The resurrection of Jesus from the dead is the greatest victory in history. The greatest enemy is not the devil but death; the devil uses death to cause fear. The greatest enemy is not sin; sin leads to death. The greatest enemy is not the world; the world system is dying and is throwing a fit about it on the way down. Jesus conquered the world, the flesh, and the devil, yes, but more than that He conquered death, and so we celebrate the stone rolled away from the tomb on that Sunday so long ago. We know what it means.

Knowing what it means does not mean that everything is easy. In fact, it is important to know what the empty tomb means because it is not easy. One reason it’s not easy is because some people not only don’t celebrate the resurrection of Jesus, they hate it. The way of the world is death, and death hates life. In particular, death hates losing, and death is a loser. Jesus won.

In Christ’s resurrection there is great comfort, and that comfort is necessary because there is great conflict. Paul wrote to the Corinthians: “we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves, but on God who raises the dead” (2 Corinthians 1:8-9). Sometimes it’s bad.

Paul faced affliction in his work, and even faced misunderstanding from the Corinthian Christians. Paul did not make a “painful visit” (2 Corinthians 2:1), but he did write them a letter “out of much affliction and anguish of heart” (2:4). He sent the letter with Titus and hoped that Titus could find out more directly how they were doing. Paul planned to meet Titus in Troas. But Titus wasn’t there, and he was discouraged.

When I came to Troas to preach the gospel of Christ, even though a door was opened for me in the Lord, my spirit was not at rest because I did not find my brother Titus there. So I took leave of them and went on to Macedonia. (2 Corinthians 2:12-13)

This is quite a context. Paul went to Troas on purpose to preach, and he could tell that they were ready to hear him preach, and yet something was so off in his spirit that he would not go on preaching, and he left for another place. He was not at rest , so: restless. He was burdened, troubled.

I don’t want to dwell on the apostle’s deep discouragement except to set up the question: what consoles a depressed apostle? What does an apostle preach to himself when his spirit is upset? He remembers and rejoices in his participation in the triumph of Christ.

There are three parts to verses 14-16.

The Smell of Victory (verse 14)

There are two related analogies that Paul applies to the resurrection.

But thanks [be] to God, [the One always triumph-leading] us in Christ, and [the One spreading] through us the fragrance of the knowledge of Him in every place.

What is a reasonable response to discouragement? Find something to thank God for. Track the two things God is doing.

First, God is the One always triumph-leading us in Christ. The ESV translates as “ leads us in triumphal procession .” If you’ve read The 12 Caesars by Suetonius (which you would probably be more edified not to do), or Livy’s History of Rome or Josephus’ The Jewish War, you’ve read about Triumphs. Around 350 Triumphs are mentioned in various Roman writings. If you lived in Corinth, belonging to the Roman Empire in the first century, you would have known about them. Triumphs were events.

To triumph is to win, yes, but a Triumph was a special category of winning. Multiple major significant things were required in a military battle, and then multiple major significant things went into the victory parade through the streets of Rome. Among other things:

• The general must have had supreme military command and have won a major land or sea battle.
• The general must have killed at least 5,000 enemy soldiers in a single battle.
• The general must have ended the war successfully and brought his army back to Rome.

As for the parade:

• The procession started outside Rome through the Triumphal Gate, through the Forum, and ended at the Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus on the Capitoline Hill.
• The procession included musicians, sacrificial animals, the spoils of war (statues, treasure, weapons, captives), soldiers, and the victorious general himself.
• At the temple, the general presented his laurel and offerings to Jupiter. Captives were often executed. The ceremony concluded with a feast for the magistrates and Senate.

God leads all believers, not just apostles and their associates, in Christ’s triumph. The triumph is not the Second Coming, the triumph is that Sunday morning around 2,000 years ago. The triumph is Christ’s resurrection from the dead. The victory parade is marching through the streets of all nations ( every place ) and generations ( always ). We are not just bystanders, we’re participants.

We, by application, are the fragrance of the knowledge of Christ . The parade included flowers as well as censors of incense. It’s not hard to imagine how bad the smell might have been of dirty/unkempt prisoners plus animals as spoil or for sacrifice plus sweaty soldiers who hadn’t changed clothes in months. The incense would have been welcome, like Axe Body Spray for the road.

While there are other illustrations about Christians as soldiers, here we are the smell good. We have the smell of Sunday, of resurrection, the fragrance from death to life.

The Smell of Eternity (verses 15-16a)

We are not only a fragrance from death to life. Paul keeps the smelling analogy going.

For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life.

Our “good smell” (εὐωδία), aroma and fragrance is of Christ, and because of verse 14, it is the aroma of His win over death, and with it over sin and demons and the world system and rebellion and hostility in all places. That aroma is to God and yet obviously not only something He smells. So in a Triumph the incense was to the General, for his glory and pleasure, but it was spread among people.

There are those who are being saved and those who are perishing . These are eternal distinctions. God has moved and is moving in the ones being saved, He has moved them from spiritual death to spiritual life, and we see that they will increase in that life unto eternal life. Those still in death, if they are not called out of death, will continue in spiritual death and increase in that life of death unto eternal death. Perishing is the final loss, the final defeat.

The phrases from death to death and from life to life are categorical. They’re in the same construction as “from faith to faith” in Romans 1:17. Paired here in verse 16, we learn that:

• It’s one or the other, life or death.
• Death and life are not static, they increase and become more of their nature.
• The same smell works both directions.

Put yourself back in Rome during a Triumph. Think of the smells of the parade, and how different your associations would be depending on your position. If you were a soldier, you’d survived, you’d won, you were hearing the cheers, and you were headed home. If you were a captive, you’d lost, you were hearing the cheers against you, and you were headed toward prison, slavery, and/or execution. Even the “good” smells all belonged with defeat and death.

The Response to Glory (verse 16b)

As with all rhetorical questions, the answer is obvious. But the facts are intended to encourage the feelings.

Who is sufficient for these things?

Sufficient or “adequate” means either, who can really grasp how great this triumph is, or who deserves to be part of the triumph, a part of the ongoing division between death and life?

We did not, could not, cause Christ to triumph. We did not, we could not, move ourselves from death to life. We do not, we can not, move others from death to life. We are, and will forever be, those who smell of Sunday.

Conclusion

When I say “the smell of Sunday” I mean that our lives are a fragrance of Christ’s triumph over death, and we follow His victory as an aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and those who smell the smell that increases their hate of conquering Christ.

To the degree we love Easter we cannot be loved by all.

And, with Paul, here is rest for our spirits. Thanks be to God! Christ is risen!

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Charge

Christians, do not rely on yourselves but on God who raises the dead. He has already raised Christ, and has called you to follow in Christ’s triumph. You are the aroma of Christ. Thank God that He has put the smell of Sunday all over you.

Benediction:

But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain. (1 Corinthians 15:57–58 ESV)