2 Corinthians 2:15-16: For we are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing; to the one an aroma from death to death, to the other an aroma from life to life. And who is adequate for these things?
The world was created to be a holocaust to its Creator, a living breathing tasty and aromatic sacrifice to the Lord of heaven and earth. On this great offering, the disciples of Jesus are the salt, the seasoning, that makes the sacrifice of the world pleasing in the mouth of God. If we are tasteless – in both senses of that word – we are cast out like the refuse of the sacrifice into the garbage heap.
Paul uses a related image in 2 Corinthians 2. He emphasizes not that we bring taste to the world, but that we fill the world with an aroma. Paul is talking about an aroma directed to those around us, but we are not only an aroma of life unto life, and death unto death to the world. As we do good works, we turn men to glorify the Father in heaven. As we practice the righteousness of Jesus, we give off an aroma to God, the sweet-smelling smoke sacrifice rises to heaven.
We aren’t the fragrance of Christ to God in ourselves. In ourselves, we carry the smell of death. But God has turned us into aromatic sacrifices through His Son and Spirit. The Spirit’s descent at Pentecost made each of the disciples a burning altar. Salted with the fire of the Spirit, we become sacrifices pleasing to God.
And we offer ourselves as living sacrifice in the Son who has been sacrificed for us. Our offerings are mingled with His. We offer ourselves as drink offerings and grain offerings on His perfect sacrifices, and so our sacrifices carry His fragrance.
That is part of the significance of this table. At this table, Jesus’ death is memorialized for us. We present the tokens of Jesus’ death before the Father as a memorial of that death, and as a plea for Him to consummate His promises. As we offer these tokens of Jesus death, we are also offering ourselves in and through Him, in a sacrifice of thanksgiving, as the fragrance of Christ to God, a pleasing aroma to our heavenly Father.
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