2 Corinthians 2:12-17

This will complete the joyful reconciliation already accomplished. Paul had found himself at Troas, restless and uneasy till he heard the result of his letter to Corinth. Even the great opportunity for preaching which he had found there could neither satisfy nor detain him. He had crossed to Europe and was already in Macedonia when at last Titus arrived, bringing better news than he had dared to hope (see further, 2 Corinthians 7:5). At the recollection of that moment of unspeakable relief he breaks out into a rhapsody of thanksgiving. God is advancing like a mighty conqueror in his Triumph. The apostles of Christ are swept along in the triumphal procession. And the incense belonging to such a procession is not wanting. It is found in that knowledge of God which rises from every place as a result of their labour. Then, by a changed application of the same figure, he represents God's messengers as bringing before God a sweet fragrance of Christ whether their message falls on heeding or on unheeding ears. For, he remembers, the message of the Gospel has judgment-power. To the one class God's messengers are a fatal odour, confirming the death which is their portion; to those who are being saved they come as a fragrance which has life for its source and life for its result. The offer of grace, when despised, turns to a curse. The contemplation of so terrible a responsibility brings to his lips the question: Who is fit for such a task? The answer has already been suggested in 2 Corinthians 2:14, and is confirmed in 2 Corinthians 3:5. We are not because of any innate fitness, but because God leadeth us in triumph in Christ. That this is the answer is plain from what follows, in which Paul contrasts the conduct of himself and his fellow-missionaries with that of the mischief-makers who make merchandise of the Divine message, adulterating it to please their hearers. Their utterance by contrast is as crystal in its sincerity; for it has God for its source, God for its witness, and Christ as the medium through which it reaches men.