Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

The smell of life, the smell of death

¹² However, when I came to Troas to announce the Messiah’s gospel, and found an open door waiting for me in the Lord, ¹³ I couldn’t get any quietness in my spirit because I didn’t find my brother Titus there. So I left them and went off to Macedonia.

¹⁴ But thanks be to God—the God who always leads us in his triumphal procession in the Messiah, and through us reveals everywhere the sweet smell of knowing him. ¹⁵ We are the Messiah’s fragrance before God, you see, to those who are being saved and to those who are being lost. ¹⁶ To the latter, it’s a smell which comes from death and leads to death; but to the former it’s the smell of life which leads to life.

Who can rise to this challenge? ¹⁷ We aren’t mere peddlers of God’s word, as so many people are. We speak with sincerity; we speak from God; we speak in God’s presence; we speak in the Messiah.