was a savor of life or death to its hearers, a witness for those who accept it and against those who reject it, with those who received it on the path to life and those who rejected it facing death. He therefore spoke urgently without flattery, seeking to awaken them to the danger to their souls rather than trying to win their favor. He was mindful that he must answer to God for his words, actions, motives, and spirit.
Public presentations decide destiny at the moment, for the preaching of solemn truths, warnings, reproofs, and invitations at camp-meetings acts upon every hearer as either life or death. Those who come with earnest desire and hungering for spiritual help and strength, who let the truth enter the heart, receive the heaven-sent instruction with faith and thanksgiving, and desire to be cleansed from all defilement, find it purifying and ennobling them unto life. Those who come only to see and be seen, who hear without letting truth into the heart and without desire for cleansing, make the same meetings unto death and would be better to remain at home, for hearing places heavier responsibility on the hearer than before hearing, with the burden to hear aright in order to impart to others what is heard. Presenting the truth to hundreds in a meeting brings souls to a decision for life or death resulting from that meeting, so the preacher must enter that work free from oppression upon his spirits, because a heavy weight binding his spirits forces him to labor through it while trying to present the truth at the decisive moment.
Sacred Responsibility of Witness
Christ's ministers and ambassadors bear a sacred and solemn responsibility before God, for their influence decides between life for those who accept truth and death and ruin for those who reject it. Public preaching must therefore be followed with sincere personal labor to save souls, through conversation, prayer and godly example. In Corinth the workers proclaimed the message in words and revealed it in daily life with clarity and solemn responsibility because souls were in danger, and God's grace and power accompanied the work so that many believed and were baptized.
No one is sufficient for so great a responsibility alone, for success comes only through Christ and the Holy Spirit and not through human fluency, skill, or power to read hearts and save souls. The minister becomes a savor of life when consecrated, devoted, distrustful of self and looking to Jesus, serving as an instrument through whom truth reaches those already under the Spirit's conviction, while turning hearers away makes the influence death. Every successful effort to dispel darkness and spread the knowledge of God and of Jesus Christ triumphs in Christ and makes the fragrance of His knowledge known in every place, pleasing to God among both the saved and the perishing. News of each success is carried upward and set before the heavenly intelligences, moves through all principalities and powers, and draws the sympathy of all heavenly beings. When consecrated workers whom the Spirit can use present truth in humble simplicity with Christ as their sufficiency, the truth itself bears its own savor of life unto life to impress hearts.
Every human agent gives out an influence that either draws with Christ toward life or draws away from Christ toward death. Daily words and actions are a savor of life unto life or of death unto death under the notice of God, with believers a spectacle to the world, to angels and to men, whatever is at heart revealed in character and influence upon associates. Impressions made on minds cannot be erased but lead to eternal life for the saved or eternal death for the perishing, so the worker will meet his work again in eternity and meet around the great white throne the souls driven from Christ, bruised and wounded to death. Those whose unconverted character comes between Christ and souls, who hinder God's work in hearts, turn souls from truth and cause them to despise the message, will answer to God for the harm, while God Himself takes care of the consequences. In the judgment there is a face-to-face meeting with those who might have been helped into right, safe paths by choice words and counsel through daily connection with God and living interest in saving souls.
With the end near every passing hour carries eternal weight in making ready a people for the great scenes soon to open. Words spoken to people today, works done, and the spirit in which the message is borne mold the destiny of souls and become to them a means of everlasting life or of eternal death. Those who believe the truth are a fragrance to God, and their witness accompanies either acceptance of God's warning with holiness shown in actions or its rejection.
The message must therefore be lived by its bearers and spoken with spiritual life and earnestness, for conduct and manner of presenting truth affect the decisions hearers make. The warning of the Lord's coming must be presented attractively and in the power of the Holy Spirit, and every believer is to be a pleasing, fragrant witness with influence purified from selfishness and marked by love for souls. When presented in an unchristian spirit it becomes unpalatable and brings truth into disrepute. If pure doctrines are presented mingled with self, with peculiar traits of character and an unpurified spirit that misrepresent pure and holy truth, the offering depreciates the truth and is pronounced strange fire by God, strengthens prejudice, turns unbelievers from light and evidence, and causes the loss of many souls who might have been saved.
Character That Spreads Fragrance
Becoming a sweet savour begins when the helpless soul casts itself upon Christ, presses close to the Redeemer, keeps hold of His hand without separation, holds the mind in captivity to Him and the whole being in subjection to Him. It is entire submission under His rule, for no one can be saved in rebellion, and those who triumph in Him make the fragrance of His knowledge known in every place, a pleasing aroma to God among both those being saved and those perishing. This is the working of the Holy Spirit on human minds, where the Spirit brings liberty and beholders of the glory of the Lord are changed into the same image from glory to glory, so that those obedient to the law of God are free from its condemnation and free from sin. It requires breaking up present wrong associations, placing oneself in the light, and yielding to the influences of the Spirit until He molds and fashions the entire experience, for without that molding and without striving to reach the gospel standard faith suffers shipwreck, Satan's net holds the soul, and eternal life is lost. It requires entire consecration of life to His service, daily communion with God, overcoming inclination to worldliness and love of dress, and a life different from that of a worldling that evidences belief in the Word and carries credentials of enlistment in the army of the Lord Jesus, without which no one will meet Jesus in peace or enter the city of God. Such consecrated influence uses God-given talents in the family and to bless others, helping souls away from temptation and giving evidence of being led and taught of God.
The fragrance comes not by large expensive buildings, rich furniture, or tables loaded with delicacies giving influence and success, but by faith which works by love and purifies the soul. It comes when the believer is consecrated, devoted, distrustful of self and looking to Jesus, softened and refined by the Holy Spirit with even thoughts brought into subjection to Christ, so that sanctified life and speech exert an influence like a savour of life in doing Christ's work. The Holy Spirit works upon mind and heart, and the atmosphere of grace surrounding the believer makes that person a savour of life unto life and enables God to bless the work. Canvassers and all who belong to Christ need this daily conversion and dependence on God, for their words and deeds as Christ's fragrance can be a life-giving influence leading others toward life. The differing effects on hearers show the Spirit working in their hearts alongside God's work through human messengers, and no minister has power in himself to read hearts or save souls, for the work depends on Christ and the Holy Spirit.
The outward mark is Christ's presence as a fragrance to God among both saved and perishing, with the love of Christ in the heart revealed in spirit and temper, stilling unruly passions and winning people to Him. Careless words and deportment do great harm and become an influence of death leading to death, while daily practice of the pure principles of the gospel, holy conversation, a word in season about the soul and its perils, and Christ's teachings cherished in the heart make life and conduct a savour of life unto life. Words spoken without Christ's patience and gentleness do not convert hearers but create hardness of heart, becoming a savour of death unto death. Words spoken in correcting or reforming can therefore be life or death: sharp severe words may wound the soul and stir the erring to rebellion, while reproof spoken in love reforms rather than exasperates, and Christ supplies force and power for this work through His Holy Spirit. Passionate words that dishonor God bring death to those who hear them.
A worldly, unconsecrated, selfish or dishonest life reverses the influence to death, for influence is either life-giving or destructive and when evil traits remain they defile the person and damage that influence. Receiving God's Word produces faith that works by love and purifies the soul, helping remove those traits, while failure to reform and live by principle rather than impulse makes influence destructive rather than life-giving. Those who claim to be Christians while indulging defiling lusts such as tobacco, defiling body soul and spirit and in blindness of passion refusing to overcome appetite, become conformed to the habit and in fellowship with the world, have no right to the name Christian because a Christian is Christlike, and misrepresent Christ in practical life. By so doing they fail to become a savour of life unto life and become a savour of death unto death, and when judgment sits and all are judged according to deeds done in the body each will be judged personally and stand before God to hear the sentence, where numbers in fellowship in lustful practices neither excuse iniquity nor lessen condemnation for destroying brain nerve power and physical health. Decided reform in economy, denial of selfish spending, control of appetite, and faithful training of children makes the savour one of life unto life, while refusal brings entrance into temptations not now dreamed of and shuts the person and the children out from being among the overcomers around the throne of God. Likewise professed followers who do no positive good and fail to carry out His work, and a preacher who sometimes carries the Lord's message and draws people yet fails to remain humble and practice his teaching, keep life from matching witness and leave an influence that is a savour of death unto death.
The talent of speech must be carefully studied, guarded and sanctified, for power to speak to associates can be a great blessing or a great curse. Lips must be sanctified through conversion so words bring life rather than death, vain talk must be reformed, and believers should encourage and strengthen one another to do God's will. Everything done or said is under God's notice, believers are a spectacle to the world, to angels and to men, whatever is at heart is revealed in character and has influence on associates, and the light of truth perceived from God's Word must be seen in being doers of the Word, with lamps trimmed by Christ's grace, bringing forth good things from the treasure of the heart and copying the Pattern to represent Christ, constantly clothed with His righteousness. Hasty spirit, passionate words, slang phrases, foolish talk, cheap words, unreliable conduct, unkind judgment and vain talk bring forth evil things that sow seeds for harvest, hurt souls and spoil Christian influence, and in the judgment there is face-to-face meeting with those who might have been helped into right safe paths by choice words and counsel through daily connection with God and living interest in saving souls. By contrast, watching, praying, sanctifying the self, bringing every word and thought into captivity to Christ, being circumspect in words and actions, respecting authority, speaking only kind peace-making words, and refusing reckless speech, careless spirit, and sowing of disaffection, suspicion and jealousy makes influence life unto life, while carelessness harms the worker's own soul, leaves a wrong example, and spreads evil like leaven unto death. Those who have received Christ by faith are not to shut themselves in for fear of contamination but to impart as freely as they have received, with souls warmed by truth and refreshed by drinking the living waters as a well springing up to everlasting life, so that words help and bless others, the whole surrounding atmosphere is saving and not harmful, and even when compelled to be with the frivolous the believer clad in divine armor speaks words leading minds to God and sowing seeds of truth and righteousness that will bear fruit. Foolish words can counteract the Spirit's influence and hinder the message of grace from reaching the heart, while Christ's words spoken in the assembly of the saints can be a savour of life unto life.
Abiding in Christ with daily connection gives a living interest in saving others, for thoughts words and actions reveal the heart and make influence a savour of life or death. Those who serve God are to make Christ known wherever they work, so words and actions are a sweet savour of Christ to God among both the saved and those perishing, reflecting His meekness and faithfully representing the sacred work entrusted to them, otherwise their example is not one God can acknowledge when every case is judged. Conduct among unbelievers carries influence for good or evil, life leading to life or death leading to death, and a life marked by holiness purity and Christian grace commends the faith to others. Leaders and educators therefore bear responsibility to set a worthy example free from coarseness and trifling. Those who appreciate Christ bearing their own sins and the sins of every mortal reveal the fragrance of His character in life, fragrant in words with His love pervading them like fragrant flowers and with speech fitting and precious like apples of gold in pictures of silver, and seeking God with all the heart is individual work that does not hunt up the sins of others, because every person gives off an influence leading either toward life or toward death. Its effect depends not on fluency or skill but on God's Spirit working through a heart shaped by Christ, so ministers must live and speak as His representatives, preaching with the Spirit's power as a savour of life to those saved and of death to those perishing.
Witness in Daily Callings
In evangelism and publishing the verse means that workers who always triumph in Christ make the fragrance of His knowledge manifest in every place, being themselves to God a sweet savor of Christ among both the saved and the perishing. Ministers carry that fragrance when they speak with people from house to house, and experienced ministers fulfill it by instructing young men who desire the ministry, taking them to places visited to show them how to win souls. The canvasser's faithful service makes Christ's knowledge known, and the intelligent, God-fearing, truth-loving canvasser who goes from house to house presenting truth carries with him the fragrance of Christ's life as he converses with the people. That canvassing position is equal to that of the gospel minister, and young ministers and those fitting for the ministry do much good by working in the canvassing field and presenting publications, gaining an experience they cannot gain by simply preaching. Consecrated workers whom the Holy Spirit can use have Christ as their sufficiency, and when they present truth in humble simplicity the truth bears its own savor of life unto life. In thus carrying Christ's fragrance to bless others they themselves are blessed, obtain an experience in faith, greatly increase their knowledge of the Scriptures, and constantly learn how to win souls for Christ.
In teaching, the love of Christ living in a teacher is a sweet fragrance and a savor of life to the children influenced, binding children to the teacher's heart even when they have inherited objectionable traits of character. Through Christ's imparted grace teachers become God's agents and laborers together with Him to enlighten, encourage, lift up, and help purify children from moral defilement, so that God's image is revealed in them and their characters are transformed. A teacher whose heart is filled with Christ's love is thus a sweet fragrance to God and a savor of life to those in care, and the words of a converted teacher who lovingly seeks to lead people to Christ are a savor of life unto life. Ministers as educators of youth are to God a sweet savor of Christ to all with whom they come in contact, a savor of life or of death, sowing day by day seed that will spring up and bear fruit. They must therefore set a worthy example corresponding to their holy calling, helping the young to be frank yet modest and dignified in all associations and putting away all coarseness and trifling, because whether they will or not their words and acts decide the life-or-death influence they exert. Youth who yield their hearts to Jesus can themselves be a sweet savor to Christ, and their response is connected with the earnest, personal work of teachers seeking their salvation through personal appeals, prayer, godly school atmosphere and Sabbath-school labor.
In medical work a reformer whose life is hid with Christ can by precept and example be a savor of life unto life to others, for a physician's right spirit and holy life are a living instruction making his work a Christian influence for good. The faithful, God-fearing physician and nurse carry the grace of Christ as sweet perfume into every sick-room entered, and there is no missionary field more important and no place where greater good can be done than this work lived under the scrutiny of God. To be this fragrance is to bring the true healing balm to the sin-sick soul, to point the sick and dying to the Lamb of God who takes away sin, and to speak openly of eternal interests and a sin-pardoning Saviour, which in nine cases out of ten makes sufferers better in mind and body, because Jesus limits the power of Satan and heals maladies of body as well as soul. The Christian physician carries this decisive spiritual influence in the sickroom and in daily life, where careless words and deportment do great harm and become an influence of death leading to death, while practicing the pure principles of the gospel, keeping holy conversation, speaking a word in season about the soul and its perils, and cherishing Christ's maxims in the heart makes personal example an influence of life leading to life. Workers become this sweet savor not by imposing buildings or tables provided with delicacies to please patients, but by faith that works by love and purifies the soul, the atmosphere of grace surrounding the believer's soul with the Holy Spirit working upon mind and heart enabling God to bless the work and convincing patients that the truth taught is reality and not cunningly devised fables. In the sanitarium this same fragrance is expressed through character and influence by showing Christian brotherly love, criticizing less, and bringing a wholesome, Christlike spirit to the work, while those who labor with Christ to heal and restore souls become a savor of life to people who are perishing as the Holy Spirit changes hearts and enables the work.
In home, business and leadership every believer is an influence that brings either eternal life or eternal death to those around. In marriage to an unbeliever, a wife who enjoys the religion of Christ, is imbued with His Spirit, is assimilated to His image, lives the truth, and shows true interest and love for the truth lets her light shine in good works so that her husband, seeing them, may be led to obedience of all God's commandments, and her influence becomes one that leads to life, while without that living religion the same influence leads to death. In business relations with the unconverted every professing Christian has an influence unto God that is a savor of Christ either unto life or unto death, being either under Christ's rule heeding His instruction and doing positive good as living stones receiving light from the chief Cornerstone, or under the control of the enemy doing incalculable harm as stones that take up room in the building but emit no light. Those not under God's control, though professing to be Christians, contribute nothing to the efficiency of the gospel, bear no fruit to the glory of God, and God cannot cooperate with them. Ministers and their wives are to be a savor of life unto life through a pure, holy influence with conduct representing Christ rather than spreading harm, and a person's conduct and countenance make an impression on others that can lead toward life or death through Christlike example and acknowledging God in all ways with Christian courtesy rather than a surly dictatorial spirit. Men bearing responsibilities in God's institutions exert an influence that is a savor of life unto life with a living connection with God in Christian experience, but if unsanctified, disobedient, selfish, and depending on themselves for wisdom they are a savor of death unto death, doing great harm by exerting influence in wrong lines and revealing their true character in determination to carry out their own will and purposes.
In all of life the one who loves God carries fragrance wherever he goes, a wholesome atmosphere surrounding the soul shown in a well-ordered life and godly conversation that inspires faith and hope and courage in others. People connected with God are a sweet savor of Christ through lives fragrant with deeds of love and goodness, elevating and blessing others through thoughtful kindness and earnest, systematic labor, and the person who faithfully uses the gifts entrusted by God and offers the fruit of that stewardship to Him is a pleasing fragrance to God, a savor of life unto life. God makes His workers a savor of life unto life to the people they reach so that souls are saved and made to succeed in overcoming, and this influence comes from love for souls and from knowing the value of the soul, given in answer to crying to God for help to save souls. Those working as the Lord's helping hand to bring others to the knowledge of the truth are either a savor of life unto life or of death unto death. The unselfish worker becomes the fragrance of Christ's love in personal work for souls when becoming acquainted with people, reading Christ's words to them, lifting up Jesus crucified, and presenting truth in loveliness, simplicity and sincerity, watching for souls as one who must give an account, letting the tenderness of Christ pervade the heart, having a love for souls that appears as tender solicitude and humble earnest heartfelt prayer for those visited, and laboring unselfishly in cooperation with Him who gave His own life for the life of the world to make an impression on human hearts. It belongs to a life of untiring good-doing, working at all hours and never off duty, finding and using opportunity to work for God everywhere, at all times and in all places.