Ephesians 5:2 → Exodus 29:18

Ephesians 5:2's ὀσμὴ εὐωδίας (G3744 + G2175) matches the Septuagint of Exodus 29:18 exactly, verified at both shelves — though the phrase is the standard Greek rendering of rêaḥ nîḥôaḥ throughout the Pentateuch and cannot by itself single out one donor. What Exodus 29:18 contributes that no other occurrence does is its office. This is not a burnt offering brought by a worshipper for his sin; it is the second ram of the seven-day ordination of the priesthood (Exodus 29:1-37), the sacrifice by which Aaron and his sons are made able to stand in a place where standing would otherwise kill them. Consecration is its entire function. And two details in it press directly on Paul's sentence. First, the ram is burned ὅλον — "the entire ram," H3605 in the Hebrew, τὸν κριὸν ὅλον in the Greek — nothing set aside, nothing eaten, nothing returned to the man who brought it. Second, the offering does not accomplish anything for the ram; its whole benefit lands on the persons being ordained. Paul's verb answers both: Christ παρέδωκεν ἑαυτόν (G3860), "gave Himself up," the whole self handed over, and the preposition is ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν — "for us." Where Exodus needs two parties, a priest and a victim, Ephesians has one: the Consecrated is the Consecration. Hebrews spells out the consequence Paul assumes, that Christ "has been made perfect forever" as the priest who has entered (Hebrews 7:28), and Jesus states it Himself on the eve of the cross in the language of ordination: "For them I sanctify Myself, so that they too may be sanctified by the truth" (John 17:19). That last clause is why this text ends in joy rather than admiration. The ordination ram made other people able to come near; so does this one. Christ was consecrated so that the people He died for could be a priesthood too (1 Peter 2:5, 9) — which means the nearness you were built for and disqualified from is now not merely permitted but purchased, and the Priest who bought it is the same one you get to draw near to.