Christ’s Triumphant Procession – In Context 2 Corinthians 2:14-17 The Grace Parade!

In 2 Corinthians 2:14-17, Paul speaks about he and his missionary team always being led by God in Christ’s triumphal procession as they spread the aroma of the knowledge of Christ in the places they traveled.

But thanks be to God, who always leads us in Christ’s triumphal procession and through us spreads the aroma of the knowledge of him in every place. For to God we are the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing. To some we are an aroma of death leading to death, but to others, an aroma of life leading to life. Who is adequate for these things? For we do not market the word of God for profit like so many. On the contrary, we speak with sincerity in Christ, as from God and before God.

The message Paul and his team communicated was a sweet-smelling aroma to God.

The same message was a sweet fragrance of life to those who were being saved (accepting the message).

To those who were perishing (rejecting the message), it was the smell of death.

The question is, “What is the message Paul and his missionary team were proclaiming that was a sweet fragrance to God, and to those accepting the message, but was an aroma of death to those rejecting the message?”

Let’s take a look at the context.

In 2 Corinthians 2:12-13, the verses preceding 2:14-17, Paul was preaching the gospel of Christ in Troas and Macedonia.

In Context, the gospel of Christ is the sweet-smelling aroma to God and to those who were being saved.

Note: being saved does not mean that salvation is a process; it means that people were being saved as they heard the message about Jesus and placed their faith in Jesus; when they placed their faith in Jesus, they were saved; salvation is a free gift received by faith.

So what is the gospel of Christ that was the sweet-smelling aroma to God which was being spread everywhere by Paul’s missionary team Christ’s triumphal procession?

In Acts 20:23-24, Paul tells us what the gospel of Christ is.

It is the gospel of grace given to him by revelation from the ascended Jesus (see also Galatians 1:11-12; Ephesians 3:1-6).

In Acts 26:15-18, Paul gives insight into the gospel of Christ that Jesus sent him to proclaim to others.

This message (gospel) is that forgiveness is received by faith in Jesus and that being made holy (sanctified) is received by faith in Jesus.

Forgiveness is a cleared record.

Holy (sanctified) is a clean heart.

Our sin record was nailed to the cross with Jesus.

Our dirty heart was cleansed by the blood of Jesus.

When we place our faith in Jesus, we receive complete forgiveness of sins and complete cleansing from sins.

This one-time act of faith results in us receiving eternal forgiveness of sins and eternal cleansing from sins.

This is the message of the new testament of grace that God sent Paul and his missionary team to speak on behalf of Jesus, as seen in the context of 2 Corinthians 2:14-6:2.

The new testament is not about the birth of Jesus or books in the Bible.

Rather, it is about the cross of Jesus…the blood of Jesus that forgives all sins and cleanses from all sins.

As we move from chapter 2 of 2 Corinthians into chapter 3 of 2 Corinthians (remember, there were no chapters and verses in the original letters Paul wrote, so this is one stream of thought from Paul as he writes), Paul explains that the message he proclaimed was the word of God.

In 2 Corinthians 2:17, Paul writes that he was sent by God to proclaim the word of God.

The word of God in context is not referring to the Bible.

The Bible was not written at that time.

The word of God in the context is referring to the new testament of grace that Jesus established in his blood.

In 2 Corinthians 3, Paul writes that he and his missionary team were commissioned by God to communicate the message of the new covenant/testament (the word of God in context).

This message, seen in 2 Corinthians chapters 3-6:2, is the new testament of grace that replaced the old testament of law.

It is a message that the Ten Commandments is a ministry of condemnation…death…it kills us.

Yet the message of the new testament is the ministry that brings salvation, forgiveness, righteousness, and eternal life.

Paul gives a fuller explanation of the new testament message in 2 Corinthians 5:18-21.

This message is that God through Jesus reconciled the world to himself, not counting people’s sins against them because they were all counted against Jesus.

The message is also that Jesus took our sinfulness upon himself so that we, by faith, could become righteous before God.

In sharing this message of the new testament of grace in many places (2 Corinthians 4:15), Paul and his team were speaking on behalf of Jesus as his ambassadors (2 Corinthians 5:20).

The message they shared about full forgiveness and righteousness was the message of Jesus.

Additionally, the message Paul and his team communicated was the message that Jesus was the Lord, the Christ who the prophets promised would come…he was God himself (2 Corinthians 4:4-5).

Unfortunately, as Paul and his team communicated the message about Jesus and the message of forgiveness and righteousness through faith in Jesus, many rejected the message, continuing to live under the law of Moses, specifically the Ten Commandments as noted in 2 Corinthians 3.

To them, the message was the aroma of death.

Yet to God and those who received the message, the message of the new testament of grace was a sweet-smelling fragrance.

When Paul and his team shared this message, many times they had to overcome numerous hardships (2 Corinthians 4).

Also, they were met with fierce resistance from the Jewish leaders proclaiming salvation through the law of Moses (see Acts 13-14 for example).

Additionally, they were met with resistance from many Gentiles.

Yet through it all, Paul proclaims that though the message of the new testament of grace (full forgiveness of sins and complete cleansing of sins) may have been rejected by many, they viewed themselves as those who God was leading in a parade of grace through the cities of the Roman Empire, where the grace of the Lord Jesus was fully displayed for all to see.

Some who saw this parade of grace in their cities, as Paul and his team communicated the message about Jesus and the new testament of grace, smelled the sweet aroma of grace and were saved by faith.

Yet to those who saw the parade of grace but rejected the message about Jesus and the new testament of grace, the smell to them was death.

As you read this, remember, that in whatever city you live you are in God’s Grace Parade as you communicate the good news of the new testament of grace on behalf of Jesus – his ambassador.

This good news is that God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not counting our sins against us, because they were all counted against Jesus.

Our sin debt was nailed to the cross in full.

This good news is that Jesus took all our sinfulness at the cross and now offers us his righteousness as a free gift.

Through faith in Jesus, we receive eternal forgiveness and righteousness.

To some you will be the sweet-smell of life.

To others the smell of death.

And to God…the sweet-smelling aroma of Jesus and the new testament of grace.