• Here are some tools to help you with the devotionals:
  • A Guide to Journaling & Prayer
  • A Guide to Self-Reflection
  • A Chart to help articulate feelings

Bible Text:

2 Corinthians 2:12-17 (ESV)

¹² When I came to Troas to preach the gospel of Christ, even though a door was opened for me in the Lord, ¹³ 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.

¹⁴ But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. ¹⁵ For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, ¹⁶ to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things? ¹⁷ For we are not, like so many, peddlers of God’s word, but as men of sincerity, as commissioned by God, in the sight of God we speak in Christ.

Reflection & Application 

2 Corinthians 2:14-17 

“Here, Paul takes an image from the Roman world, seeing Jesus as the victorious, conquering general in a triumph parade. … Fragrance, in the form of incense, was common at the Roman triumph parade.  In Paul’s mind, this fragrance is like the knowledge of God, which people can smell when the triumph parade winds by.

“To the victors the perfume from the censers would be the perfume of joy and triumph and life; but to the wretched captives who walked so short a distance ahead it was the perfume of death, standing for a past defeat and their coming execution” (Barclay). [1] 

• Reflect on the picture Apostle Paul paints in v. 14 of God, Christ, the Christian, and the world.  What does this picture say regarding the purpose of my life?
• Reflect on the responsibility of my role as a Christian and the eternal stakes this involves, as expressed in these words: “Who is sufficient for these things?” Have I ever felt the awesome weight of this?

2 Corinthians 2:17

“The word peddling has the idea of ‘adulterating’ or ‘watering down’ for gain, and was especially used of a wine seller who would water down the wine for more profit.  Paul was not like the others who might water down the gospel for gain!” [2]

• In what ways might I be guilty of being a peddler of God’s word?
• Reflect on the relationship between living “in the sight of God” and being “men of sincerity.”  

[1] David Guzik, Bible Commentary, online

[2] David Guzik, Bible Commentary, online