2 Corinthians 2 vs 15 - 16

[Mary]

taking the passage from vs 14

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.
For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish:
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?
For we are not as many, which corrupt the word of God: but as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God speak we in Christ.

I have been struggling with the understanding and application of "unto" in this verse.

I use the "first law of Hermaneutics" when I read the Bible : that is if the plain sense makes sense, seek no other sense

but this verse doesn't make plain sense to me, so I looked up the meaning of unto and found it means until or to

Which meaning do you use? and what happens to the full meaning of the verse if you decide on either one?

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The passage has other difficulties too. If you break the sentence down into it's component phrases this happens:

For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved

For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, (and) in them that perish.

to the one (which one? English rules of order would have it relating to the first phrase:
so it would read :
For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, to them that are saved ... we are the savour of death unto death.

and to them that perish.. we are the savour of life unto life.

Clearly that doesn't make sense. It makes more sense if we swap it around:
For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved, we are the savour of life unto life...
... in them that perish we are the savour of death unto death.

If we accept that order of the phrases, what happens when we decide on which meaning of unto to apply?

For we are to God, a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved, ...we are the savour of life to life; in them that perish... we are the savour of death to death.

But what does that mean? By "to" do we mean "from - to"?

so we get:
For we are to God a sweet savour of Christ; in them that are saved... we are the savour of life from life to life... and in them that perish, .. we are the savour of death from death to death.

[Solo Christo]

SBLGNT Wrote:ὅτι(for) Χριστοῦ(Christ) εὐωδία(aroma) ἐσμὲν(to be) τῷ(the) θεῷ(God) ἐν(among) τοῖς(the) σῳζομένοις(to save) καὶ(and) ἐν(among) τοῖς(the) ἀπολλυμένοις(to perish), οἷς(who) μὲν(on the one hand) ὀσμὴ(smell) ⸀ἐκ(from) θανάτου(death) εἰς(to) θάνατον(death), οἷς(who) δὲ(but on the one hand) ὀσμὴ(smell) ⸁ἐκ(from) ζωῆς(life) εἰς(to) ζωήν(life). καὶ(and) πρὸς(for) ταῦτα(this) τίς(who) ἱκανός(competent);

ESV Wrote:For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things?

HCSB Wrote:For to God we are the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing. To some we are an aroma of death leading to death, but to others, an aroma of life leading to life. And who is competent for this?

CLV Wrote:for we are a fragrance of Christ to God, in those who are being saved and in those who are perishing: to these, indeed, an odor of death for death, yet to those an odor of life for life. And for this who is competent?

YLT Wrote:because of Christ a sweet fragrance we are to God, in those being saved, and in those being lost; to the one, indeed, a fragrance of death to death, and to the other, a fragrance of life to life; and for these things who is sufficient?

I think v15 means God sees that we represent Christ to believers & non-believers alike. It would be cool if "death to death" in v16 meant "the end of death", however because v16 is using imagery of smells, I think it’s more likely Paul’s not trying to make an absolute statement about death, but rather something like: “Some people think Jesus stinks, some people think Jesus is awesome, the former are on a slippery slope towards death, the latter are heading towards eonian life.”

[Mary]

It is definitely a passage that benefits from looking at different translations.

[Solo Christo]

(07-14-2012 07:30 AM)Mary Wrote:  It is definitely a passage that benefits from looking at different translations.

Yes

[Mary]

The sweet savour relates to sacrifices:
for example: Numbers 28 vs 6

It is a continual burnt offering, which was ordained in mount Sinai for a sweet savour, a sacrifice made by fire unto the LORD.

Leviticus 2 vs 2b

and the priest shall burn the memorial of it upon the altar, to be an offering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the LORD:

and quite a few other references in the OT, but it is clearly stated in the NT in

Ephesians 5 vs 2:

And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savour.

so in 2 Corinthians the reference is to the sacrifice Jesus made
For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish:

and the work of spreading the Gospel by Paul and the others is to God a remembrance of the sacrifice of Jesus, perhaps indicates God's satisfaction and joy that the good news of Christ's death and resurrection is being shared.

[Solo Christo]

Yes, I agree, I think Paul was almost certainly thinking of the OT - I found a list that says "sweet savour" appears in Lev 1:9; Lev 1:13; Lev 1:17; Lev 2:2; Lev 2:9; Lev 3:5; Lev 4:31; Lev 6:21; Lev 17:6; Lev 23:18; Num 15:3; Num 15:7; Num 15:10; Num 15:13; Num 15:14; Num 15:24; Num 18:17; Num 28:8; Num 28:24; Num 28:27; Num 29:2; Num 29:13; Num 29:36!