Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary 2 Corinthians 2:15-17

"For we are a sweet savor of Christ unto God, in them that are saved, and in them that perish; to the one a savor from death unto death; to the other a savor from life unto life. And who is sufficient for these things? For we are not as the many, corrupting the word of God: but as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God, speak we in Christ." — 2 Corinthians 2:15-17 (ASV)

(15–16a) As faithful preachers and followers of Christ, the apostles themselves formed a sweet “aroma” (GK 2380) of Christ rising up to God as a pleasing “fragrance” (GK 4011; cf. Leviticus 1:9, 13, 17; Numbers 15:7). To the extent that they diffused the fragrance of Christ, they were that fragrance or aroma. Irrespective of the human response to the Gospel, its proclamation delights God’s heart, because it centers on the Son whom he loves.

Behind Paul’s thought in both these verses may be the rabbinic concept of the Law as simultaneously life-giving and death-dealing. Just as the Torah had a beneficial effect on those who received and obeyed it and a lethal effect on those who rejected it, so the proclaimers of Christ are at the same time a “life-giving perfume” to those who believe the Gospel and so are being saved, and a “deathdealing drug” to those who repudiate it and so are perishing (cf. 1 Corinthians 1:18, 23– 24).

(16b–17) To Paul’s urgent question “Who is equal to such a task [of preaching the Gospel of Christ or being the aroma of Christ]?” the answer may be either, “We apostles are, for we are not peddlers of an adulterated message,” or “No one is, if a person depends on his or her own resources.” The latter reply is supported by 3:4–6; the former by 3:1.

By the phrase “unlike so many,” Paul may be referring to the numerous wandering teachers and philosophers of the first century who expected payment for what they claimed was “the word of God,” or, more likely, to the group of Judaizing opponents at Corinth who converted preaching into a means of personal gain. In contrast, Paul appeals to the sincerity of his motives and the purity of the message as shown by his divine commission (“like men sent from God”; cf. Galatians 1:1, 12, 15–16). his sense of divine dependence and responsibility (“we speak before God”), and his divine authority and power (“in Christ”). The principle is clear: As those who dispense the life-giving remedy for sin, preachers must avoid diluting or adulterating the medicine of life, the word of God.