“Timothy Stackpole was a New York Firefighter, who was severely burned in a 1998 fire. After he recovered, he returned to the force despite the advice of some friends and family and the fact that he could retire comfortably.

“He was a great fire fighter and passionate about his work and was soon promoted to captain. Timothy was one of the fire fighters that ran into the second tower to try to save some people. When he did, it collapsed and took his life. He knew his calling—to save people.”¹

We too, as ambassadors for Christ, have a calling to save people from eternal death by sharing the saving gospel of God’s grace, and to do so with the heart of our apostle, who wrote, “I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some” (1 Cor. 9:22).

Triumph in Christ

“Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of His knowledge by us in every place” (2 Cor. 2:14).

Paul gave thanks to God because He “always causeth us to triumph in Christ.” The apostle uses a metaphor here in his praise and thanksgiving to God. The idea of “always causeth us to triumph” is a reference to the ancient Roman triumphal procession, which was a victory parade celebrating a successful military campaign. The parade was called the Roman Triumph. In the Triumph, a victorious general was honored with a festive, ceremonial parade through the streets of Rome.

One commentator painted the scene this way:

“In a Triumph the procession of the victorious general marched through the streets of Rome to the Capitol in the following order.
“First came the state officials and the senate.
“Then came the trumpeters.
“Then were carried the spoils taken from the conquered land. For instance, when Titus conquered Jerusalem, the seven-branched candlestick, the golden table of the shewbread and the golden trumpets were carried through the streets of Rome.
“Then came pictures of the conquered land and models of conquered citadels and ships.
“There followed the white bull for the sacrifice which would be made.
“Then there walked the captive princes, leaders and generals in chains, shortly to be flung into prison and in all probability almost immediately to be executed.
“Then came the lictors bearing their rods, followed by the musicians with their lyres; then the priests swinging their censers with the sweet-smelling incense burning in them.
“After that came the general himself. He stood in a chariot drawn by four horses. He was clad in a purple tunic embroidered with golden palm leaves, and over it a purple toga marked out with golden stars. In his hand he held an ivory scepter with the Roman eagle at its top, and over his head a slave held the crown of Jupiter.
“After him rode his family; and finally came the army wearing all their decorations and shouting loud exclamations, ‘Triumph! Triumph! Triumph!’”²

It is reminiscent of a tickertape victory parade for a sports team in their home city after they have won a championship. From this celebratory scene of the Roman Triumph, Paul drew an analogy about our witness for Christ and the advance of the gospel of grace.

Through His cross and resurrection, Christ has triumphed over our enemies of sin, death, and Satan. As believers in Christ, we are forever on the side of victory. And now throughout all our lives, we are always led in a triumphal procession by our Savior. Having defeated the enemy, Christ, the supreme Victor, marches in ultimate triumph, and no one can stand against Him.

Having trusted Christ as our personal Savior, we are on the side of victory. He won the victory for us, and being on the Lord’s side, we get to share in His triumph. He gets the glory, but we, His followers, join Him in the grand celebration of His triumphal procession. And Paul gave thanks to God for this privilege of always being led in triumph in Christ, because it is by the grace of God that we have been saved and that we have victory through Christ.

As the Roman Triumph advanced, clouds of incense permeated the scene, and the sweet fragrance filled the air in the streets of Rome. Paul equated this aroma to how God “maketh manifest the savour of His knowledge by us in every place.” As the Church is led in triumph in Christ, the aroma of the knowledge of God is diffused throughout the world by our life, witness, and deeds.

Paul refers to this “knowledge” a couple of chapters later, where he wrote: “For God, Who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (4:6). At our conversion, the light of the knowledge of the glory of God shined in our hearts, and God then uses the Church to make known to the world His saving knowledge. Paul likened the wafting of the Roman Triumph’s fragrant incense to God’s disseminating, through His people, the knowledge of Christ’s triumph over sin and death.

Paul stated that he and his coworkers made known the knowledge of Christ’s victory “in every place” (2:14) they traveled, as they took the gospel of the grace of God to the nations. Following Paul’s example, the Church, the Body of Christ, is called to do likewise, to be a witness to Christ in every place in this world, because in every place there are sinners in need of the Savior.

To be truly Pauline, we are called to follow Paul’s heart and passion for lost souls. Paul wrote in Philippians 4:9, “Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you.” When we look at Paul’s life and ministry in God’s Word, what we see is that evangelism and churchplanting were the very heart of it. And the church-planting had as its purpose the equipping of God’s people to further reach the unbelieving and to be a lighthouse for truth.

As we read and follow Paul in our witnessing, we learn that Paul was bold in sharing Christ, but he apparently didn’t always feel that way, because Paul even asked others to pray for his boldness (Eph. 6:19). At times, Paul was even fearful of speaking out for Christ. Paul was not superhuman, and Paul’s fear and lack of boldness are very relatable, because evangelism is not an easy thing. In Corinth, the Lord spoke to Paul and encouraged him, “Be not afraid, but speak, and hold not thy peace: For I am with thee…” (Acts 18:9-10). Philippians 4:9 assures us that the God of peace will be with us, too, as we follow Paul in our witness and we reach out to others. God will give us boldness to speak out for Him and He will calm our fears and grant us His peace as we do so.

A Sweet Fragrance

“For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish” (2 Cor. 2:15).

“A sweet savour” refers to a pleasing fragrance, and here it is an aroma that is pleasing to God. Likewise, with the Cross, Ephesians 5:2 tells us that “Christ also hath loved us, and hath given Himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour.” Christ’s offering for sin was a pleasing fragrance to God the Father, and He was satisfied and wellpleased with His Son’s perfect sacrifice.

The “sweet savour” in 2 Corinthians 2:15 refers not to the message we proclaim, but to us, the messengers who proclaim the message. As we spread the good news of salvation and are a witness of Christ and His cross, Paul said that “we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ,” and we are pleasing to God.

When we take that step of faith and reach out and share the good news of Christ, that sweet fragrance goes right to the throne of God. As Paul wrote, “For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ,” and God is well-pleased.

The fragrance is sweet to God based on our faithfulness to make the gospel known, not on the success of the response. Paul added that we are “a sweet savour of Christ,” regardless of the response, both “in them that are saved, and in them that perish.”

There are only two categories or camps of people from God’s point of view, and there is no inbetween. Every single person is either saved from their sins, spiritually alive, and going to heaven, or they are perishing in their sins, lost, and headed for judgment in the lake of fire.

The believer’s life is an aroma of the knowledge of God that others react to, either in trusting Christ or rejecting Christ. This being so, may our prayer be that of the missionary Jim Elliot, who once prayed, “Father, make me a crisis man. Bring those I contact to decision. Let me not be a milepost on a single road; make me a fork, that men must turn one way or another on facing Christ in me.”³

Being an aroma of Christ to the world by our witness includes both our words and our lives. It is important how we live; others are watching. A few verses later in chapter three of 2 Corinthians, Paul wrote, “Ye are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read of all men” (v. 2).

In light of this, Paul challenged the Ephesians, “For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light” (Eph. 5:8). To live as a child of light, living a righteous, godly life that stands out and is separate from the darkness of the world is to show love to the unbelieving all around us. It is to love them enough to present them with the contrast between faith and unbelief, life and death. The light of a loving, Christ-like life can expose unbelievers to the contrast between the character and destructiveness of sin and their need for salvation. We show love for the world by not being like it. Our walk as light can point and show the way to Christ. And when a faithful testimony backs our words for Christ, it makes our witness more powerful.

“A woman was nervously waiting at the airport for her husband to return from his skydiving lesson. The pilot approached her: ‘I’m sorry, but there’s been an accident. I have some bad news, some good news, some more bad news, and some more good news. The bad news is your husband fell out of the plane. The good news is he had his parachute on. The bad news is he hit the ground before his chute could open. The good news is we hadn’t taken off yet.’”⁴

Who Is Sufficient for These Things?

“To the one we are the savour of death unto death; and to the other the savour of life unto life. And who is sufficient for these things?” (2 Cor. 2:16).

In the Roman Triumph, the aroma of incense was a perfume of joy, victory, and life for the victors. For the captives, however, it was an aroma of doom, a reminder of defeat, captivity, and their impending death and execution. Similarly, a person’s response to the fragrance of the gospel depends on whether he marches in triumph in Christ or he chooses defeat, captivity, and death.

A person’s response to the gospel has eternal consequences. For those who reject the gospel, “death unto death” refers to the spiritual death they remain in, which will ultimately lead to the eternal second death if they die in their sins. It is God’s desire and heart that people who are “dead in trespasses and sins” (Eph. 2:1) receive life and not death (1 Tim. 2:4), but they must respond in faith to the gospel of grace to have everlasting life. “Life unto life” refers to the spiritual life unto eternal life that one is given the moment one believes the gospel. And for the believer, anytime we hear the gospel of grace, we smell that sweet aroma of its truth, and we know that message means life, peace, and eternity with God for us.

“Death unto death” is what is coming for the unbeliever. In his message at Antioch in Pisidia, Paul warned of God’s judgment by quoting a prophecy from Habakkuk 1:5: “Behold, ye despisers, and wonder, and perish: for I work a work in your days, a work which ye shall in no wise believe, though a man declare it unto you” (Acts 13:41). The judgment that God will pour out in the lake of fire upon those who die in their sins is so severe, frightening, and horrific that it is unimaginable and hard to believe, yet absolutely true.

The second death, to be eternally in the lake of fire, separated from God and His life and goodness (2 Thes. 1:8-9), is a horror that is difficult for our minds to conceive. In that place of doom, unbelievers will spend eternity in the midst of unmixed, all-encompassing evil. They will reside in the presence of demons and Satan for eternity.

The lake of fire is a place of darkness, fearsome blackness of darkness (Jude 1:13). They will never see light again. The morning will never come. They are spiritually blind and in darkness in their sins, and they will remain in darkness forever.

There is no rest in the lake of fire (Rev. 14:11). The horror of that place, its terrifying sounds, the pain and torment, and the restlessness of soul will never allow anyone to rest, ever. Those who find themselves there will reside in a constant, scorching, suffocating stench of burning brimstone and the experience of never-ending, tormenting pain. The fire burns forever; the heat never relents. There is no respite and no relief from the suffering. It never lets up.

Some people are flippant, saying that they’ll party with their friends, in the lake of fire, but the lake of fire is a place of utter loneliness. There will be no companionship; there are no relationships in hell. Each person will be alone forever with their thoughts. And in the anguish and regrets of those thoughts, they will forever weep and gnash their teeth (Matt. 22:13).

You and I have the message, the truth of the good news that saves one from entering this everlasting suffering (2 Cor. 4:7). We have the message that delivers one from this second death and gives one a home in God’s presence forever. That message to others is to trust that Christ died for all, for the sins of each and every one of us, personally, and that He rose again (1 Cor. 15:3-4).

The good news is that Christ took your sins upon Himself; He faced the judgment of God against them at the Cross; and He paid the price for all your sins (2 Cor. 5:21). And when you trust this, God saves you from hell, forgives you of all your sins, and grants you eternal life as a free gift (Rom. 6:23; Eph. 2:8-9).

As Paul contemplated the tremendous responsibility of making known the gospel that has such far-reaching, critically important, and eternal consequences, he cried out, “And who is sufficient for these things?” It staggered Paul as it should stagger us. The gospel we share divides humanity eternally. Heaven and hell, life and death, are on the line. Who is equal to such a vitally important task?

God uses rescued people to rescue people, and it is the task of our lives to rescue the perishing (2 Cor. 5:20). And it is true that none of us in ourselves, in our own strength, is adequate or competent to serve God in this supremely consequential ministry. The only way we are sufficient for these things is through God Himself. As 2 Corinthians 3:5 says, “Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God.”

<sub>1. “Know Your Calling,” accessed October 5, 2025, https://ministry127.com/resources/illustration/ know-your-calling.
2. . “2 Corinthians 2 Commentary,” accessed October 5, 2025, https://www.preceptaustin.org/2-corinthians-2-commentary#2:14.
3. “Missionary Quotes” posted October 4,2016, https://missions.tips/missionary-quotes/.
4. “A woman was nervously waiting at the airport for her husband to return from his skydiving lesson” reddit, accessed October 6, 2025, https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/rymtdu/a_woman_was_nervously_waiting_at_the_airport_for/.</sub>

Why? Such a little word that asks such a profound question. From a very early age, we ask questions. Just ask anyone who has parented a toddler and they can tell you about a child’s penchant for asking the incessant “why” question. It’s a good question.

Why Jesus?

When we are talking to people about salvation, we often ask them, “Why did Jesus have to die?” If we could be saved by works, Christ did not have to die. This shows the necessity of believing in the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation. A lot of people believe in God (even the demons—James 2:19), but just a belief in God will not get you into heaven. A lot of folks like to talk in vague terms about God in general, but when you start talking about God, in particular the Lord Jesus Christ, they start to get uneasy.

In Christian circles, a similar thing is true. As long as we talk about “Jesus” in nonspecific terms, everyone is happy. But if you say that He is indeed the Son of God, that He is Deity, that He is the ONLY way to heaven, then folks start to get nervous. Rather than allowing Jesus to speak for Himself, they choose to speak for Him—and then they never get it right. They apparently think that He surely didn’t mean those narrow-minded, intolerant things (in their opinion) He said about being divine and the only way to God! Surely He was more “inclusive” and enlightened than that!

No, Jesus Christ said exactly what He meant! When He said that He was the Son of God, He meant it! When He said that He was THE way, THE truth, and THE life and that NO MAN comes to God EXCEPT through Him, HE MEANT IT! He IS the only way. Have YOU believed the good news of salvation for today? Christ died for your sins, He was buried, and He rose again the third day, proving that He was Who He claimed to be. Believe this good news and you will be saved (1 Cor 15:1-4).

Why Paul?

Why? This is also a good question to ask regarding the Apostle Paul. “Why Paul?” If Paul just taught the same thing as the Twelve, if he was in the same group as they, why bother? Why would God go through such trouble to raise up Paul if he was not doing something different?

While religious sorts get nervous when you say that Christ meant what He said, they get even more upset when you insist that Paul meant what he said.

In the gospels, Jesus clearly says that He came only to the “lost sheep of the house of Israel” and that His disciples were NOT to go to the Gentiles (Matt. 10:5- 6). Repeatedly, events related to Jesus were in fulfillment of prophecy; He never says one word about a new body, a new creation, or a new program. Jesus clearly says that He came in keeping with Israel’s prophetic program.

Likewise, Paul clearly says that he is the apostle to the Gentiles. But just as people think that they know better what Christ meant than Christ Himself, they also seem to think that Paul did not mean what he said either.

They will read Paul’s explicit statement that he is the apostle to the Gentiles (Rom. 11:13 cf. Acts 9:15; 13:47; 18:6; 22:21; 26:20; Rom. 1:13; 15:16,18; Gal. 2:2; Eph. 3:1,8; 1 Tim. 2:7; 2 Tim. 1:11; 4:17) and then turn around and explain Paul’s statement away to fit their theology or doctrine. “Oh,” they insist, “Paul was just preaching the same thing as the Twelve apostles.” Some even go so far as to say that Paul was supposed to be the twelfth apostle to replace Judas despite the clear fact that he was unqualified for the position based on the requirements set forth in Acts 1:21,22 (not to mention the fact that these men were under the control of the Holy Spirit when they chose Matthias, Acts 1:24).

A point of clarification. When we say that Paul did not preach the same thing as the Twelve, we are not saying that the Twelve did not preach Christ. Both Paul and the Twelve preached Christ—the difference is in HOW they proclaimed Christ. While it may be debated if the Twelve began to preach the gospel of grace after Paul revealed it to them, it is certain that they did not preach it BEFORE Paul!

The Difference

The key is to recognize both the differences and the similarities between the kingdom program and the mystery program. The death, burial, and resurrection of Christ was not the mystery. This was prophesied. It was these same Old Testament prophecies that Paul used to convince his hearers that Jesus was indeed the Messiah.

Both Paul and Peter preached Christ. The distinction to be made is in HOW they preached Christ. In Romans 16:25 we read, “Now to Him that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began.”

Paul preached Christ and Peter preached Christ, but Paul preached Christ according to the revelation of the mystery, whereas Peter preached Christ according to (or in keeping with) the revelation of prophecy.

In Acts 2, Peter proclaims that Jesus is the Messiah. But he does this in the context of the millennial kingdom. The entire focus is that if Israel will accept her Messiah, God will send Christ back and set up the long-awaited kingdom of God on earth. The Jews always had an earthly hope—a heavenly city yes, but a heavenly city on the earth!

The Problem With Paul

Do you see the problem here? The Church at large continues to disregard the clear statements of both Christ and Paul and reinterpret them to fit their own scheme of things. How strange that readers can think that they know the intent of an author’s statement better than the author himself does!

But nothing has really changed has it? After all, this is exactly what the Pharisees and scribes did during Christ’s earthly ministry. They had so twisted God’s law to fit their desires that they argued with the very Author of those laws as to their meaning (Matt. 12:2-8; 15:3-6; Mark 3:1-5; 7:7-13).

This brings us back to my original question, “Why Paul?” If Paul’s epistles only repeat or continue the program and message of the gospels, then why this need to directly intervene in time and history and overwhelm Paul on the road to Damascus?

Why Paul? Paul was raised up because God instituted a whole new program with him. Prophetically, God’s next step should have been the Great Tribulation (70th week of Daniel’s prophecy [Dan. 9:24-27]) to punish Israel for rejecting Jesus Christ. But instead we see God, in the person of the risen, glorified Lord, confronting Paul on his way to Damascus.

And what did the Lord Jesus Christ tell Paul that day? Did He tell Paul that he was going to be a messenger to proclaim the gospel of the kingdom to the lost sheep of the house of Israel? No. Just the opposite. From the beginning, Paul was called specifically to be an apostle to the Gentiles—in keeping with God’s new program.

Listen to what God told Ananias about Paul: “he is a chosen vessel unto Me, to bear My name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel: For I will show him how great things he must suffer for My name’s sake” (Acts 9:15-16). In Acts 26:17, in his defense before King Agrippa, Paul says that he was sent to the Gentiles by God.

Can there be any question when we allow the plain words of Scripture to speak for themselves? Christ came to Israel (“He came unto His own, and His own received Him not.”—John 1:11). His disciples were sent only to Israel (Matt. 10:5-6). Peter preached only to Israel (Acts 2) with a message straight out of the prophetic books. Paul never says he was sent to Israel. But he says or implies many times that he was sent to the Gentiles.

How Are We Saved Today?

Why Paul? Where else in the Bible do you find salvation by grace through faith alone explicitly stated and laid out so clearly? Where else do you find the concept of the Body of Christ? (Others have seen this distinction as well—see Scofield’s preface to Paul’s epistles in the Old Scofield Bible.)

But some may be thinking that salvation by grace through faith is found before Paul. We beg to differ! While it’s true that salvation has always been by faith, it is only with the dispensation of Grace that it has been by faith ALONE. Salvation has always been by a faith response to what God has said. In previous dispensations, He said “believe and DO.” It is only now (as Paul says, “But now”) that the message is to “only believe.”

Some folks insist that the same salvation message is found before Paul and use John 3:16 or Revelation 3:20 as evangelistic verses. BUT, without being explained in light of the gospel of the grace of God, these verses could never be used to save anyone today!

The word “believe” in John 3:16 is always explained as having to do with belief in the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ—the gospel as related to us in 1 Corinthians 15:1-4. In its context, John 3:16 says nothing about the gospel of the grace of God. What was Nicodemus supposed to believe? That Jesus was the Messiah, that He was the Son of God, and in that context, that belief also included baptism and continuing to keep the law (Matt. 3:8; 5:20; John 20:31). Without Paul’s gospel to explain what it is we are believing, no one is saved.

Revelation 3:20 is really a stretch, but some people do still try to fit it into their evangelism. “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear My voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me” (Rev. 3:20). By itself, there are zero facts about the gospel in this verse. At least John 3:16 had the word believe in it, but Revelation 3:20 doesn’t even have that. You can never be saved by “opening the door of your heart” and “letting Jesus come in”—not unless you use Revelation 3:20 as an analogy and compare “opening the door of your heart” to believing the gospel for today (1 Cor. 15:1-4) and “letting Jesus come in” with being saved.

The point is, without reading Paul’s gospel back into these passages, you do not find the message of salvation for today. It is only by explaining these verses in terms of God’s plan for today that they are used to bring someone to salvation.

It is no wonder that so many people are confused and unsure about their salvation. They have never come to fully understand the facts of their salvation. Instead of sticking to Paul’s clear presentation of the gospel for today, we resort to emotional pulls and unbiblical words. Paul says to believe the gospel, that Christ died for your sins, was buried, and rose again the third day; we too often say things like “ask Jesus into your heart” or “make Him Lord of your life” or other such phrasing. No wonder folks are confused as to whether they got saved or are still saved!

The fact is, you do not find the explicit terms of salvation by grace through faith ALONE outside of Paul’s epistles.

What Is God’s Plan for Today?

Why Paul? It is Paul because during this dispensation of grace God has temporarily set aside Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in (Rom. 11:25). Contrary to popular belief, Israel is not the chosen nation today. After the Rapture she will once again have “most favored nation status,” but not today in the dispensation of grace. Today, God has concluded ALL men in unbelief that He might have mercy on all. Today God is dealing with individuals for salvation, not nations.

Why Paul? Because Paul alone teaches us about the blessed hope of Christ’s return for the Body, which is His Church today (1 Thes. 4:13-18). Our hope is not Israel’s hope. We do not hope for God’s kingdom on earth—our hope is heavenly. Likewise, a Jew never hoped for heaven—he hoped for God’s kingdom on earth (“Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven”—Matt. 6:10). Some have lost sight of this distinction and are blurring God’s future plans and programs for Israel and the Body of Christ.

Today it seems that some are starting to turn away from a consistent dispensational approach to the Scriptures. Once you leave the literal interpretation of the Bible, only your imagination and reason limit your doctrine. Sadly, it sometimes seems that the post-modern mindset is seeping into the Church.

“Why Paul? That’s a good question! Do you know the answer?”