2 Corinthians 2:15

ὅτι Χρ. εὐωδία κ. τ. λ.: for we are a sweet savour of Christ unto God. Not only “through us” is the ὀσμή made manifest; we ourselves in so far as we realise and manifest our membership of Christ are, in fact, that εὐωδία. The influence of the lives of the saints is sweet and penetrative, like that of incense. From this verse comes the phrase “the odour of sanctity”. ἐν τοῖς σωζομένοις καὶ κ. τ. λ.: among them that are being saved and among them that are perishing. It is difficult to understand why the American Committee of Revisers objected to this rendering, and translated “are saved … perish”. The force of the present participles ought not to be overlooked (see reff.); men in this world are either in the way of life or the way of death, but their final destiny is not to be spoken of as fixed and irrevocable while they are in the flesh. Free will involves the possibility alike of falling away from a state of grace, or of repentance from a state of sin. But for men of either class is a Christian life lived in their midst, a εὐωδία Χριστοῦ.