We all enjoy things that smell good, and we do our best to avoid anything that smells bad. We buy things based on how they smell and make many decisions using our nose! No one, to my knowledge, prefers bad odors to the pleasant ones. The Bible mentions fragrant spices and oils used to make things more tolerable to the olfactory senses. Mary anointed Jesus’ feet with a costly oil that filled the house with its fragrance (John 12:3). At the burial of Christ, John further records that Nicodemus provided the mixture of spices bound in the linen around His body (John 19:39-40). We are told this was the Jewish custom. The women also brought spices to the tomb on the first day of the week (Luke 24:1). We understand that dead flesh stinks, and these spices help to mask those odors. However, the body of Jesus did not stay in the tomb long enough to amass much smell since He rose from that grave! Physically speaking, much of our lives are concerned with the odors our senses encounter, but what about our spirituality? What do we smell like?
How Christ Smells
Ephesians 5:2 tells us that Christ smells good to God: “And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma” (NKJV). Those thousands of sacrifices over the centuries that were “a sweet aroma to the Lord” (Leviticus 1:9) all pointed to Jesus. That phrase is stated numerous times in the Old Testament, especially in Leviticus and Numbers. Some translations use the words “soothing” (NASB) or “pleasing” (ESV, ASB, HCSB, NIV, RSV). Christ’s sacrifice was well-pleasing to God as He was the spotless Passover Lamb, fulfilling all of those Old Testament sacrifices (Luke 24:27, 44-47; 1 Corinthians 5:7; 1 Peter 1:19). Jesus selflessly followed the Father’s will on earth (John 5:30; 8:28). In times of temptation, He remembered His purpose and submitted to God’s will, not to His own desires (Hebrews 2:18; 4:15; 5:5-9; Matthew 26:42). This is why the Father could declare, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:17).
We should realize, though, that Jesus was not always a pleasant odor to those He encountered who rejected the Truth. His teachings divide the humble – those willing to obey from the heart – from the stubborn, rebellious ones. Thus, Our Lord’s message also separates families (Matthew 10:34-39). We are told that many of His disciples “went back and walked with Him no more” when they became offended at His Word (John 6:60-66). The apostle Paul put it this way: “We preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness” (1 Corinthians 1:23). Jesus does not smell good to the self-seekers in this world.
How We Smell to God
The life of Christ is the example every Christian should be striving to follow in order to also be well-pleasing to God. Firstly, we should want to be a sweet aroma to our Heavenly Father by obeying the Gospel. The Father is glad to see souls turning from darkness to light (Luke 15:7-31). God looks favorably upon the sinner who turns from wickedness and in faithful obedience submits to His plan of salvation (Ezekiel 33:11). God has given us His complete Word in order to know how to be well-pleasing to Him (2 Peter 1:3). We must believe that Jesus is Deity, repent of our sins, be willing to confess that Jesus is the Christ and submit to immersion for the forgiveness of our sins (Mark 16:16; Matthew 10:32; Acts 2:38; Romans 6:3-6; 10:9-13). In becoming a Christian, we smell good to our Creator!
Secondly, Paul tells us that in reconciling the world to God through Christ’s blood, our Lord presents His followers “holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight” if we “continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel” (Colossians 1:19-23). As followers of Christ walking in the light, Jesus’ blood keeps on cleansing us (1 John 1:7). That sanctification involves us “continually offering the sacrifice of praise to God” and not forgetting to “do good and to share, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased” (Hebrews 13:12-16). Paul told the church at Philippi what they had sent to him in prison through Epaphroditus was “a sweet-smelling aroma, an acceptable sacrifice, well pleasing to God” (Philippians 4:18). Even the smallest good deed may impact someone richly in Christ. As Christians, we are to be an example of good works, bearing fruit for the glory of Jesus’ name and influencing souls for Him (Titus 3:8, 14; Hebrews 10:24; 1 Peter 2:11-17). However, if a Christian is living like the world, he or she will smell like the world, and to God, that is not a good odor; it is contrary to Him (1 John 2:15-17). One who has obeyed the Gospel and then returns to the ways of the world is pictured as a clean pig going back to the mud hole and a dog returning to its vomit (2 Peter 2:22). We understand the ugliness of these images and can imagine the smells also would not be pleasant! Peter penned “the latter end is worse for them than the beginning” (2 Peter 2:20). Let us take heed as Christians and strive to smell good to God by living faithful, fruitful lives in service to Him!
How We Smell to the World
Being a well-pleasing, sweet aroma to the Lord, sadly, though, does not always make us a pleasant smell to those around us. Just as was the case with our Lord, when we live and speak out the truth of God’s Word, the world does not look on us favorably. Again, Paul wrote that through Christ’s followers, God “diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge.” To those being saved, we are the fragrance of Christ, the aroma of life, but to those perishing, we stink like death (2 Corinthians 2:14-17). To those living by the standards of the world, the Christian life is strange, and it often ridicules or even calls us evil (1 Peter 4:3-5). This should come as no surprise to the child of God. Our Lord was treated terribly by those who rejected Him, and we cannot expect any better response from the world (John 15:18)! The flip side to this, once again, is that if we are not living as we should as Christians, we will be a bad stench to those who may otherwise be won for Christ. “But fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not even be named among you, as is fitting for saints… for it is shameful even to speak of those things which are done by them in secret” (Ephesians 5:1-12). How many souls have been turned off from Christianity because of how their “Christian” neighbors were living? If we smell rotten to the world, let it not be for our hypocrisy but for our righteous living according to Christ’s law.
But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you are blessed. And do not be afraid of their threats, nor be troubled. But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear; having a good conscience, that when they defame you as evildoers, those who revile your good conduct in Christ may be ashamed. For it is better, if it is the will of God, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil. (1 Peter 3:15-17).