Ken,
Based on your comments, and on my own further study, I’ve changed my position on one of the passages in question, and further developed my position on the other. Replacing my previous sub-par response(s), here is my current understanding of the verses ---
That Sweet Smell
Ken Olson wrote: ↑Thu Feb 22, 2024 5:33 pm
... When Paul says the money is an 'acceptable sacrifice, well pleasing to God' he is describing it with the the language the Septuagint uses to describe the burnt offering. This can be found in Levitius 1.17: "it is a burnt offering, an offering by fire, a pleasing odor to the Lord' and a few dozen other places in the LXX.
Yes. I agree. But the focus in this context is on sacrifices and seeking atonement, not anointing.
Leviticus 1 contains the words of the Lord spoken to Moses about gifts, whole-bunt offerings, and other sacrifices to the Lord placed upon the altar. The chapter concludes with this ---
… It is a yield offering, sacrifice scent of pleasant aroma to the Lord (κάρπωμά εστι θυσία οσμή ευωδίας τω κυρίω). (Leviticus 1:17, LXX)
As you mentioned, with minor variations, there are about two dozen instances in the Jewish scriptures of that phrase in Leviticus 1:17 (Leviticus, Exodus and Numbers -- LXX) --- all similarly focused on sacrifices offered to the Lord. Paul was likely so familiar with that phrase that he could easily paraphrase the concept to fit his own needs as he apparently did in Philippians.
But I have all things, and abound. I am full, having received from Epaphroditus the things from you --- an odor of a sweet smell, an acceptable sacrifice, well-pleasing to God (--- ὀσμὴν εὐωδίας, θυσίαν δεκτήν, εὐάρεστον τῷ Θεῷ). (Philippians 4:18)
Paul characterized the money provided by the Philippians as a fragrant
sacrifice to God, using the same concept and terms that he borrowed from the scriptures.
Ken Olson wrote: ↑Thu Feb 22, 2024 5:33 pm
To return to 2 Cor. 2.14-16:
14 But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumph, 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.
Paul is saying that he and his co-workers brought the aroma of Christ to Corinth and elsewhere - 'We received the Spirit of Christ and we spread it everywhere' (including most particularly Corinth, of course).
Yes. It was Paul and his junior-partners that brought the sweet smell (εὐωδία) of XU to the Corinthians.
The verse in Philippians is the only other place in his letters that Paul used the term εὐωδία, and it was clearly in the sacrificial context of Leviticus 1:17. The focus in this passage in 2 Corinthians 2:15 is on seeking salvation, and I think Paul used the term εὐωδία here in a similar context as in Leviticus 1:17.
At this point in time, Paul is responding to accusations and at least some amount of rejection ---
But thanks be to God, the One always leading us in triumph in XW, and through us in every place making manifest the odor (ὀσμὴν) of the knowledge of Him. For we are a sweet smell (εὐωδία) of XU to God in those being saved and in those perishing: to one indeed an odor (ὀσμὴ) from death to death, and to the other an odor (ὀσμὴ) from life to life. And who is sufficient for these things? For we are not like the many, peddling the word of God, but as of sincerity, but as of God, we speak before God in XW.
Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or like some, do we need commendatory letters to you or from you? You are our letter, having been inscribed in our hearts, being known and being read by all men, being revealed that you are a letter of XU, having been ministered to by us … (2 Corinthians 2:14-3:3)
In the context of the several LXX verses like Leviticus 1:17, here Paul has figuratively replaced the sweet smell to God of the burnt-offering sacrifices in the LXX, with his own work of spreading the sweet smell of the knowledge of his salvific XU.
But Paul spread the “the knowledge of Him” to all of the Corinthians, even to those that Paul claimed to be perishing as a result of subsequently rejecting Paul and his teachings. The sweet smell (εὐωδία) of XU received by all was “an odor (ὀσμὴ) from life to life” for “those being saved” --- but became “an odor (ὀσμὴ) from death to death” for those rejecting Paul, “those perishing”.
In the several passages in the LXX as represented by Leviticus 1:17, the term εὐωδία is associated with sacrifices offered to God and seeking atonement through sacrificial acts. In a similar context, the term εὐωδία in this passage in 2 Corinthians is associated with the sacrificial nature of XU, and with those seeking salvation. I see no need or reason here to bring-in the concept of sweet-smelling anointing oils.
About 2 Corinthians 1:21 ---
Ken Olson wrote: ↑Thu Feb 22, 2024 5:33 pm
... I think your response ... to what I was arguing and takes no account of ...
(1) Paul is using the metaphor of anointing to refer to the reception of the Holy Spirit through Baptism.
...
When Paul refers to himself, Silvanus and Timothy as having been anointed by God, I take him to be referring to having received the Holy Spirit ... through Baptism. Paul is referring to himself as having been anointed because he has Christ (the anointed one) living in him. And so did Silvanus and Timothy and every other baptized Christian.
I don’t think the anointing in 2 Corinthians 1:21 serves as a metaphor for baptism. Everyone was baptized, as you noted, all of the participants in Paul’s congregations. Paul is claiming a higher status here for himself and his junior partners.
The Sheep, the Shepherds, and that Spirit in the Sky
The thrust of this passage is about Paul working to establish his authority, and that of his junior partners, based on having been given the assignment by God.
Paul is on the defensive here at this point in time, making excuses and trying to make amends --- and trying to establish (or re-establish) his authority among the Corinthians.
12For our boasting is this: the testimony of our conscience that we have conducted ourselves in the world, and more abundantly toward you, in the purity and sincerity of God, and not in fleshly wisdom but in the grace of God. 13For we write no other things to you other than what you read or even understand. And I hope that you will understand to the end, 14as also you have understood us in part, so that we are your boasting, even as you are also ours, in the day of our Lord Jesus.
15And with this confidence I was planning to come to you previously, so that you might have a second blessing of grace, 16and through you to pass through into Macedonia, and to come to you again from Macedonia, and to be set forward by you to Judea.
17Thus purposing, therefore then, did I use lightness? Or do I purpose what I purpose according to flesh, so that with me there should be “Yes, yes” and “No, no”? 18But God is faithful, that our word to you was not “Yes” and “No.” 19For the Son of God, Jesus XS, having been proclaimed among you by us—by me and Silvanus and Timothy—was not “Yes” and “No,” but it has always been “Yes” in Him. 20For as many as are the promises of God, in Him is the “Yes.” Therefore also in Him, the “Amen” by us is for glory to God.
21Now the One establishing us with you unto XN, and having anointed us, is God, 22the One also having put a seal on us and having given the pledge of the Spirit in our hearts. 23But I call God as witness upon my soul, that sparing you, I have not yet come [back] to Corinth. (2 Corinthians 1:12-23)
The focus here is not so much on having been anointed by God, but rather having God-given authority. Paul is setting himself apart from the “you” the many, the baptized --- and claiming a special role assigned by God to
minister to the many.
... God “establishing us with you unto XN” ...
With the claim of having been anointed by God, Paul and his junior-partners are characterizing their role as prophets of God. Elisha provides an example of a prophet that was anointed at the direct instructions from the Lord, but he was not anointed with oil, but rather with Elijah’s sheepskin cloak --- Elijah’s mantle came down on Elisha (1 Kings 19, LXX).
In the following passage, also from 2 Corinthians, Paul is making the very same claim as found in 2 Corinthians 1:21 of having been specifically selected and assigned by God for the task of spreading the word, and of bringing the promise of salvation as God’s servants. The “us” in these verses also represents Paul and his junior partners (2 Corinthians 5:12 and 6:11-12).
Now all things are of God, the One having reconciled us to Himself through XU, and having given to us the ministry of reconciliation: how that God was in XW reconciling the world to Himself, not reckoning their trespasses to them, and having put into us the word of reconciliation.
Therefore we are ambassadors for XU, as though God is beseeching through us. We implore on behalf of XU: Be reconciled to God. He made the One not having known sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.
And working together, we also urge you not to receive the grace of God in vain. For He says:
“In the acceptable time I listened to you, and in the day of salvation I helped you.” [Isaiah 49:8]
Behold, now is the time of favor; behold, now is the day of salvation. Placing no obstacle in anyone’s way so that our ministry should not be blemished, in everything, rather, we are commending ourselves as God’s servants … (2 Corinthians 5:18 – 6:4).
Paul used the concept of having been “established” by God and “anointed” by God to spread the knowledge of his JC figure in 1 Corinthians 1:21 in the very same context as his claims of God-given authority in this passage.
robert j