Apostles and Aromas

Qui male vivunt et christiani vocantur, iniuriam Christo faciunt: de qualibus dictum est quod per eos nomen Domini blasphematur. Si per tales nomen Dei blasphematur, per bonos nomen Domini laudatur. Audi Apostolum: Christi bonus odor sumus, inquit, in omni loco. Dicitur et in Canticis canticorum. Unguentum effusum nomen tuum. Ad Apostolum revoca intentionem: Christi, inquit, bonus odor sumus in omni loco, et in his qui salvi fiunt, et in his qui pereunt; aliis sumus odor vitae in vitam, aliis odor mortis in mortem: et ad haec quis idoneus? Occasionem nobis praebet praesens lectio sancti Evangelii de odore isto ita loqui, ut et a nobis sufficienter dicatur, et a vobis diligenter audiatur, Apostolo ipso ita dicente: Et ad haec quis idoneus? Ergo ut inde nos conemur loqui, numquid idonei sumus, aut vos audire haec idonei estis? Nos quidem idonei non sumus; sed idoneus est ille qui per nos dignetur dicere quod vobis prosit audire. Ecce Apostolus bonus odor est, sicut dicit ipse: sed ipse bonus odor aliis est odor vitae in vitam, aliis autem odor mortis in mortem; tamen bonus odor. Numquid enim ait: Aliis sumus bonus odor ad vitam, aliis malus odor ad mortem? Bonum odorem se dixit, non malum; et eumdem bonum odorem aliis ad vitam dixit, aliis ad mortem. Felices qui bono odore vivunt: quid autem infelicius illis qui bono odore moriuntur? Et quis est, ait aliquis, quem bonus odor occidit? Hoc est quod ait Apostolus: Et ad haec quis idoneus? Quomodo ea facit Deus miris modis, ut bono odore et boni vivant, et mali moriantur; quomodo sit, quantum Dominus inspirare dignatur, nam fortasse ibi lateat altior intellectus, qui a me non potest penetrari; tamen quousque penetrare potui, vobis non debet denegari. Paulum apostolum bene agentem, bene viventem, iustitiam verbo praedicantem, opere demonstrantem, doctorem mirabilem, fidelem dispensatorem, fama usquequaque disseminabat: quidam diligebant, quidam invidebant. Nam ipse quodam loco ait de quibusdam, quod non caste, sed per invidiam Christum annuntiarent; existimantes, inquit, tribulationem suscitare vinculis meis. Sed quid ait? Sive occasione, sive veritate Christus annuntietur. Annuntiant qui me amant, annuntiant qui mihi invident; illi bono odore vivunt, et illi bono odore moriuntur; tamen utrisque praedicantibus nomen Christi annuntietur, odore optimo mundus impleatur. Amasti bene agentem, vixisti bono odore: invidisti bene agenti, mortuus es bono odore. Numquid quia mori voluisti, ideo odorem illum malum esse fecisti? Sanctus Augustinus Hipponensi, In Evangelium Ioannis, Tractatus L Source: Migne PL 35.1760-61

Those who live wickedly and are named Christians give injury to Christ, concerning whom it is said that through them 'the name of the Lord is blasphemed.' 1 If by such folk the name of God is blasphemed, by the good the name of the Lord is honored. Listen to the Apostle Paul when he says, 'We are a sweet aroma of Christ in every place.' And it is said in the Song of Songs, 'Your name is as ointment poured forth.' 2 Attend again to the Apostle: 'We are a sweet aroma of Christ in every place, both in them that are saved and in them that perish. To the one we are the aroma of life unto life, to the other the aroma of death unto death: and who is sufficient for these things?' 3 The present reading of the holy Gospel gives to us occasion of so speaking about that aroma, that we may speak worthily, and that you may diligently listen to what is thus said by the Apostle, 'And who is sufficient for these things?' But are we then sufficient to attempt to speak about this, or you to hear? We, indeed, are not sufficient, but He is sufficient, who is pleased to speak by us what it may profit you to hear. Understand that the Apostle is a sweet aroma, as he calls himself, but that sweet aroma is 'to some the aroma of life unto life, and to others the aroma of death unto death;' yet still a sweet aroma. For does he say 'To some we are a sweet aroma unto life, to others an evil aroma unto death?' No, he said he was a sweet aroma, not an evil one, and himself the same good aroma, to some unto life, to others unto death. Happy they who live in this sweet aroma. But what misery can be greater than theirs to whom the sweet aroma is death? And who is it, says some one, whom the sweet aroma kills? It is to this the Apostle alludes in the words 'And who is sufficient for these things?'  How wonderful the ways by which God makes it that the good aroma is life to the good and death to the wicked; and how it is so, as much as the Lord is pleased to inspire me, for perhaps it yet hides a higher meaning beyond my power to penetrate, yet so far, I say, as I have been able to penetrate should not be denied to you. The fame of the correctness of the Apostle Paul's deeds and life, and the preaching of righteousness in word and the exhibition of it in works, and his wondrous teaching and his fidelity as a steward, were everywhere reported abroad, and some loved and some envied. For he himself speaks of a place where some did not preach Christ sincerely but of envy; 'Thinking,' he says, 'to add affliction to my bonds.' But what does he say? 'Whether in pretence or in truth, let Christ be preached.' 4 That is, they preach who love me, they preach who envy me; in the good aroma the former live and in it the latter die, and yet by the preaching of both let the name of Christ be proclaimed, and with this best of aromas let the world be filled. If you have loved one who does good, in the good aroma you have lived. If you have envied one doing good, you have died in the good aroma. But because you chose to die, did you turn the aroma into an evil one? Saint Augustine of Hippo,Tractate 50, On the Gospel of John 1 Rom 2.24 2 Song 1.3 3 2 Cor 2.14-16 4 Phil 1.17-18