Paul’s Joy at Their Reconversion

Paul gave God all the praise for their reconversion and transformation of heart and life: “Thanks be to God,” he exclaimed, “who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place. For we are to God the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing.” In those days a victorious general might return from war with a parade of captives. He would appoint incense bearers, and as the army marched triumphantly home, the fragrant odor was an aroma of death to the captives condemned to die, showing that they were nearing the time of their execution. But to the prisoners whose lives were to be spared, it was an aroma of life—it showed that their freedom was near.ULe 121.1

Paul now felt that Satan was not going to triumph in Corinth. He and his fellow workers would celebrate their victory by going out with new zeal to spread the fragrance of the gospel like incense throughout the world. To those who would accept Christ, the message would be an aroma of life, but to those who would persist in unbelief, an aroma of death.ULe 121.2

Realizing the overwhelming size of the work, Paul exclaimed, “Who is sufficient for these things?” Who is able to preach Christ in such a way that His enemies will have no valid reason to despise the messenger or the message? Only faithfulness in preaching the Word, united with a pure, consistent life, can make the efforts of ministers acceptable to God.ULe 121.3

There were those who had accused Paul of promoting himself in his earlier letter. “Do we begin again to commend ourselves?” he asked. “Or do we need, as some others, epistles of commendation to you or letters of commendation from you?” Believers moving to a new place often carried letters of recommendation from the church, but the founders of these churches did not need any such recommendation. The Corinthian believers, whom he had led from idol worship to the gospel, were themselves all the recommendation Paul needed. Their reformed lives bore eloquent testimony to his work and authority as a minister of Christ.ULe 121.4

“You are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read by all men; clearly you are an epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of flesh, that is, of the heart.”ULe 121.5