Verse By Verse Devotional On 2 Corinthians By Pastor Jack #60

A Fragrance of Christ to God

2:15a "For we are a fragrance of Christ to God."

Part of the dynamic of this "sweet aroma" of Christ borne by believers is that it rises up as a pleasant fragrance to God in heaven. Does this mean that God has a sense of smell?

We know that God doesn’t have a body, so He cannot have a nose. How then can He have nostrils (Isaiah 65:2) and a sense of smell?

God created man in His own image. And amazingly even man’s body was made in the image of God. Not that God has a body, but the parts of man’s body were created by God to reflect Him in various ways. For instance, God has the ability to see and so He created man with eyes. God has the ability to speak so He created man with a mouth. God has the ability to hear and so He created man with ears (etc.) . Now of course our eyes and mouths and ears cannot do all the seeing and speaking and hearing that God can do (for His seeing, speaking and hearing are infinite and all-encompassing).

One of the main reasons God made us like Him is so we could learn about Him. Because we can see we know something about God’s ability to see.

What then can we learn about God from the Bible’s smelling/nostril language? We can learn that He discerns what is going on down here on the earth. And we can also learn that He has the capacity to be pleased or displeased by what He discerns. (And we learn from this verse that there is nothing that pleases God more than the fragrance of His own beloved Son.)

Now these capacities that God has have also been given to us, though in a very small and earthly form. We think of this as our sense of smell. And having a sense of smell, we can then get something of a glimpse of what God is like.

We may be able to understand on some level that God discerns what is going on and is pleased or displeased with it. But by virtue of the fact that we have been given a sense of smell, we can actually experience something of what God experiences and thereby understand God in a much richer and fuller way.

If we had not been given the ability to be disgusted by a foul odor we would not be able to understand very fully what it means for God to be repulsed by something happening on the earth (e.g. Isaiah 65:2). If we had not been given the ability to enjoy a fragrant aroma we would not be able to understand very fully what it means for God to be delighted by something happening on the earth (e.g. Genesis 8:21).

Our ability to smell tells us something of how pleasing and delightful it is to God when we worship Him and when we serve Him willingly and cheerfully. Haven't we all experienced what it is like to take in to our nostrils such a lovely fragrance that suddenly we are completely distracted from what we are doing and drawn to the source of this luscious aroma? Well, this gives us an idea of what it is like for the Lord when He smells from heaven the fragrance of a Christ-like life. When we are like Christ, a wonderful fragrance arises to the nostrils of God like the pleasing aroma of your favorite food at dinner time.

Beloved, we have the capacity to make God's heart glad. Most of what He smells that comes up to His nostrils from the earth is foul. We have the ability to give Him a breath of fresh air, a fragrant aroma. But the only way we can do so is by allowing Christ to live through us. He is the only truly pleasing fragrance to God:

“...Christ loved you, and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma.” (Ephesians 5:2)

And in particular, how pleasing to the Father is the sacrifice of the Son. It is for us like a deodorizer that takes away the stench of our sins and replaces it with the most wonderful scent ever smelled. So that now when God smells those who are in Christ, He no longer smells our sin, but only the lovely fragrance of His beloved Son.

O Lord, I praise You that You overlook my sin and see me only through the pleasing sacrifice of Your beloved Son. As an expression of praise, Lord, I want the fragrant aroma of Christ to rise to You in heaven from my life. Please form Christ in me, that my life might emit His lovely fragrance. May my life be emptied of me and filled with Him.