was the great end of Paul's mission, and is of all tliins^s the most acceptable to God. Knowledge here, as so often else- where in Scripture, means not merely intellectual cognition, but spiritual apprehension and recognition. That men should know the Lord Jesus Christ in the sense of recognizing, loving and worshipping him as God manifest in the flesh, is the con- summation of redemption ; the sum of all blessedness aiid ex- cellence. In every place. Wherever Paul went, there the knowledge of Christ was sj)read abroad. Comp. Rom. 15, 19. Can this be said of us ?
15. For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish.
We as ministers, and our work of preaching Christ, are ac- ceptable to God, Avhatever may be the result of our labours. This idea is connected M'ith the preceding as an amplification and confirmation. 'God by us diffuses the knowledge of Christ everywhere as a savour ; ^/o?* (on, because) it is well pleasing to God whatever be the effect which it produces.' There is, as is so common in Paul's epistles, a slight change in the figure. In v. 14 the knowlpdge of Christ is declared to be a savour as of incense, here the apostle is the sweet savour. But it is the apostle not as a man, not the purity or devotion of his life ; but the apostle as a preacher of the gospel, and therefore the gospel which he preached; so that the thought remains the same. In both verses the diffusion of the knowl- edge of Christ is said to be well pleasing to God. Savour of Christ., does not mean a savour of which Christ is the author. The idea is not that Christ rendered Paul or his life accepta- ble to God. That indeed is true, but it is not what is intend- ed. When we speak of the perfume of the rose, or of the vio- let, we mean that perfume which the rose or the violet emits and which is characteristic of it. When Paul says, " We are a sweet smelling savour of Christ," he means we are the means of diffusing the knowledge of Christ. When a man's garments are perfumed with myrrh or frankincense, he fills with the fra- grance every place he enters. So Paul, wherever he went, diffused abroad the fragrance of the name of Christ, and that was acceptable to God. In them., i. e. among them, that are saved ; and in (among) them that perish. This does not mean among them predestined to be saved, and those predestined to perish. The idea of predestination is not included. The