The Fragrance of Christ

The Fragrance of Christ

A nurse in a secular hospital was known by her colleagues — long before they learned she was a Christian — for something they described as her presence. 'There's something about her,' a colleague said. 'Patients calm down when she walks in. Families feel better just having her in the room.' When her faith became known, several colleagues asked about it. 'I always wondered what that was,' one said. 'Now I know what to call it.' The fragrance of Christ is not something you turn on or manufacture. It is what happens when a person has spent enough time in the presence of Jesus that the scent has transferred.

Paul's image of the 'pleasing aroma of Christ' draws from Old Testament sacrifice — the burnt offerings whose smoke rose to God as a pleasing fragrance. But here the fragrance is carried by the believer, not a sacrifice. Those who carry the aroma of Christ are simultaneously 'the aroma of life' to some and 'the aroma of death' to others — which means genuine Christian witness is inherently two-edged. It draws some and repels others. It cannot be made universally inoffensive without losing its character. The fragrance is Christ — His love, His truth, His grace, His holiness. The believer doesn't create the fragrance; they carry it. Spending time in Christ's presence is the means of carrying it faithfully.