Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 2 Corinthians 2:14

Now thanks [be] unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savor of his knowledge by us in every place.

14. Now thanks be unto God ] This passage is an instance of the abrupt digressions peculiar to St Paul’s style. See Introduction to the first Epistle, p. 16, and 1Co 4:8. Also Introduction to this Epistle. “As soon as St Paul came to the word Macedonia, memory presented to him what had greeted him there,” i.e. the favourable intelligence brought by Titus (ch. 2Co 7:6-7) “and in his rapid way thoughts succeeding each other like lightning he says, without going through the form of explaining why he says it, ‘Now thanks be to God.’ ” Robertson.

which always causeth us to triumph in Christ ] The verb here rendered causeth us to triumph may also be rendered, leadeth us in triumph. It is used in the latter sense in Col 2:15, the only other place in which it occurs in the Bible, but the former sense is defended here by the analogy of other verbs used causatively. See Rom 8:37.

and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge ] The word savour (from the Latin sapor, flavour) is, with one exception (Mat 5:13), used in the Scriptures to denote an odour. See Gen 8:21; Ecc 10:1; Joe 2:20, &c. The Apostle as yet does not refer to the ‘sweet savour’ of the sacrifices (Exo 29:18; Lev 1:9; Lev 1:12, &c.). If we take the rendering of the A. V. in the former part of the verse, ‘the savour of his knowledge’ (i.e. the sweet scent of the knowledge of God), is the incense, either “rising from fixed altars or wafted from censers” (Dr Plumptre in loc.), which it was customary (see Smith’s Dictionary of Antiquities, Art. Triumphus) to burn as the conqueror to whom a triumph was decreed passed along. This custom has been revived in our own day, on the occasion of the public entry of the Princess of Wales into London before her marriage. If the sense ‘ leadeth us in triumph,’ be adopted, it regards the ministers of Christ either, ( a) as the partners in the triumph of their Master, or ( b) as the captives of the enemy he has overcome, delivered by His victorious arm, or ( c) as the enemies he has defeated and led captive. Either of these yields a good sense, while the ‘savour’ is still the incense which attends the victor’s triumph. See Wordsworth in loc. Dr Plumptre notices the fact, one of great interest to the inhabitants of these Islands, that the last triumph which had taken place at Rome before these words were written, was in commemoration of the victories of Claudius in Britain, and that the British king Caractacus was then led in triumph through the streets of Rome.

by us ] St Paul is either (1) the altar (Rom 12:1) from which the odour of God’s knowledge arises, or more probably (2) the thurifer or incense-bearer who diffuses that odour abroad as he passes along.

in every place ] The history of the church shews that the first ministers of the Gospel extended their operations over a wide area. It is hardly tradition which regards St Thomas and St Bartholomew as having preached in India, and St Andrew in Scythia. And the first Epistle of St Peter bears witness to a wide dissemination of the Gospel in Asia. See 1Pe 1:1 ; 1Pe 5:13.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

Now thanks be unto God … – There seem to have been several sources of Pauls joy on this occasion. The principal was, his constant and uniform success in endeavoring to advance the interests of the kingdom of the Redeemer. But in particular he rejoiced;

1. Because Titus had come to him there, and had removed his distress; compare 2Co 2:13.

(2)Because he learned from him that his efforts in regard to the church at Corinth had been successful, and that they had hearkened to his counsels in his first letter; and,

1. Because he was favored with signal success in Macedonia. His being compelled, therefore, to remove from Troas and to go to Macedonia had been to him ultimately the cause of great joy and consolation. These instances of success Paul regarded as occasions of gratitude to God.

Which always causeth us – Whatever may be our efforts, and wherever we are. Whether it is in endeavoring to remove the errors and evils existing in a particular church, or whether it be in preaching the gospel in places where it has been unknown, still success crowns our efforts, and we have the constant evidence of divine approbation. This was Pauls consolation in the midst of his many trials; and it proves that, whatever may be the external circumstances of a minister, whether poverty, want, persecution, or distress, he will have abundant occasion to give thanks to God if his efforts as a minister are crowned with success.

To triumph in Christ. – To triumph through the aid of Christ, or in promoting the cause of Christ. Paul had no joy which was not connected with Christ, and he had no success which he did not trace to him. The word which is rendered here as triumph ( thriambeuonti from thriambeuo) occurs in no other place in the New Testament, except in Col 2:15. It is rendered there as triumphing over them in it, that is, triumphing over the principalities and powers which he had spoiled, or plundered; and it there means that Christ led them in triumph after the manner of a conqueror. The word is used here in a causative sense – the sense of the Hebrew Hiphil conjugation. It properly refers to a triumph; or a triumphal procession. Originally the word thriambos meant a hymn which was sung in honor of Bacchus; then the tumultuous and noisy procession which constituted the worship of the god of wine; and then any procession of a similar kind. – Passow. It was particularly applied among both the Greeks and the Romans to a public and solemn honor conferred on a victorious general on a return from a successful war in which he was allowed a magnificent entrance into the capital.

In these triumphs, the victorious commander was usually preceded or attended by the spoils of war; by the most valuable and magnificent articles which he had captured; and by the princes, nobles, generals, or people whom he had subdued. The victor was drawn in a magnificent chariot, usually by two white horses. Other animals were sometimes used. When Pompey triumphed over Africa, his chariot was drawn by elephants; that of Mark Antony was drawn by lions; that of Heliogabalus pulled by tigers; and that of Aurelius drawn by deer – Clark. The people of Corinth were not unacquainted with the nature of a triumph. About 147 years before Christ, Lucius Mummius, the Roman consul, had conquered all Achaia, and had destroyed Corinth, Thebes, and Colchis, and by order of the Roman Senate was favored with a triumph, and was surnamed Achaicus. Tyndale renders this place: Thanks be unto God which always giveth us the victory in Christ. Paul refers here to a victory which he had, and a triumph with which he was favored by the Redeemer. It was a victory over the enemies of the gospel; it was success in advancing the interests of the kingdom of Christ; and he rejoiced in that victory, and in that success, with more solid and substantial joy than a Roman victor ever felt on returning from his conquests over nations, even when attended with the richest spoils of victory, and by humbled princes and kings in chains, and when the assembled thousands shouted Io triumphe!

And maketh manifest – Makes known; spreads abroad – as a pleasant fragrance is diffused through the air.

The savor – ( osmen). The smell; the fragrance. The word in the New Testament is used to denote a pleasant or fragrant odor, as of incense, or aromatics; Joh 12:3 see Eph 5:2; Phi 4:18. There is an allusion here doubtless to the fact that in the triumphal processions fragrant odors were diffused around; flowers, diffusing a grateful smell, were scattered in the way; and on the altars of the gods incense was burned during the procession, and sacrifices offered, and the whole city was filled with the smoke of sacrifices, and with perfumes. So Paul speaks of knowledge – the knowledge of Christ. In his triumphings, the knowledge of the Redeemer was diffused abroad, like the odors which were diffused in the triumphal march of the conqueror. And that odor or savor was acceptable to God – as the fragrance of aromatics and of incense was pleasant in the triumphal procession of the returning victor. The phrase makes manifest the savor of his knowledge, therefore, means, that the knowledge of Christ was diffused everywhere by Paul, as the grateful smell of aromatics was diffused all around the triumphing warrior and victor. The effect of Pauls conquests everywhere was to diffuse the knowledge of the Saviour – and this was acceptable and pleasant to God – though there might be many who would not avail themselves of it, and would perish; see 2Co 2:15.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

2Co 2:14-16

Now thanks be to God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ.

Gods triumph and Pauls

The authorised translation at first sight strikes us as most suitable. Practically Paul had been engaged in a conflict with the Corinthians, and for a time it seemed not improbable that he might be beaten; but God caused him to triumph in Christ–i.e., acting in Christs interests, in matters in which Christs name and honour were at stake, the victory, as always, had remained with him. But there can be little doubt that the Revisers were right in translating leadeth us in triumph. The triumph is Gods, not the apostles. Paul is not the soldier who wins the battle and shouts for victory as he marches in the triumphal procession; he is the captive who is led in the conquerors train, and in whom men see the trophy of the conquerors power. When he says that God always leads him in triumph in Christ, the meaning is not perfectly obvious. He may intend to define, as it were, the area over which Gods victory extends. In everything which is covered by the name and authority of Christ, God triumphantly asserts His power over the apostle. Or he may mean that it is through Christ that Gods victorious power is put forth. These two meanings, of course, are not inconsistent, and practically they coincide. It cannot be denied, I think, if this is taken rigorously, that there is a certain air of irrelevance about it. It does not seem to be the purpose of the passage to say that God always triumphs over Paul and those for whom he speaks, or even that He always leads them in triumph. It is this feeling which mainly influences those who keep to A.V., and regard Paul as the victor. But the meaning of the original is not really open to doubt, and the semblance of the irrelevance disappears if we remember that we are dealing with a figure, and a figure which the apostle himself does not press. Of course, in an ordinary triumph, such as that of Claudius over Caractacus, of which Paul may easily have heard, the captives had no share in the victory; it was not only a victory over them, but against them. But when God wins a victory over man, and leads his captive in triumph, the captive too has an interest in what happens; it is the beginning of all triumphs, in any true sense, for him. If we apply this to the case before us, we shall see that the true meaning is not irrelevant. Paul had once been the enemy of God in Christ; he had fought against Him in his own soul, and in the Church which he persecuted and wasted. The battle had been long and strong, but not far from Damascus it had terminated in a mighty victory for God. There the mighty man fell, and the weapons of his warfare perished. His pride, his self-righteousness, his sense of superiority to others and of competence to attain to the righteousness of God, collapsed for ever, and he rose from the earth to be the slave of Jesus Christ. That was the beginning of Gods triumph over him; from that hour God led him in triumph in Christ. But it was the beginning also of all that made the apostles life itself a triumph–not a career of hopeless internal strife, such as it had been, but of unbroken Christian victory. So the only triumphs we can ever have, deserving the name, must begin with Christs triumph over us. This is the one possible source of joy untroubled. We may be as selfish as we please, and as successful in our selfishness; we may distance all our rivals in the race for the worlds prizes; we may appropriate and engross pleasure, wealth, knowledge, influence; and after all there will be one thing we must do without–the power and happiness of thanking God. No one will ever be able to thank God because he has succeeded in pleasing himself, be the mode of his self-pleasing as respectable as you will; and he who has not thanked God with a whole heart, without misgiving or reserve, does not know what joy is. Such thanksgiving and its joy have one condition: they rise up spontaneously in the soul when it allows God to triumph over it. When God appears in Christ, when, in the omnipotence of His love and purity and truth, He makes war on our pride and falsehood and lusts, and prevails against them, and brings us low, then we are admitted to the secret of this apparently perplexing passage; we know how natural it is to cry, Thanks be unto God, who in His victory over us giveth us the victory! Thanks be to Him who always leadeth us in triumph! It is out of an experience like this that Paul speaks; it is the key to his whole life, and it has been illustrated anew by what has just happened at Corinth. (J. Denney, B. D.)

The triumph of the Christian minister

The immediate occasion of St. Pauls expressing this sentiment was the glad tidings which he had received of the Church at Corinth, together with the door opened to him of the Lord at Troas.

I. The Christian ministers triumph.

1. The idea of a triumph implies that there has been a conquest achieved; surely the success of the gospel of Christ has now, as well as in the days of St. Paul, the best title to this distinction. We have not now, indeed, like the apostles, to resist the authority of learning and rank, but we have still the ignorant and obdurate heart of man to conquer; we have still to cope with the love of the world, the dominion of passion, and the force of evil customs; we have still to subdue the pride and presumption of men, and to induce them to be saved by faith in the death and sacrifice of Christ. The drunkard is to be made sober, the unjust righteous. And is there no triumph in accomplishing this?

2. We admit, indeed, that to the eye of sense there appears no splendour in achieving these victories.

3. But still, to the eye of piety and faith, there was, amidst all, a triumph. The very external ignominy, sufferings, and infirmities of the apostle, contrasted with the effects of his preaching on the hearts and lives of men, would only the more illustrate the surprising victory of the grace of God.

4. And in cases of remarkable revivals of religion, when the Word of God runs more rapidly and is glorified, may not the language of the text be applied in a still more full and appropriate sense? Is not this a magnificent triumph?

5. This triumph is described in the text to be in Christ, and that because it is gained entirely by His grace. It is not natural reason or the power or skill of the minister which can change a single heart.

6. It is also in Him because it is gained by His doctrine, and by that only. It is not by enticing words of mans wisdom, but by plainly exhibiting the simple truths of redemption, that men are converted unto God.

7. It is likewise a triumph in Christ because it is effected by the means of Gods appointment; not by force or persecution, but by a holy example and continual efforts and affectionate warnings and invitations addressed to the heart.

8. How superior is this triumph to every other!

II. The special blessings which the Christian minister communicates. And maketh manifest the savour of His knowledge by us in every place. There is always a proportion in the Holy Scripture between the description and the importance of the thing described. No triumph, no glorying is spoken of, except the occasion justly demands it. Thus, wherever the spiritual triumph of the apostle advanced, the knowledge of Christ, like a reviving odour, was diffused around, and men were refreshed and invigorated.

1. The knowledge of Christ is the leading blessing which the gospel confers. Other truths may be necessary as introductory to it or consequent upon it, but Christ, as the Saviour of sinners, is the basis and the substance of Christian doctrine.

2. The knowledge of Christ, strictly taken, more immediately regards the Divine person and grace of Jesus Christ, His glory as the eternal, incommunicable Word, His incarnation for our redemption, His obedience, sufferings, and death.

3. But who can describe fitly the savour of this knowledge? The mystery of redemption is not a cold abstract truth, like a subtle question in metaphysics, an obscure point in chronology, or a probable fact in history. It is something infinitely greater and more interesting than all these. There is, therefore, a savour, a fragrance, an unction, so to speak, in the knowledge of Christ. These expressions imply something of delight and refreshment in the doctrine of the Saviour which it is difficult adequately to describe. As a proof of this, ask only the guilty and self-condemned penitent. He will tell you there was a savour in the knowledge of Christ which no words can express. Inquire, again, of the afflicted, tempted, and perplexed Christian. He will rejoice to acknowledge, because he will have deeply felt, its unspeakable blessedness. Or ask the expiring Christian, as he lies on the bed of death. The name of Christ is to such persons as a reviving fragrance to the faint. This language may be regarded as tinctured with enthusiasm. We admit that the corrupt moral taste of men who have never so repented of sin as to abhor it, and therefore have never comprehended this doctrine aright, can find no sweetness or refreshment in it; but the holy and enlightened mind is not to be measured by the low, defective standard which is adapted to the sensual and immoral. Thus, in natural things, disease, it is true, may vitiate the organs, and the most exquisite perfumes may become in such cases offensive.

III. The gratitude which the apostle offers to God for this triumph. The language of the text is that of impassioned transport–Now thanks be unto God, etc. God, in the dispensation of His grace, uses such instruments as may best illustrate His own glory. And, indeed, if the Roman conqueror in his triumph is said to have deposited his golden crown in the lap of Jupiter when he arrived at the Capitol, and to have dedicated to him a part of the spoils which he had won, much more should the apostle of Christ cast his crown at the feet of his gracious Saviour, and devote all his acquisitions to His honour. The moment the minister of Christ, unfaithful to his trust, begins to glory in himself, and to ascribe his success to the might of his own power, he may expect to be deserted by his Lord. In comparison with such a triumph he will think nothing of his labours and anxieties.

1. Let us inquire, in the first place, whether we have indeed for ourselves obeyed the gospel of Christ. Have we considered the gospel in the manner in which the text represents it? Have we understood the triumph connected with it? Have we received the knowledge of Christ which it exhibits?

2. But, further, if, as I trust is the case with many of us, we have obeyed the gospel, let us inquire whether we are habitually acting agreeably to it. Are the effects of the victory evident? (D. Wilson, M. A.)

Gratitude presented

Now thanks be to God. These thanksgivings should be–

1. Ardent.

2. Constant.

3. Practical.

4. Indispensable to our happiness.

5. These thanksgivings will be eternal.

Hence these thanksgivings are–

1. Spiritual.

2. Public.

3. Private.

4. Costly.

5. Fiducial.

6. And Scriptural and holy. (T. B. Baker.)

The triumphal procession of the Christ

The Revised Version correctly alters the translation into Thanks be unto God, which always leadeth us in triumph in Christ. Paul thinks of himself and of his coadjutors in Christian work as being conquered captives, made to follow their Conqueror and to swell His triumph. He is thankful to be so overcome. What was deepest degradation is to him supreme honour. He maketh manifest–that is, visible–the savour of His knowledge. From a heart kindled by the flame of the Divine love there will go up the odour of a holy life.

I. First, then, let us look at that thought of all Christians being in the truest sense conquered captives, bound to the chariot wheels of one who has overcome them. The image implies prior state of hostility and alienation. Paul is speaking about himself here; he says, I was an enemy, and I have been conquered. What sort of an enemy was he? Well, he says that before he became a Christian he lived a pure, virtuous, respectable life. He was a man, as touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless. His conscience acquitted him of wrong, and yet he says, Notwithstanding all that, I was an enemy. Why? Because the retrospect let him see that his life was barren of the deepest faith and the purest love. That is the basis of the representation of my text. It suggests the wonderful struggle and victory of weaponless love. As was said about the first Christian emperor, so it may be said about the great Emperor in the heavens, In hoc signo vinces (By this sign thou shalt conquer!). For His only weapon is the Cross of His Son, and He fights only by the manifestation of infinite love, sacrifice, suffering, and pity. He conquers as the sun conquers the thick-ribbed ice by raying down its heat upon it, and melting it into sweet water. And what more does this first part of my text say to us? It tells us, too, of the true submission of the conquered captive. This picture of the triumph comes with a solemn appeal to every professing Christian. Think of these men, dragged at the conquerors chariot-wheels, abject, with their weapons broken, with their resistance quelled, chained, haled away from their own land, dependent for life or death on the caprice of the general that rode before them there. It is a picture of what you Christian men and women are bound to be if you believe that God in Christ has loved you. If we are thus won by infinite love, and not our own, but bought with a price, no conquered king, dragged at an emperors chariot-wheels, was ever half as absolutely bound to be his slave, and to live or die by his breath, as you are bound to your Master.

II. Now we have here, as part of the ideal of the Christian life, the conquered captives partaking in the triumph of their general. Two groups made up the triumphal procession–the one that of the soldiers who had fought for, the other that of the prisoners who had fought against, the leader. And some commentators are inclined to believe that the apostle is here thinking of himself and his fellows as belonging to the conquering army, and not to the conquered enemy. But be that as it may, it suggests to us this thought–that they who are conquered foes become conquering allies. Or, to put it into other words, to be triumphed over by Christ is to triumph with Christ. We may illustrate that thought–that to be triumphed over by Christ is to triumph with Christ–by such considerations as these. This submission, abject and unconditional, extending to life and death, is but another name for liberty. The man who is absolutely dependent upon Jesus Christ is absolutely independent of everything and everybody besides, himself included. If you give yourselves up to Jesus Christ, in the measure in which you give yourselves up to Him you will be set at liberty from the worst of all slaveries–that is, the slavery of your own will and your own weakness, and your own tastes and fancies. You will be set at liberty from the dependence upon men, from thinking about their opinion. You will be set at liberty from your dependence upon externals, from feeling as if you could not live unless you had this, that, or the other person or thing. If you have Christ for your Master you will be the masters of the world, and of time and sense and men and all besides; and so, being triumphed over by Him, you will share in His triumph. And, again, we may illustrate the same principle in yet another way. Such absolute submission of will and love is the highest honour of a man. It was a degradation to be dragged at the chariot-wheels of conquering general. But it is the highest ennobling of humanity that it shall lay itself down at Christs feet, and let Him put His foot upon its neck. And the same thought may be yet further illustrated. That submission so unites us to our Lord that we share in all that belongs to Him, and thus partake in His triumph.

III. Lastly, a further picture of the ideal of the Christian life is set before us here in the thought of these conquered captives being led as the trophies and the witnesses of his overcoming power. That idea is suggested by both halves of our verse. Both the emblem of the apostle as marching in the triumphal procession, and the emblem of the apostle as yielding from his burning heart the fragrant visible odour of the ascending incense, convey the same idea–viz., that one great purpose which Jesus Christ has in conquering men for Himself is that from them may go forth the witness of His power and the knowledge of His name. First, the fact that Jesus Christ, by His Cross and Passion, is able to conquer mens will, and to bind mens hearts to Him, is the highest proof of His power. It is an entirely unique thing in the history of the world. It stands as an unique fact in the history of the world that from Christ of Nazareth there rays out through all the ages the spiritual power which absolutely takes possession of men, dominates them, and turns them into His organs and instruments. Christ leads through the world the train of His captives, the evidence of His conquests. And then, further, let me remind you that out of this representation there comes a very solemn suggestion of duty for us Christian people. We are bound to live, setting forth whose we are, and what He has done for us. Still further, Pauls thanksgiving teaches us that we should be thankful for all opportunities of doing such work. So it comes to be a very solemn question for us–What part are we playing in that great triumphal procession? We are all of us marching at His chariot-wheels, whether we know it or not. But there were two sets of people in the old triumph. There were those who were conquered by force and unconquered in heart, and out of their eyes gleamed unquenchable malice and hatred, though their weapons were broken and their arms fettered. And there were those who, having yielded to become His soldiers, shared in His triumph and rejoiced in His rule. Which of the two parts of the procession do you belong to? The one live, the other perish. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)

The triumph of the gospel

I. The triumphs of the gospel by the apostles. They were triumphs–

1. Of truth over error.

2. Over persecution.

3. Over principles which dissocialised and oppressed society.

I select one–selfishness.

(1) See how this fatal principle operated among the heathen. Look at–

(a) Their poor. They had no almshouses or asylums.

(b) Their slaves, whose number was almost incredible. No laws were enacted for their protection, for they were hardly considered human beings.

(c) Their religion–no precepts of forgiveness or charity.

(2) Now took at the triumphs of Christianity over selfishness.

(a) The first general collection among the Gentile churches was for the relief of poor strangers. And I need not dwell upon the many affectionate precepts of our religion.

(b) As to slavery, Christianity teaches, As ye would that others should do unto you, do ye even so unto them. And so, when Onesimus was converted, the apostle exhorted Philemon to receive him, not now as a slave, but as a brother beloved.

(c) Look at Christian charity. If thy brother sin against thee seven times, etc.; In malice be ye children,

4. In the salvation of men. This was its noblest triumph; and in this it triumphed in every place.

(1) Over the ignorance and obduracy of men (1Co 14:24-25).

(2) Over their gloomy apprehensions of futurity. Christ came to deliver those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.

(3) Over their vices (1Co 6:9-11).

(4) Over death itself.

II. The agency by which they were effected. All is ascribed to a Divine agency, which was marked–

1. In the selection of the instruments. It belongs to God to send forth His labourers, and this supposes selection. There was the bold simplicity of Peter, the soft persuasiveness of John, the fire of Stephen, the pointed, searching, epigrammatic turn of James, the ardour, learning, and strength of Paul. I clear the ground, says Luther, and Melancthon scatters the seed. The learning and moderation of Cranmer, the judgment of Ridley, and the popular eloquence, the searching wit, and the downright honesty of Latimer, admirably qualified them to co-operate. The ordinary ministry. There are sons of thunder and sons of consolation, etc,

2. In their personal experience. The gospel triumphed over the early ministers of Christ before they triumphed over the world. So necessary is personal experience that neither preacher nor people can understand the gospel efficiently without it. Who can know what true repentance is but by his own brokenness of heart? Who can know what faith is but by the personal possession and exercise of that principle? In the same manner only can any man understand the nature of a holy walk with God, of spiritual conflicts, and the renewal of the heart. Here, then, was the agency of God. He hath reconciled us to Himself by Jesus Christ, and hath committed unto us the ministry of reconciliation.

3. In the effects produced–the salvation of men; and we need only fix upon the salvation of one individual to prove the direct agency of God.

III. The instrument by which all this is effected: the preaching of the gospel; the manifestation of the odour of the knowledge of Christ. Odours, much used in the east, revived the languid and refreshed the weary in those hot climates, and hence they afforded a natural and elegant figure to express whatever was grateful and reviving to the mind. What, then, was there in the knowledge of Christ to warrant this representation of it?

1. Its authority. That which has no authority from God is not religion, properly speaking; but here comes a religion from God, stamped and sealed as such, visibly, and in sight of all. Behold, then, the reason of its reviving and grateful odour to the saved. Want they truth? It is here assured to them; for what is from God is light, and no darkness at all. Inquire they for the will of their Maker? Here He had prescribed it Himself. Feel they the need of an atonement? Here God Himself had provided the Lamb for a burnt-offering. Need they the comfort of promises? Here they were found proceeding from lips which could not lie. Inquire they after future being? The resurrection and ascension of Christ had deprived death of its sting, and brought life and immortality to light.

2. Its adaptation. There was nothing here but what the case of man required, and there was everything that it did require. (R. Watson.)

The triumph of the gospel

I. Gospel successes set forth under the image of a triumph. Pauls eye was resting upon a great future of moral conquest; truth making victorious way against all the powers that could oppose its progress. In this light let us investigate the fitness of the apostles allusion.

1. Was not the first planting of Christianity a great triumph? The religion which Christianity had to overthrow was sanctioned by antiquity, supported by power, defended by talent, nourished by rank and influence, and loved by its votaries, by reason of the sanction it gave to their crimes. Yet all this magnificent system crumbled into dust before the mighty power of the gospel.

2. The gospel triumphed over bigotry and persecution and pride. Ten persecutions wasted the infant Church, yet it spread further and wider for the mighty desolation.

3. The gospel was victorious over the selfishness, oppression, and all the social miseries of the heathen. The heathen lived only to themselves; of blessing and benefiting others they had not the slightest notion.

4. The gospel won its victories over the spiritual wretchedness of the heathen, over their gloomy apprehensions of futurity, over the wretched feeling of moral alienation.

II. The agency by which these triumphs were achieved.

1. The originating cause is manifestly God Himself. Not thanks to ministers, that they preach so zealously; to the people, that they hear so willingly; but unto God, which hath put such a victorious energy into His Word. In nothing does the apostles humility shine more beautifully than in this. And if we look at the nature of conversion we must see in it a Divine agency. We need not take the case of a continent or of a city; enough that we take the instance of one solitary soul. For what is the condition of that soul by nature? What are the moral requirements to be found in us before the gospel can triumph over our natural reluctance, and the savour of the knowledge of Christ be made manifest to our souls? Is it intellectual light only that a man wants? If it be, then Paul or Apollos were of themselves adequate to the task. But the unconverted soul wants changed affections; it wants to have its carnal enmity destroyed; it wants to have all its inborn antipathies transformed into the love of God; and all this is to be accomplished, not by might, not by power, but by My Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts.

2. Though God is the sole and efficient cause of all missionary triumphs, He disdains not to employ under Him secondary and subordinate agencies.

III. The outward means by which these gospel triumphs are to be achieved. The image suggests how grateful it is to men once fainting under the apprehension of deserved condemnation, and weary with attempts to make a righteousness for themselves, to have their eyes opened to a knowledge of Christ and all the abounding consolation of His gospel. Once they were blind, now they see; once they were under bondage and fear, now they have a good conscience; once they were children of the wicked one, now are they the sons of God. (D. Moore, M. A.)

The course of truth

I. The glorious progress of the gospel in apostolic times.

1. It was triumphant. The apostle did not find the hearts of men easy of access, so that he had but to enter and take possession.

2. It was intelligent. The apostles did not go forth demanding a blind and unquestioning acquiescence. The progress of the gospel was victory over darkness and ignorance; the victory, not of the secular sword, but of the sacred pen and the tongue of fire.

3. It was constant. Always causeth us to triumph, in every place. Sometimes it seemed doubtful which would win, truth or error; but it soon became decided that faith was the stronger, that more was with it than all that could be against it.

4. It was beneficent. The march of the army of King Jesus was not like the march of the conquering armies of Greece and Rome.

II. The glorious secret of the progress of the gospel in apostolic times. Now thanks be unto God, etc.

1. The apostle acknowledged that God was the author of the progress. He felt it was with God that he had to do.

2. The apostle acknowledged that Christ was the agent of the progress. Triumph in Christ. Jesus had been the agent in the great work of human redemption.

3. The apostle acknowledged that man was the instrument of the progress. Causeth us to triumph; By us in every place. What a wonderful blending of workers–God, Christ, us–the union of Divine power and human instrumentality! Apostles did not originate the gospel, they received it. Let every Christian worker learn from this the source and secret of success in the work of the Lord. (F. W. Brown.)

The ministry of the gospel

I. The absolute or real character of the gospel.

1. What anything is, is determined by what it is to God. Things are to us what we are to them. Light is most pleasant to the healthful eye, but nothing is more pernicious when it is diseased; food, in certain conditions of the body, will be as prejudicial as poison, and poison as beneficial as food. And there are who call evil good and good evil, etc. And, similarly, God is to us what we are to Him.

2. In itself the gospel is Gods spell, a message from God possessed of a charm. He that hath ears to hear it will be won by it; but the wicked, who are like the deaf adder, will not hearken to the voice of the charmer, charm he never so wisely. In the gospel God appears in all the attractive attributes of His grace, that He may regain the alienated affections of His rebellious children.

3. It was not only declared by, but embodied in, Jesus, who was set forth to reveal the Father in His relations to a sinful world. Apart from Christ, man has no true knowledge of God, and is without hope. In Christ God is personally manifested and personally present. His message in the gospel is embodied in His messenger. Christ not only proclaims, but is the gospel. His name is as perfume poured forth–the diffusion of the sweet savour of the knowledge of God.

4. He is this because He is the manifestation of that which is the very soul of personality–Love. In the wide circumference of things God has gone forth in the division of His powers, but in Christ His deep central unity appears–His love. He who possesses the love of another possesses that other. God is Love, and the gospel is its complete display.

5. The gospel also reveals the depth of love in its wisdom. There is nothing so wise as love. God is the only wise God, because He is Love. The restoration of alienated man is the problem in the solution of which the love of God displays the marvellous resources of its wisdom. In the gospel the practical intelligence of the Divine love makes such a display of the Divine character that it appeals to all the influential motives operative on mans nature, so that, if he is not won by it, he is left without excuse, and God is left to lament, What more could have been done to My vineyard that I have not done in it? etc. O Jerusalem, how often would I have gathered, etc.

6. The gospel also taxes to the utmost the resources of the Divine love and wisdom combined. Love takes counsel of wisdom how to make the most effective appeal to the sinners heart, and wisdom calls upon love for that winning display of the Divine goodness which looks upon the sinner with mercy whilst it exercises vengeance on his sin. It was with tears Christ pronounced the doom of Jerusalem. Mercy is that look of wisdom and love which pities where righteousness blames.

7. But the gospel is also the display of mercy in its deepest agony of effort! It is the Divine tragedy in which the Good Shepherd lays down His life for the sheep, in which sin is judged, condemned, and slain, and the sinner justified, liberated, and restored.

(1) No wonder Paul felt the proclamation of its glad tidings to be the celebration of a triumph of God. The angels sang, Glory to God in the highest, as the preface to their song of peace on earth, goodwill toward men.

(2) And no wonder that preachers of this gospel were unto God a sweet savour of Christ. What can be so pleasant to love as that of being made known? What so fragrant to God as the diffusion of the sweet mystery of the Cross, to the intent that now unto principalities and powers, etc. And just as the scattered flowers, fragrant shrubs, and sweet incense breathed forth a perfume of sweet savour before the advancing ranks in the triumphal procession, irrespective of its effects on victor and vanquished, so, irrespective of its consequences with respect to those who hear the gospel, the ministry of its glad tidings is unto God the diffusion of a sweet savour.

II. Its critical influence as seen in its opposite effects on those to whom it is preached. The gospel embodies the wisdom and power of the Divine love in their endeavour to meet the requirements of mans sin, and is in itself perfectly adapted as the chosen body of truth to radiate the influence of the Holy Spirit, to awaken the mind, arouse the conscience, subdue the heart, and reform the whole nature. In it God appeals to us by motives which He knows to be influential, which exercise a constraining power on the thoughts, affections, and will, and in which He is mighty to save.

2. The effect, therefore, on those who listen to it must be great. We cannot come under the ministry of the gospel and remain-the same as we were before we heard it. It either subdues or hardens, alienates or reconciles, kills or cures. What it may be to us is dependent on the disposition we exercise towards it. We bring to it what determines its effect. The gospel changes not; it is always, in itself considered, the power of God unto salvation; but its effects on us vary with our varying dispositions. To those who seek peace God is a God of peace, but to those who strive with Him He is a man of war.

3. To the one we are the savour of life unto life. The ministry of the grace of God in Christ is the breathing forth of a spiritual essence fragrant with life. It has the power of life; of the sweetness, joy, beauty of life.

4. To the other the savour of death unto death. Paul felt acutely that he could not be the minister of the word of life to men without increasing their responsibility. For in proportion to its quickening power of life in those who receive it does it work death in those who refuse to accept it. Just as the balmy, life-giving breezes of spring bring life to the constitutionally sound, but death to those radically diseased, so is it with the gospel. To some it is life to hear it, to others death unto death–the death of indifference to the death of obduracy; the death of ignorance and darkness to that of light and knowledge having become darkness; the death of hopelessness to that of despair. The height of privilege bestowed upon man in the offer of the gospel is antithetic to the depth of ignominy which its rejection involves. (W. Pulsford, D. D.)

The ministers manifesto

I. The ministry in its relation to God.

1. It is of God.

(1) As having been instituted by Him.

(2) Because He called men specially to occupy it.

2. It is under the special inspection of God. In the sight of God speak we in Christ, Feeling this, Paul was particularly careful–

(1) Not to corrupt or adulterate the Word of God, to make merchandise of it–i.e., to make it more marketable by a little politic admixture of things more to the taste of the people.

(2) To be himself actuated in his work by the purest motives. But as of sincerity. This sincerity applies to the preacher just as the incorruptibility applies to the gospel. Here, then, we have a pure preacher and a pure gospel.

3. It will be approved of God, whatever be its effects upon men (verse 15). Sweet savour always indicates approval. This is the expression generally used to denote the acceptableness of an offering.

II. The different effects of this ministry upon men (verse 16).

1. To the saved–life. The savour of life means that which produces life and nurtures it.

2. To the lost or perishing–death (2Co 4:3; 1Pe 3:7-8). There are certain conditions pertaining to certain men which convert the means of life into an instrument of death. The sun, which converts the generous soil into a fruitful garden, reduces the clay to the hardness of a stone. So is it morally, only with a great difference. The clay is not responsible, but men are responsible. One thing, then, is clear–no one will escape Without some effects from the ministry. What is there more beautiful than the sunbeams? Yet there are some objects which can convert them into a consuming fire. So there are moral characters which transform the loving, life-giving gospel into an instrument of destruction; in short, cause the God of love to become to them a consuming fire.

III. The demand of the ministry upon the minister.

1. The unspeakably solemn character of the results of the ministry demands the gravest and most prayerful thought, and the greatest anxiety for the salvation of souls. Note, for example, the surgeon when performing some critical surgical operation that might be for life or death to the patient. So careful and deeply anxious is he that he will not operate except in association with others. The preaching of the gospel is an inexpressibly solemn operation that may affect men for weal or for woe to eternity. And, knowing this, how natural to ask, Who is sufficient for these things?

2. But this sense of insufficiency ought not to be confounded with helplessness; on the contrary, it makes a minister all the more strenuous and unsparing in applying his entire energies to the work (Col 1:29).

IV. The ministrys encouragements and source of confidence. (verse 14). Whatever be the difficulties of the work, however great our fears and deep our sense of insufficiency, over against them we have God assuring us the victory. Through God the gospel is always having the victory. Much as it has been opposed and persecuted, yet God has always caused it to triumph. (A. J. Parry.)

And maketh manifest the savour of His knowledge by us in every place.—

The savour of Divine knowledge

The expression was suggested by the figure of the triumph which was present to his mind in all its details. Incense smoked on every altar as the victors passed through the streets of Rome; the fragrant steam floated over the procession, a silent proclamation of victory and joy. So the knowledge of Christ, the apostle tells us, was a fragrant thing. True, he was not a free man, but Christs captive. Necessity was laid upon him, but what a gracious necessity it was! The love of Christ constraineth us. The Roman captives made manifest the knowledge of their conqueror; they declared to all his power; there was nothing in that knowledge to suggest the idea of fragrance. But as Paul moved through the world, all who had eyes to see saw in him, not only the power, but the sweetness of Gods redeeming love. The mighty Victor made manifest through him, not only His might, but His charm; not only His greatness, but His grace. It was a good thing men felt to be subdued and led in triumph like Paul; it was to move in an atmosphere perfumed by the love of Christ, as the air around the Roman conqueror was perfumed with incense. Savour, in connection with the knowledge of God in Christ, has its most direct application, of course, to preaching. When we proclaim the gospel, do we always succeed in manifesting it as a savour? Or is not the savour–the sweetness and charm of it–the very thing that is left out? We miss what is most characteristic in the knowledge of God if we miss this. We leave out the very element which makes the gospel evangelic, and gives it its power to subdue and enchain the souls of men. But, wherever Christ is leading a single soul in triumph, the fragrance of the gospel goes forth in proportion as His triumph is complete. There is sure to be that in the life which will reveal the graciousness, as well as the omnipotence, of the Saviour. And it is this virtue which God uses as His main witness, His chief instrument, to evangelise the world. In every relation of life it should tell. Nothing is so insuppressible, so pervasive, as fragrance. The lowliest life which Christ is really leading in triumph will speak infallibly and pervasively for Him. (J. Denney, B. D.)

Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell

Verse 14. Now, thanks be unto God] His coming dispelled all my fears, and was the cause of the highest satisfaction to my mind; and filled my heart with gratitude to God, who is the Author of all good, and who always causes us to triumph in Christ; not only gives us the victory, but such a victory as involves the total ruin of our enemies; and gives us cause of triumphing in him, through whom we have obtained this victory.

A triumph, among the Romans, to which the apostle here alludes, was a public and solemn honour conferred by them on a victorious general, by allowing him a magnificent procession through the city.

This was not granted by the senate unless the general had gained a very signal and decisive victory; conquered a province, c. On such occasions the general was usually clad in a rich purple robe, interwoven with figures of gold, setting forth the grandeur of his achievements his buskins were beset with pearls, and he wore a crown, which at first was of laurel, but was afterwards of pure gold. In one hand he had a branch of laurel, the emblem of victory; and in the other, his truncheon. He was carried in a magnificent chariot, adorned with ivory and plates of gold, and usually drawn by two white horses. (Other animals were also used: when Pompey triumphed over Africa, his chariot was drawn by elephants; that of Mark Antony, by lions; that of Heliogabalus, by tigers; and that of Aurelius, by deer.) His children either sat at his feet in the chariot, or rode on the chariot horses. To keep him humble amidst these great honours a slave stood at his back, casting out incessant railings, and reproaches; and carefully enumerating all his vices, c. Musicians led up the procession, and played triumphal pieces in praise of the general and these were followed by young men, who led the victims which were to be sacrificed on the occasion, with their horns gilded, and their heads and necks adorned with ribbons and garlands. Next followed carts loaded with the spoils taken from the enemy, with their horses, chariots, c. These were followed by the kings, princes, or generals taken in the war, loaded with chains. Immediately after these came the triumphal chariot, before which, as it passed, the people strewed flowers, and shouted Io, triumphe!

The triumphal chariot was followed by the senate and the procession was closed by the priests and their attendants, with the different sacrificial utensils, and a white ox, which was to be the chief victim. They then passed through the triumphal arch, along the via sacra to the capitol, where the victims were slain.

During this time all the temples were opened, and every altar smoked with offerings and incense.

The people at Corinth were sufficiently acquainted with the nature of a triumph: about two hundred years before this, Lucius Mummius, the Roman consul, had conquered all Achaia, destroyed Corinth, Thebes, and Chalcis; and, by order of the senate, had a grand triumph, and was surnamed Achaicus. St. Paul had now a triumph (but of a widely different kind) over the same people; his triumph was in Christ, and to Christ he gives all the glory; his sacrifice was that of thanksgiving to his Lord; and the incense offered on the occasion caused the savour of the knowledge of Christ to be manifested in every place. As the smoke of the victims and incense offered on such an occasion would fill the whole city with their perfume, so the odour of the name and doctrine of Christ filled the whole of Corinth and the neighbouring regions; and the apostles appeared as triumphing in and through Christ, over devils, idols, superstition, ignorance, and vice, wherever they came.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ: the translation of the Greek here is not certain; for to translate it word for word, it is: But thanks be to God always, triumphing us in Christ; which makes it uncertain, whether there be not a defect of a preposition, upon the supply of which it would be, who triumpheth over us in Christ, having subdued our hearts to the kingdom and obedience of Christ. But the most interpreters rather agree with our translators, and think the sense of the apostle is who maketh us to triumph. In the Hebrew there is a conjugation, where the active verb signifieth to make another to do a thing; and there are several instances brought by learned men out of the Septuagint, where the active verb in the Greek also hath that sense; that which cometh nearest it in the original in holy writ, is that, Rom 8:26, where the Spirit is said to make intercession for us, because it causeth us to make intercession. According to this, the sense is: Blessed be God, who though we meet with many enemies, yet through Christ he maketh us more than conquerors, Rom 8:37, so that we are not overcome by any of them, but, on the contrary, we triumph over them as conquered by us.

And maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place; and this by manifesting by us in every place

the savour of the knowledge of Christ; that is, of the gospel. He calleth it a savour, either with allusion to that sweet perfumed ointment, with which the high priest, under the law, was anointed, Exo 30:23; Psa 133:2; or with reference to the incense used also under the law; or with relation to Solomons expression, Son 1:3, where we read of the savour of Christs good ointments, and that his name is as an ointment poured forth. By the savour of the knowledge of Christ here mentioned, the apostle plainly meaneth the reputation or good report that the gospel had in every place: see Hos 14:7.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

14. NowGreek, “But.”Though we left Troas disappointed in not meeting Titus there, and inhaving to leave so soon so wide a door, “thanks be unto God,”we were triumphantly blessed in both the good news of you from Titus,and in the victories of the Gospel everywhere in our progress. Thecause of triumph cannot be restricted (as ALFORDexplains) to the former; for “always,” and “in everyplace,” show that the latter also is intended.

causeth us to triumphTheGreek, is rather, as in Col2:15, “triumphs over us”: “leadeth us in triumph.”Paul regarded himself as a signal trophy of God’s victorious power inChrist. His Almighty Conqueror was leading him about, through all thecities of the Greek and Roman world, as an illustrious example of Hispower at once to subdue and to save. The foe of Christ was now theservant of Christ. As to be led in triumph by man is the mostmiserable, so to be led in triumph by God is the most glorious, lotthat can befall any [TRENCH].Our only true triumphs are God’s triumphs over us. His defeats of usare our only true victories [ALFORD].The image is taken from the triumphal procession of a victoriousgeneral. The additional idea is perhaps included, whichdistinguishes God’s triumph from that of a human general, that thecaptive is brought into willing obedience (2Co10:5) to Christ, and so joins in the triumph: God “leadshim in triumph” as one not merely triumphed over, butalso as one triumphing over God’s foes with God (which lastwill apply to the apostle’s triumphant missionary progress under theleading of God). So BENGEL:”Who shows us in triumph, not [merely] as conquered, butas the ministers of His victory. Not only the victory, but the open’showing’ of the victory is marked: for there follows, Who makethmanifest.”

savourretaining theimage of a triumph. As the approach of the triumphal procession wasmade known by the odor of incense scattered far and wide bythe incense-bearers in the train, so God “makes manifest by us”(His now at once triumphed over and triumphing captives, compare Lu5:10, “Catch,” literally, “Take captive so as topreserve alive”) the sweet savor of the knowledge of Christ, thetriumphant Conqueror (Col 2:15),everywhere. As the triumph strikes the eyes, so the savor thenostrils; thus every sense feels the power of Christ’s Gospel. Thismanifestation (a word often recurring in his Epistles to theCorinthians, compare 1Co 4:5)refutes the Corinthian suspicions of his dishonestly, byreserve, hiding anything from them (2Co 2:17;2Co 4:2).

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

Now thanks be unto God,…. The apostle having mentioned the door that was opened for him at Troas, to preach the Gospel with success, calls to mind the great and manifold appearances of God for him and his fellow ministers, in blessing their labours to the conversion of many souls; which causes him to break forth into thanksgiving to God, on this account: what he takes notice of, and is thankful to God for is, that he

always causeth us to triumph in Christ; not only had done so, but continued to do so: some versions ascribe this act of triumph to God, as his act, reading the passage thus, “now thanks be unto God, who triumphs over us”, or “by us in Christ”; who has conquered us by his grace, and made use of us as instruments for the conversion of sinners; and so first triumphed over us, having subdued us to himself, and then over others by us, in whose hearts the arrows of his word have been sharp and powerful: so the word is used for the person’s own act of triumph spoken of, Co 2:15, but here it signifies, as words do in the Hebrew conjugation “Hiphil”, which most commonly denotes an effect upon another, or which is caused and produced in another, and is rightly rendered, “which causeth us to triumph”; and refers not to the triumph of faith, common with the apostles to other believers; though this is in Christ, in his righteousness, death, resurrection, ascension, session at God’s right hand, and intercession; and is what God causes, and to whom thanks is to be given for it: but this is a triumph peculiar to ministers of the Gospel, who are made to triumph over men and devils, over the world, the reproaches, persecutions, smiles, and flatteries of it; over wicked men, by silencing them, stopping the mouths of gainsayers, refuting false teachers, and preserving the Gospel pure, in spite of all opposition; and by being made useful to the turning of many souls from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God: and this is

in Christ: it is owing to the victory he has got; it is by his strength, it is in his name, for his sake, and because of his glory herein concerned: and

always; wherever the ministers of Christ are called to labour, and wherever the Gospel is purely and powerfully preached by them, some good is done; and they are made to triumph over hell and earth, over sin, Satan, and the world; and for all this, thanks is due to God; for he it is that causes them to triumph, or they never could; as will easily appear, if we consider what poor weak instruments they themselves are; what opposition is made against them; what wonderful things are done by them; by what means they triumph, by the preaching of the cross, and that in the midst of the greatest pressures and afflictions. Thanks are also given to God, that he

maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place; by “his knowledge” is meant, either the knowledge of God, who causes the ministers of the Gospel to triumph; or the knowledge of Christ, in whom they triumph; or rather of both, of the knowledge of God in Christ; and designs the Gospel, which is the means thereof: and which is said to have a “savour” in it, and denotes the acceptableness of it to sensible souls; and the good name, fame, and credit, which Christ has by the faithful ministration of it; and is an allusion to So 1:3. Now this, God is said to make manifest; it was hid before, hid in himself, and to the sons of men; it was like a box of ointment shut, but now opened by the preaching of the word, which diffuses a fragrant smell; and therefore he is said to make it manifest “by us”: the ministers of the Gospel, who openly, boldly, and faithfully preach it; and “by manifestation of the truth”; spread the savour of it, and that “in every place”, where they come; their commission being at large, to go into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

But thanks be unto God ( ). Sudden outburst of gratitude in contrast to the previous dejection in Troas. Surely a new paragraph should begin here. In point of fact Paul makes a long digression from here to 6:10 on the subject of the Glory of the Christian Ministry as Bachmann points out in his Kommentar (p. 124), only he runs it from 2:12-7:1 (Aus der Tiefe in die Hohe, Out of the Depths to the Heights). We can be grateful for this emotional outburst, Paul’s rebound of joy on meeting Titus in Macedonia, for it has given the world the finest exposition of all sides of the Christian ministry in existence, one that reveals the wealth of Paul’s nature and his mature grasp of the great things in service for Christ. See my The Glory of the Ministry (An Exposition of II Cor. 2:12-6:10).

Always (). The sense of present triumph has blotted out the gloom at Troas.

Leadeth in triumph (). Late common Koine word from (Latin triumphus, a hymn sung in festal processions to Bacchus). Verbs in – (like , to make disciples) may be causative, but no example of has been found with this meaning. It is always to lead in triumph, in papyri sometimes to make a show of. Picture here is of Paul as captive in God’s triumphal procession.

The savour ( ). In a Roman triumph garlands of flowers scattered sweet odour and incense bearers dispensed perfumes. The knowledge of God is here the aroma which Paul had scattered like an incense bearer.

Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament

Causeth to triumph [] . This rendering is inadmissible, the word being habitually used with the accusative (direct objective) case of the person or thing triumphed over, and never of the triumphing subject. Hence, to lead in triumph. It occurs only here and Col 2:15. It is not found in any Greek author later than Paul ‘s date. It is derived from qriambov a hymn to Bacchus, sung in festal processions, and was used to denote the Roman “triumph,” celebrated by victorious generals on their return from their campaigns. The general entered the city in a chariot, preceded by the captives and spoils taken in war, and followed by his troops, and proceeded in state along the sacred way to the Capitol, where he offered sacrifices in the temple of Jupiter. He was accompanied in his chariot by his young children, and sometimes by confidential friends, while behind him stood a slave, holding over his head a jewelled crown. The body of the infantry brought up the rear, their spears adorned with laurel. They shouted “triumph !” and sang hymns in praise of the gods or of their leader. Paul describes himself and the other subjects of Christ ‘s grace under the figure of this triumphal pomp, in which they are led as trophies of the Redeemer’s conquest. 140 Render, as Rev., which always leadeth us in triumph in Christ. Compare ch. 10 5.

The savor of His knowledge. According to the Greek usage, savor and knowledge are in apposition, so that the knowledge of Christ is symbolized as an odor communicating its nature and efficacy through the apostle ‘s work, “permeating the world as a cloud of frankincense” (Stanley). For a similar usage see on ch. 2Co 1:22. The idea of the Roman triumph is still preserved in this figure. On these occasions the temples were all thrown open, garlands of flowers decorated every shrine and image, and incense smoked on every altar, so that the victor was greeted with a cloud of perfume. Compare Aeschylus on the festivities at the return of Agamemnon from Troy :

“The altars blaze with gifts; And here and there, heaven high the torch uplifts Flame, – medicated with persuasions mild, With foul admixture unbeguiled – Of holy unguent, from the clotted chrism Brought from the palace, safe in its abysm.” ” Agamemnon, ” 91 – 96, Browning’s Translation.

Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament

TRIUMPH OF THE MINISTRY

1) “Now thanks be unto God,” (to de theo charis) “But thanks to God, ‘ a ‘doxology of praise into which Paul drifted from the main topic, until 2Co 6:11.

2) “Which always causeth us to triumph in Christ,” (to pantote chriombeuonti hemas ento Christo) “The one (who) always (is) leading us to triumph, victory or to overcome in Christ,” 1Co 15:57; Rom 8:28; Rev 12:10-11.

3) “And maketh manifest the, savour of his knowledge,” (kai ten osmen tes gneseos autou phanerountu) “and who is manifesting the fragrance (pleasantness) of the knowledge of him,” through obedient light-bearing, witnessing, and perseverance in the work of the master, Mat 5:13-16; Act 1:8; Gal 6:9. During a triumph after battle in ancient times sweet spices were strewn in the streets.

4) “By us in every place,” (di’ humon en panti topo) “Through us in every locality,” place or area. The “us” refers to Paul and his companions in travel, in every locality they traveled, first and, in a secondary sense, the doxology seems to embrace the triumphant view that all believers who are found doing God’s will are a fragrant manifestation of His salvation and life in every locality; 1Jn 5:4; Rev 12:10-11.

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

14. But thanks be to God Here he again glories in the success of his ministry, and shows that he had been far from idle in the various places he had visited; but that he may do this in no invidious way, he sets out with a thanksgiving, which we shall find him afterwards repeating. Now he does not, in a spirit of ambition, extol his own actions, that his name may be held in renown, nor does he, in mere pretense, give thanks to God in the manner of the Pharisee, while lifted up, in the mean time, with pride and arrogance. (Luk 18:11.) Instead of this, he desires from his heart, that whatever is worthy of praise, be recognised as the work of God alone, that his power alone may be extolled. Farther, he recounts his own praises with a view to the advantage of the Corinthians, that, on hearing that he had served the Lord with so much fruit in other places, they may not allow his labor to be unproductive among themselves, and may learn to respect his ministry, which God everywhere rendered so glorious and fruitful. For what God so illustriously honors, it is criminal to despise, or lightly esteem. Nothing was more injurious to the Corinthians, than to have an unfavorable view of Paul’s Apostleship and doctrine: nothing, on the other hand, was more advantageous, than to hold both in esteem. Now he had begun to be held in contempt by many, and hence, it was not his duty to be silent. In addition to this, he sets this holy boasting in opposition to the revilings of the wicked.

Who causeth us to triumph If you render the word literally, it will be, Qui nos triumphat — Who triumpheth over us. (338) Paul, however, means something different from what this form of expression denotes among the Latins. (339) For captives are said to be triumphed over, when, by way of disgrace, they are bound with chains and dragged before the chariot of the conqueror. Paul’s meaning, on the other hand, is, that he was also a sharer in the triumph enjoyed by God, because it had been gained by his instrumentality, just as the lieutenants accompanied on horseback the chariot of the chief general, as sharers in the honor. (340) As, accordingly, all the ministers of the gospel fight under God’s auspices, so they also procure for him the victory and the honor of the triumph; (341) but, at the same time, he honors each of them with a share of the triumph, according to the station assigned him in the army, and proportioned to the exertions made by him. Thus they enjoy, as it were, a triumph, but it is God’s rather than theirs. (342)

He adds, in Christ, in whose person God himself triumphs, inasmuch as he has conferred upon him all the glory of empire. Should any one prefer to render it thus: “Who triumphs by means of us,” even in that way a sufficiently consistent meaning will be made out.

The odor of his knowledge. The triumph consisted in this, that God, through his instrumentality, wrought powerfully and gloriously, perfuming the world with the health-giving odor of his grace, while, by means of his doctrine, he brought some to the knowledge of Christ. He carries out, however, the metaphor of odor, by which he expresses both the delectable sweetness of the gospel, and its power and efficacy for inspiring life. In the mean time, Paul instructs them, that his preaching is so far from being savourless, that it quickens souls by its very odor. Let us, however, learn from this, that those alone make right proficiency in the gospel, who, by the sweet fragrance of Christ, are stirred up to desire him, so as to bid farewell to the allurements of the world.

He says in every place, intimating by these words, that he went to no place in which he did not gain some fruit, and that, wherever he went, there was to be seen some reward of his labor. The Corinthians were aware, in how many places he had previously sowed the seed of Christ’s gospel. He now says, that the last corresponded with the first. (343)

(338) “ Qui triomphe tousiours de nous;” — “Who always triumpheth over us.”

(339) “ Θριαμβεύειν with the accusative is used here like the hiphil of the Hebrew in the same way as μαθητεύειν (to make a disciple) (Mat 13:52.) βασιλεύειν (to make a king) (1Sa 8:22) and others.” — Billroth on the Corinthians. — Bib. Cab. No. 23, p. 181 The meaning is — “maketh us to triumph.” — Ed.

(340) On such occasions the legati (lieutenants) of the general, and military tribunes, commonly rode by his side. (See Cic. Pis. 25.) — Ed.

(341) “A triumph among the Romans, to which the Apostle here alludes, was a public and solemn honor conferred by them on a victorious general, by allowing him a magnificent procession through the city. This was not granted by the senate unless the general had gained a very signal and decisive victory; conquered a province, etc. […] The people at Corinth were sufficiently acquainted with the nature of a triumph: about two hundred years before this, Lucius Mummius, the Roman consul, had conquered all Achaia, destroyed Corinth, Thebes, and Chalcis; and, by order of the senate, had a grand triumph, and was surnamed Achaicus. ” — Dr. A. Clarke. — Ed.

(342) “ C’est plustot au nom de Dieu, que en leur propre nom;” — “It is in God’s name, rather than in their own.”

(343) “ La benediction de Dieu continue sur son ministere comme on l’y auoit apperceue au commencement;” — “The blessing of God continues upon his ministry, as they had seen it do at the beginning.”

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

Butlers Commentary

SECTION 3

Destiny (2Co. 2:14-17)

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, 16to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things? 17For we are not, like so many, peddlers of Gods word; but as men of sincerity, as commissioned by God, in the sight of God we speak in Christ.

2Co. 2:14-16 Earnest: The vocation of a minister of Gods word is conducive to loneliness. Because they preached the truth, the ancient Hebrew prophets were men who had to suffer loneliness. Jeremiah is the classic, of course, but even Elijah thought that he was the only one who stood for truth in all Israel in his day (1Ki. 19:14-18). Jesus had to suffer the loneliness of being misunderstood and disbelieved by his own family!

Pauls words here are well paraphrased by J. B. Phillips:

Thanks be to God who leads us, wherever we are, on Christs triumphant way and makes our knowledge of him spread throughout the world like a lovely perfume! We Christians have the unmistakable scent of Christ, discernible alike to those who are being saved and to those who are heading for death. To the latter it seems like the deathly smell of doom, to the former it has the refreshing fragrance of life itself.

Paul is portraying the earnestness of the ministry of the gospel here. It is a life and death ministry. Some (a minority) will welcome the man preaching the truth of God as a refreshing fragrance of life itself. Others (the majority) will be offended at the minister of the gospel because he discerns in his message the unmistakable smell of doom!

The imagery used by the apostle to portray the awesomeness of a gospel preachers task is taken from the Roman triumphal ceremony. We here quote from William Barclay, The Letters to the Corinthians, Daily Study Bible Series, pgs. 183184.

In his mind is the picture of a Roman Triumph and of Christ as a universal conqueror. The highest honour which could be given to a victorious Roman general was a Triumph. To attain it he must satisfy certain conditions. He must have been the actual commander-in-chief in the field. The campaign must have been completely finished, the region pacified and the victorious troops brought home. Five thousand of the enemy at least must have fallen in one engagement. A positive extension of territory must have been gained, and not merely a disaster retrieved or an attack repelled. And the victory must have been won over a foreign foe and not in a civil war.

In a Triumph the procession of the victorious general marched through the streets of Rome to the Capital 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 shew-bread 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 sceptre 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 Io triumphe! their cry of triumph. As the procession moved through the streets, all decorated and garlanded, amid the cheering crowds, it made a tremendous day which might happen only once in a lifetime.

The risen King Jesus leads his preachers of the gospel in an awesome triumph through the streets of this world. To the victors comes the perfume of joy and triumph. But they are few and far separated from one another. To the wretched prisoners, the condemned, the gospel is the scent of death, impending their doom. This makes the pilgrimage of the preacher of the word of God on earth a lonely journey. Preachers have little time for frivolity, for foolishness. They have no time to waste on inanities. They walk in a procession of life and death. To most of those walking with them, their message smells of doom, and they are not appreciated or welcomed.
Those dead in sin are surprised that there are men of God who take their work with such seriousness. Those who spend their leisure hours in reveling wonder why preachers choose to miss out on the good life of living in licentiousness, passions, carousing and the like (see 1Pe. 4:1-6).

Noah condemned the world by his preaching (Heb. 11:7) and wound up practically alone (he saved only his own family). Jeremiah was alone in his preaching (see Jer. 5:1; Jer. 11:18-20; Jer. 15:10; Jer. 18:18-20; Jer. 20:7-18). The truth preached exposes sin for what it really is, and the world hates (Joh. 3:19-21; Joh. 15:18-25) anyone who does that! All who propose to follow Jesus in the ministry of Gods word must count the cost. Part of that cost is loneliness.

Some in the Corinthian church had evidently wandered from the faith far enough that to them the preaching of Paul had become a fragrance from death to death. And Paul was feeling the depressing loneliness of their antagonism toward him.

2Co. 2:17 Exacting: The fish bowl kind of life preachers must lead only intensifies the loneliness they must suffer. Congregations expect of their spiritual leaders, rigid standards of personal integrity and conduct. And that is rightly soso long as those expectations square with scripture. Paul wrote to both Timothy and Titus about the godly behavior they were required to exhibit in their ministries. But sometimes, as in the case with the apostle Paul here, congregations demand and accuse on false bases.

Paul firmly contradicts the false claims some in Corinth were making that he preached the gospel as a peddler. The Greek word is kapeleuontes which signifies someone who is a small-time retailer, actually, a huckster, in contrast to the Greek word emporos which means to be a merchant. The idea of the word kapeleuontes is marketing something dishonestly in order to line ones own pockets. Some in Corinth were accusing Paul of using the gospel, exploiting the gospel, as an excuse to line his own pockets.

Evidently, in Pauls day some were exploiting the gospel for personal gain. But Paul certainly was not doing soespecially with Corinth, for from them he received no financial remuneration or assistance (see 1Co. 9:12; 1Co. 9:18; 2Co. 11:7-9; 2Co. 12:13; 2Co. 12:16).

Needless to say, there are many self-appointed religious giants today peddling the gospel for their own financial gain. And so many of them are plainly dishonest in their huckstering. This in turn, makes a cynical world think all preachers have a racket. And many a struggling, suffering messenger of God has served out his life on earth hurting and lonely because the world categorizes all preachers as hucksters. It wasnt true of the apostle Paul and it isnt true of a host of faithful spokesmen for God today! But the worlds cynicism makes for an exacting and isolated life for the true preacher of Gods word.
But Paul was sure of his own integrity. He knew he preached the gospel as a man of sincerity. The Greek word translated sincerity is eilikrineias and is sometimes translated purity. Some scholars think the word eilikrineias is etymologically related to the Greek word helios (sun) and therefore means, pure as tested by the sunlight. If this is so, Paul means his ministry will be able to stand the penetrating rays of the sunhis ministry is open to the light and may be seen by all to be pure. He knew his ministry would stand the very scrutiny of God himself. The preacher who is true to God will be true to men. If he knows his ministry will stand the scrutiny of God himself, he need not be anxious about the false exactions and hurtful isolations of cynical men.

Appleburys Comments

Triumph In Christ
Scripture

2Co. 2:14-17. But thanks be unto God, who always leadeth us in triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest through us the savor of his knowledge in every place. 15 For we are a sweet savor of Christ unto God, in them that are saved, and in them that perish; 16 to the one a savor from death unto death; to the other a savor from life unto life. And who is sufficient for these things? 17 For we are not as the many, corrupting the word of God: but as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God, speak we in Christ.

Comments

But thanks be unto God.Paul began this letter with an expression of praise to God for His mercy and comfort which had been shown him in all his afflictions. Having reminded his readers that he had gone into Macedonia, he turned to the expression of thanks to God for his triumphant ministry in Christ. It is not until 2Co. 7:5 that he tells about finding Titus in Macedonia and learning what had happened in Corinth. Some speak of this as a long digression. The digression, however, if there is one, is the brief reference to the fact that he had not found Titus, and that when he did meet him he had learned the truth about the Corinthians situation.

leadeth us in triumph in Christ.God who comforted him in Asia led him in triumph in Christ in Macedonia and everywhere he went in his ministry. The figure which Paul uses to describe this fact is that of the victorious general leading his army in triumphal procession before the people. Some assume that Paul is thinking of himself as a captive of Christ having been taken captive on the Damascus road. It is true that Paul refers to himself as the prisoner of the Lord, but in a different context. See Eph. 4:1. Captives in the triumphal Roman march were being displayed to the people just before being put to death. The triumph which Paul referred to was the victory God gave him in the gospel as an apostle of Christ wherever he wentAsia, Troas, Macedonia, and Corinth. Regardless of his personal suffering, Paul thought only of victory for the gospel.

the savor of his knowledge in every place.The gospel message was one of triumph over Satan. It told of Gods power to save the believer (Rom. 1:16). It told of the whole armor of God that enabled the Christian to stand against the wiles of the devil. With the shield of faith they were able to quench all the fiery darts of the evil one. See Eph. 6:10-18. The knowledge about God, as revealed in Christ and preached by His apostles, was like the sweet smelling fragrance of incense offered with the sacrifices of the worshippers. This fragrance accompanied those marching with the triumphant general and his soldiers.

for we are a sweet savor of Christ.The messengers as well as the message were acceptable in the sight of God. Their lives and their work were like the sweet smelling fragrance that accompanied the triumphal march.

in them that are saved and in them that perish.The gospel message is one of salvation for those who accept it, but one of destruction. for those who reject it. Jesus said to the apostles, Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to the whole creation. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that disbelieveth shall be condemned (Mar. 16:15-16).

a savor from death unto death.This explains the fact that the gospel message is one of salvation to the believer and destruction to the one who rejects it. The expressions, from death unto death and from life unto life have been understood in various ways. It is quite possible that we do not have the exact meaning of these intensified forms. There can be no doubt about the fact that they refer to destruction on one hand and salvation on the other. Death unto death may suggest endless death, and life unto life eternal life. This lesson is clearly taught by Our Lord in these words, and these shall go away into eternal punishment but the righteous into eternal life (Mat. 25:46). The gospel deals with the death of Christ which also indicates the deaththat is, eternal separation from Godof the one who remains in sin. It also deals with the life of Him who arose from the dead, and depicts the eternal life of the one who dies to sin with Him and is buried with Him through baptism into death that he might arise to walk with Him in the new life.

and who is sufficient for these things?Since the gospel deals with eternal life and eternal death, the conscientious apostle raises the question about the one who is adequate for the task of preaching this gospel. He leaves no doubt in the minds of the readers, for he immediately answers, We are not as the many who corrupt the word. In this he clearly implies that the apostles of Christ were adequately equipped to preach this gospel message. It also suggests that those who were claiming to be apostles but actually were false apostles were not qualified. This was not idle boasting on the part of Paul for he had already written I am the least of the apostles that am not meet to be called an apostle because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am and His grace which was bestowed upon me was not found vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all. Yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me (1Co. 15:9-10).

corrupting the word of God.The footnote in the American Standard Version reads, making merchandise of the word of God. The word actually refers to the corrupt practice of some merchants who diluted their wares or in some manner falsely displayed them. Paul says that some were handling the Word of God as if they were dishonest peddlers.

but as of sincerity, but as of God.Paul who was an apostle through the will of God declares his absolute sincerity in dealing with this all important task of preaching the gospel of Christ. This was not arrogant boasting for he was speaking in Christ.

Summary

Paul was waiting to find out about the response of the Corinthians to his first letter before visiting them again. He had given them specific directions in it about many things, among them what to do with the man who had been living with his fathers wife. A deferred visit did not mean cancellation. He would come, as he had said in his first letter, even if it meant using a rod of chastisement. But he had decided to delay the coming so that he might not cause them sorrow. They had gladdened his heart by their response to the gospel which he preached to them. He wanted to give them time to correct any disorder in their midst so that he might not cause them sorrow, for it would be a painful thing for him to be forced to punish them.
Paul was confident that they would be looking forward to his next visit with joy just as he was. It was true that he had written them out of affliction and anguish of heart. Perhaps the very manuscript was stained with his tears. But this was not intended to cause them grief. As their father in the gospel, Paul wanted them to know about his genuine love for them.
The brother who had done wrong had not caused sorrow to Paul alone, but, in part, to all of them. They had acted upon his instruction in the first letterhe had learned this from Titusand had delivered him to Satan. The remedy, though severe, was effective. The man had repented. The next move was up to them: they were to forgive him! Paul had, just as he had joined in administering the punishment to the one who had sinned. Forgiveness was necessary to defeat Satans scheme to keep the brother in his clutches forever. An unforgiving attitude on their part would serve his purpose just as well as the temptation that had led the man to sin in the first place. Paul was not ignorant of Satans schemes, nor did he want the brethren at Corinth to be.
Paul had gone to Troas, hoping to learn from Titus what the church had done about correcting their many sins. He was writing this second letter, of course, after he had met Titus in Macedonia, but he wanted the brethren to know of his deep concern over the situation at Corinth. That is why, even though he had a wonderful opportunity to further the gospel in Troas, he went to Macedonia. They could not fail to see his great anxiety over them that resulted from his sincere love for them.
The Corinthians were aware of the meeting with Titus in Macedonia, although Paul did not actually mention it until after he had written a somewhat lengthy explanation of the triumphant ministry in which the Lord had led him everywhere. No personal grief, no joy that ever came to him stirred him more deeply than the awareness that it was God who always led him in triumph in Christ. His thanksgiving knew no limits as he thought of the privilege that had been given to him to be a messenger of the gospel that had been accepted everywhere he had preached it.
The ministry of Paul was like a sweet smelling fragrance of Christ unto God. The message was also acceptable to God as it brought salvation to those who believed, even though some chose to perish because of disobedience. Gods love was so great that He gave His Son to die for them that they might live through Him.
Who was adequate for the task of carrying such a message? Unflinchingly, Paul indicated, We are. He gave two reasons for his response to the staggering task of preaching the gospel that brought salvation to those who obeyed it and destruction to those that rejected it. He was not guilty of diluting the message of God. With complete sincerity, knowing that God was watching every move he made, he was preaching the message of Christ.

Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series

(14) Now thanks be unto God.The apparent abruptness of this burst of thanksgiving is at first somewhat startling. We have to find its source, not in what the Apostle had written or spoken, but in what was passing through his memory. He had met Titus, and that disciple had been as a courier bringing tidings of a victory. The love of God had won another triumph.

Causeth us to triumph.Better, who always leads us in His triumph. There is absolutely no authority for the factitive meaning given to the verb in the English version. In Col. 2:15, it is translated rightly, triumphing over them in it. It is obvious, too, that the true rendering gives a much more characteristic thought. It would be unlike St. Paul to speak of himself as the triumphant commander of Gods great army. It is altogether like him that he should give God the glory, and own that He, as manifested in Christ, had triumphed, and that Apostle and penitent, the faithful and the rebellious, alike took their place in the procession of that triumph.

The imagery that follows is clearly that of the solemn triumphal procession of a Roman emperor or general. St. Paul, who had not as yet been at Rome, where only such triumphs were celebrated, had, therefore, never seen them, and was writing accordingly from what he had heard from others. Either from the Roman Jews whom he had met at Corinth, many of them slaves or freed-men in the imperial household, or the Roman soldiers and others with whom he came in contact at Philippi, possibly from St. Luke or Clement, he had heard how the conqueror rode along the Via Sacra in his chariot, followed by his troops and prisoners, captive kings and princes, and trophies of victory; how fragrant clouds of incense accompanied his march, rising from fixed altars or wafted from censers; how, at the foot of the Capitoline hill, some of the prisoners, condemned as treacherous or rebellious, were led off to execution, or thrown into the dungeons of the Mamer-tine prison, while others were pardoned and set free. It is not without interest to remember that when St. Paul wrote, the latest triumph at Rome had been that solemnised at Rome by Claudius in honour of the victory of Ostorius over the Britons in A.D. 51, and commemorated by a triumphal arch, the inscription on which is now to be seen in the court-yard of the Barberini Palace at Rome; that in that triumph Caractacus had figured as a prisoner; and that he and his children, spared by the mercy of the emperor, had passed from the ranks of the lost to those of the saved (Tacit. Ann. xiii. 36). According to a view taken by some writers, Claudia and Linus (2Ti. 4:21) were among those children. (See Excursus on the Later Years of St. Pauls Life, at the close of the Acts of the Apostles.

The savour of his knowledge.There is obviously a reference to the incense which, as in the above description, was an essential part of the triumph of a Roman general. It is there that St. Paul finds an analogue of his own work. He claims to be, as it were, a thurifer, an incense-bearer, in the procession of the conqueror. Words, whether of prayer or praise, thanksgiving or preaching, what were they but as incense-clouds bearing to all around, as they were wafted in the air, the tidings that the Conqueror had come? The savour of his knowledge is probably the knowledge of Him: that which rests in Him as its object.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

14. Causeth us to triumph Rather, leadeth us in triumph; for God is the victor; and the apostle views himself in the double capacity of captive-led, and of the joyful priests burning the incense that made the air and the occasion agreeable to the nostrils of the spectators.

Many commentators, as well as the Vulgate and our translators, have given to the Greek verb a causative sense causeth us to triumph triumphs us. St. Chrysostom, to whom Greek was vernacular, gives it that sense in a spirited passage. “Thanks be to God who triumphs us, that is, makes us illustrious in the eyes of all. Our persecutors are the trophies which we erect in every land.” On the nature of the Roman triumph, see Col 2:15.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

‘But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and is making known through us the fragrance of his knowledge in every place. For we are a sweet fragrance of Christ to God, in those who are saved, and in those who perish. To the one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. And who is sufficient for these things?’

The memory of his reception in Troas at such a dark hour, combined with the Corinthian turn around, reminds him again of how God has His own ways of going about things ‘in every place’. How easy it was in the dark days and the bad times to forget that God was the One Who triumphed against all difficulties. He had been too weighed down to think about it at the time but now that he thinks back on it he realises what the triumph in Troas, along with the triumph in respect of Corinth, had actually meant to him. And his mind switches from those triumphs to all his other times of triumph, and he bursts out in grateful thanks to God. He had been in despair at the time but God had not. And God had reminded him that He was still in command. And his heart overflows with the memory.

He remembers what a relief it had been at the time of his utmost constraint, that he had found himself like a victor, (or alternately a prisoner of Christ), marching in the train of God the triumphant General, as he saw the work that God was ready to accomplish through him in Troas, and had done even in such a short stay. And thinking about it he cannot help but give voice to his gratitude. Even in a place like Troas, (which he had intended merely to be a port of embarkation), and in the concerned state that he was in with all his thoughts set on the Corinthians, he had found that God made open to men the fragrance of His knowledge through him, just as He had in so many other places. It was a reminder that God could work everywhere, and had, and that he had really had no need to despair. And when he had arrived in Macedonia and had heard the good news from Corinth it was the icing on the cake. He realised that God was triumphant everywhere.

The Roman Triumph was a glorious affair. It was a public display in honour of a triumphant general returning from a wholly victorious campaign which had added greatly to the prestige of the Empire. In that glorious procession, led by the highest authorities in Rome, would be found captive prisoners in chains, trophies of war, the priests with their censers of incense, and the general himself in his chariot, resplendently dressed, followed by his victorious troops, and surrounded by the massed and cheering crowds.

Paul elsewhere used the picture of the captives so led in chains to depict Christ’s triumph at the cross (Col 2:15; Eph 4:8; 1Co 4:9), depicting Him as having defeated the power of the Enemy, and the thought here may be that Paul saw God as leading him as His captive in triumphant victory, bringing Himself glory through him (1Co 4:9).

But more likely in view of what immediately follows is that Paul saw himself as a part of the triumphant procession led by the triumphant God, with himself one of those who swung the censers, the dispensers of incense, giving off a savour which spelled a future life of glory to the General’s army and miserable deaths to the enemy captives. (There are numerous possible variations of the theme, but it is the significance that matters rather than the exact detail).

‘‘But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ.’ The Triumph was a once in a lifetime experience, a testimony to victory, but for those who serve God, says Paul, it is a constant experience, for victory goes on and on. The picture begins with him describing God as the triumphant general, leading in triumph his adherents and followers, in this case those who are ‘in Christ’. It is only those who are in Christ who enjoy the Triumph. And now that the Corinthian issue is largely settled he has time to remember, along with this triumph, all God’s past triumphs, summed up in what had happened at Troas. God was the great victorious General indeed.

‘And is making known through us the fragrance of his knowledge in every place.’ Paul had thought in terms of Ephesus and Corinth, (he targeted the large cities) but Troas? Yes, even there God had been active. For in every place, well known or not, God gives of the fragrance of His knowledge through His people. And that was what God had done through him briefly in Troas. ‘The fragrance of His knowledge.’ True knowledge of God is like a sweet fragrance to those who respond and receive His word, breathing it in to enjoy its excellence.

(Troas was in fact an important seaport 20 kilometres south south west of the site of Troy and was made a Roman colony by Augustus, although rarely mentioned in secular literature. Its artificial harbour basins provided necessary shelter from the prevailing northerly winds and it was the port from which ships crossed to Neapolis in Macedonia. It was at Troas that Paul had received his call to Macedonia years before (Act 16:8-9). It was there, where later there was a substantial church, that he would raise Eutychus from the dead (Act 20:7-12)).

‘For we are a sweet odour of Christ for God, in those who are being saved, and in those who are perishing. To the one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life.’ Just as the knowledge of God is a fragrance, so is the messenger of the Gospel a sweet odour of Christ on God’s behalf, wafting a fragrance both to those who are being saved and those who are perishing. ‘We are a sweet odour.’ The bearers of the incense dispensers of God marching in the Triumph may well be described in terms of what they bear and dispense.

‘To one a fragrance of death to death.’ This may be suggestive of the chained captives in the Triumph who smelled the incense and recognised that it spelled their death. The incense was partly offered in gratitude for their defeat and its consequences. They knew that they were seen as rebels and only fit to die. It might then remind them of the spices that would often be burned as incense at the funerals of important people, the fragrance of death, and have seen it as an omen. In a similar way, says Paul, will all rebels receive the fragrance of death. So what should have been the fragrance of the knowledge of God to them, had become to those who have rebelled the odour of death, a message to them from death itself.

‘A fragrance from death to death.’ It was a message from personified death, the great enemy (1Co 15:26; 1Co 15:55) to those as good as dead, and indeed already dead in sin, that they were doomed, that death would be their lot, eternal death. All was death. As often with Paul ‘death’ spells the final end for those who will not be raised to eternal life. In the background may have been the idea of poisonous fumes from a burning fire.

‘To the other a fragrance from life to life.’ But to those who marched in victory the fragrance of the incense was a reminder of victory, and of the good times ahead, the beginning of a new life as they received the rewards of victory. In the same way, to those who received and believed the fragrance coming from the messengers of God, it was a fragrance from the One Who is life itself, from the One Who is the Resurrection and the Life (Joh 11:25; Joh 14:6), as offering eternal life to those who receive Him and follow Him (Joh 1:12-13; Joh 10:28). Here all is life. He Who is the Life is bestowing life.

In later Jewish literature the Torah (Pentateuch) was likened to a medicine or drug which brings benefit or harm depending on how it is used. It is either a medicine of life or a deadly poison (although not a fragrance). The ideas may well have been around in Paul’s time and some think that it may have influenced his ideas. Compare here 2Co 3:4-6 where the letter kills but the Spirit gives life. But if so he replaces the Torah with the knowledge of God through Christ.

‘And who is sufficient for these things?’ The thought overwhelms him. What man or woman is sufficient (competent, capable, adequate) to cope with such privileges and glory? The answer, of course, is ‘none’. Neither Paul nor his opponents have such sufficiency. For it can only be through God that such sufficiency is experienced (2Co 3:5).

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

2Co 2:14. Which causeth us to triumph in Christ, That is, “In the success of my preaching in my journey to Macedonia, and also in my victory at the same time at Corinth, over the false Apostles, my opposers, who had raised a faction against me among you.” Thus St. Paul represents himself as triumphing through the divine power; and, as, in triumphal processions, especially in the east, fragrant odours and incense were burnt near the conquerors, he seems beautifully to allude to this circumstance in what he says of the , the odour of the gospel, in the following verses: and he seems further to allude to the different effects of strong perfumes, to cheer some, and to throw others into violent disorders, according to the different dispositions they are in to receive them. AElian observes, that some kinds of animals are killed by them. Hist. Animal. 50: 3 : 100: 7. Dr. Heylin observes, that the knowledge of God, or knowledge that there is a God, may be a mere speculation; not so the savour, relish, or mental sensation of God, called here the savour of his knowledge. Now an apostle speaking by the spirit of God, really excites this savour or sensation in the minds of his believing hearers: being himself actuated by God, he gives, through grace, some real perception of him.Those who piously cultivate this, improve accordingly; those who understand it, and will not be wrought upon by it, grow more indisposed and hardened: as is shewn in the following verses.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

2Co 2:14 . In Macedonia, however, he had met Titus, and, through him, received good news of the impression made by his former Epistle. See 2Co 7:6 . Therefore he continues: But thanks be to God , etc., placing first not , as in most cases (2Co 8:16 , 2Co 9:15 ), but , because, in very contrast to his own weakness , the helping God , whom he has to thank, comes into his mind. Comp. 1Co 15:57 . Others here make a digression go on as far as 2Co 7:5 , and refer the thanks to the spread of the gospel in Troas (Emmerling!) or Macedonia (Flatt, Osiander). Comp. Calvin and Bengel. Against the context; for, after the description of the anxiety and disquiet, the utterance of thanks must relate to the release from this state (comp. Rom 7:24 f.). The apostle, however, in the fulness of his gratitude to God, includes (and thereby makes known) his special experience of the guidance of divine grace at that time in the general thanksgiving for the latter, as he experiences it always in his calling. This also in opposition to Hofmann, who abides by the general nature of the thanksgiving, and that in contrast to the declaration that the apostle did not preach in Troas in spite of the good opportunity found ther.

] given rightly by the Vulgate: “qui semper triumphat nos ,” is taken by many older expositors (Luther, Beza, Estius, Grotius, and others), and by some more recent (Emmerling, Flatt, Rckert, Olshausen, Osiander): who makes us always triumph . [148] It is certainly a current Greek custom to give to neuter verbs a factitive construction and meaning. See in general, Matthiae, p. 1104, 944; Fritzsche, ad Matth. p. 250; Bhr, ad Ctes . p. 132; Lobeck, ad Aj. 40, 869. Comp. from the N. T., , Mat 5:45 ; , Mat 5:15 ; , Mat 28:19 ; from the LXX., , 1Sa 8:22 ; Isa 7:6 , al. Comp. 1Ma 8:13 . is thus taken: to make any one a triumpher . Comp. , to make any one dance i.e. to celebrate by means of dancing (Brunck, ad Soph. Ant . 1151; comp. Jacobs, ad Del epigr. x. 55, 90). The suitableness of the sense cannot be denied, but the actual usage is against it; for has never that assumed factitive sense, but always means triumphare de aliquo , to conduct, to present any one in triumph; so that the accusative is never the triumphing subject, but always the object of the triumph, as Plut. Thes. et Romans 4 : , also Plut. Mor. p. 318 B, . . Quite similar is the Latin triumphare aliquem . See in general, Wetstein; Kypke, II. p. 243. Comp. also Hofmann on the passage. Paul himself follows this usage, see Col 2:15 . We are thus the less authorized to depart from it. Hence it is to be translated: who always triumphs over us (apostolic teachers) i.e. who does not cease to represent us as his vanquished before all the world , as a triumpher celebrates his victories. In this figurative aspect Paul considers himself and his like as conquered by God through their conversion to Christ. And after this victory of God his triumph now consists in all that those conquered by their conversion effect as servants and instruments of God for the Messianic kingdom in the world; it is by the results of apostolic activity that God continually, as if in triumph, shows Himself to the eyes of all as the victor, to whom His conquered are subject and serviceable. For the concrete instance before us, this perpetual triumph of God exhibited itself in the happy result which He wrought in Corinth through the apostle’s letter (as Paul learned in Macedonia through Titus, 2Co 7:6 ). Note further, how naturally with Paul this very conception of his working, as a continual triumph of God over him, might proceed from the painful remembrance of his earlier persecution of the church of God, and how at the same time this whole conception is an expression of the same humility, in which he, 1Co 15:10 , gives to God alone the glory of his working. Jerome, ad Hedib . 11, translates rightly: triumphat nos or de nobis , but quite alters the sense of the word again by the interpretation: “triumphum suum agit per nos .” Theodoret does not do justice to the notion of the triumph , when he merely explains it: . Wetstein is more exact, but also takes the element of leading about, and not that of celebrating the victory, as the point of comparison: “Deus nos tanquam in triumpho circumducit, ut non maneamus in loco, aut in alium proficiscamur pro lubito nostro, sed ut placet sapientissimo moderatori. Quem Damasci vicit, non Romae et semel, sed per totum terrarum orbem, quamdiu vivit, in triumpho ducit.” Comp. Krause, Opusc . p. 125 f. The conception of antiquity, according to which the is necessarily the conquered, is quite abandoned by Calvin, [149] Elsner, Bengel: “ qui triumpho nos ostendit , non ut victos, sed ut victoriae suae ministros .” So also de Wette, and substantially Ewald: comp. Erasmus, Annot .

] Christ is the element in which that constant triumph of God takes place: no fact in which that consists has its sphere out of Christ: each is of specifically Christian quality.

The following . . . . declares what God effects through this His triumphing . That refers not to God (so usually, as also Hofmann, following the Vulgate), but to Christ (Bengel, Osiander), is shown by 2Co 2:15 . The genitive . . is the genitive of apposition (comp. 2Co 1:22 ), so that the knowledge of Christ is symbolized as an odour which God everywhere makes manifest through the apostolic working, inasmuch as He by that means brings it to pass that the knowledge of Christ everywhere exhibits and communicates its nature and its efficacy. How does Paul come upon this image? Through the conception of the triumph ; for such an event took place amid perfumes of incense: hence to assume no connection between the two images (Osiander) is arbitrary. To think of ointments (Oecumenius, Grotius), or of these as included (Chrysostom, Theophylact, Beza [150] ), is alien to the first image; and it is as alien to suppose that a closed vessel , filled with perfume, is meant, and that the points to the opening of the same (Hofmann). Observe, moreover, that by (since the are those conducted in the triumph , ) the thing itself finds its way into the image, and by this the latter loses in congruity.

[148] To this also the expositions of Chrysostom and Theophylact ultimately amount. The latter says: . So in substance Chrys. Comp. Ambrosiaster, Anselm, and others.

[149] In the translation he has triumphare nos facit: and in the Commentary it is said: “Paulus autem intelligit, se quoque triumphi, quem Deus agebat, fuisse participem, quod esset opera sua acquisitus; qualiter legati currum primarii ducis equis insidentes comitabantur tanquam honoris socii.”

[150] Beza, Grotius, and also L. Cappellus, contrary to the context, find an allusion to the anointing of the priests .

Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary

(14) Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savor of his knowledge by us in every place. (15) For we are unto God a sweet savor of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish: (16) To the one we are the savor of death unto death; and to the other the savor of life unto life. And who is sufficient for these things? (17) 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.

There is an infinite extent of subject, opened in these words. Triumph in Christ, and always to triumph in Christ, not only runs through the whole time-state of the Church; but reacheth into thee eternal world, and being always, the same source for triumph in Christ must be endless also. The Reader will indulge me I hope, with trespassing in some little portion upon his time, to speak of a few at least, of those very blessed and precious views, which arise therefrom.

And, first. Paul thanks God for those triumphs in Christ. And well he might: for very evidently, the whole Persons of the Godhead have concurred in affording cause for those holy joys in Christ, which are so great, so blessed, and so everlasting.

God the Father, in constituting Christ in his headship to the Church, hath opened a source of unspeakable delight, in all that Christ, as Christ is; in all that he hath done, is doing, and will to all eternity do, for his Church, and his people; and in all the relationships in which he stands, to his body the Church, being the fulness that filleth all in all. In the great office-character which the Scriptures represent, of God the Father, we contemplate Christ, as the gift of God; in whom the Church was chosen, and, to whom the Church was given, and by whom the Church is everlastingly blessed and sanctified. So that while the Church triumphs in Christ, and must forever triumph in Christ, it is truly delightful to eye the love of God the Father, in the appointment and blessing, and making happy the Church in Christ, through the whole time-state of the Church, , and to all eternity. And, it is one of the highest felicities in a life of faith, to be enabled by grace, to keep up, and maintain holy communion, and fellowship with the Father, and with his Son, Jesus Christ; in eyeing God the Father’s love in this Covenant-transaction, in, and through, and with Christ from everlasting. I have! said (said Jehovah) mercy shall be built up forever. How is this accomplished? The Lord adds: I have made a Covenant with my chosen, Psa 89:2-3 .

In like manner, God the Holy Ghost, in his office-work, in Covenant-engagements, becomes an equal source, in causing the Church to triumph in Christ; both in his unction on the Person of Christ, and the anointing of his members. By his regenerating; illuminating, and quickening influences, in the souls of the people, gives the light of the knowledge of the glory of God, in the face of Jesus Christ. So that, when at any time, a child of God is triumphing in Christ, it is by the immediate work of God the Spirit. He takes of the things of Christ, and sheweth to us. His great work is to comfort the Lord’s people; by giving then sweet, and precious apprehensions of Christ’s fulness, suitableness, and all-sufficiency, and their interest therein. And thus, by opening to the Church’s view, the love, and grace, and compleatness of Jesus and drawing out the soul, in acts of faith upon Christ’s Person, and blood, and righteousness; he begets a joy and peace in believing, whereby the believer abounds in hope, and always triumphs in Christ.

And, with respect to God the Son in his gracious office of God-Man-Mediator; everything in Christ, and belonging to Christ, opens a source of continual triumph. The Church glories, in his Person, as God-Man-Mediator; glories in his Headship; and as her Husband, Surety, Brother, Redeemer, Advocate, Friend. Every act of Christ, every miracle of Christ, perfection of Christ, promise of Christ, word of Christ; in short, all of Christ, and in Christ, and from Christ, open unceasing causes of triumph, and joys. Hence, the Church in one of her hymns exults, and sings: I will love thee, 0 Lord my strength. The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, the horn of my salvation, and my high tower, Psa 18:1-2 .

But, while we contemplate the security the Church hath, from all the Covenant-engagements of the whole Persons of the Godhead for unceasing triumphs in Christ; we must not overlook what Paul hath added, of making manifest the sweet savor of his Name in every place. This forms a beautiful and refreshing view of Jesus; and I beg the Reader’s indulgence for a moment, to dwell upon it.

The Church felt the blessedness of this, when she said to her Lord: because of the savor of thy good ointments, thy name is as ointment poured forth. Son 1:3 . And very certain it is, that when at any time, from the grace and unction of the Holy Ghost, the Person of Jesus is made manifest to the souls of his people; the savor of this knowledge becomes more fragrant, and yields a richer perfume than all the spices of the East. everything in Christ becomes precious. His double nature, as Emmanuel, God and Man in one Person, the wonder of Heaven and of earth, hath such a blessedness in it, that whenever God the Holy Ghost maketh manifest the knowledge of it in the heart, it begets a joy unspeakable and full of glory. Reader! hath the Lord the Spirit made manifest the sweet savor of it to your soul? Yes! if so be, from a thorough conviction, wrought by the Lord, both of Christ’s Godhead, and his Manhood, your apprehension of Him is such as to look up to him in the union of both, as the Lord your righteousness.

As God, the savor of such a knowledge enables you by faith to be well assured, that all he is, and all he hath done, and all he is now doing, and all he, stands engaged to do, is, and cannot but be effectual, because he is God. Hence his betrothing the Church from everlasting, is unalterable, unchangeable, and forever, Hos 2:19 . The whole work, in the time-state, when he offered himself a sacrifice, must be effectual: for by that one offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified, Heb 10:14 . His righteousness fully competent to justify his Church and people; his blood to cleanse them; his Person to bear them up, through all the time-state of their continuance on earth; and to bear them on, through all the swellings of Jordan; and bear them in, to his everlasting kingdom: because he is God.

And as he is man, there is an infinite sweetness in this nature united to his Godhead, which gives a savor of loveliness, and affection, to endear him to his people; that the souls of the redeemed find a confidence to go to him for all they stand in need of, since they go to one that is of their own nature, who knoweth their feelings by his own; and in the administration of mercy, doth it in such a way, that while it is the mercy of God, whereby it is everlasting, and cannot be exhausted, it is also the kindness and fellow feeling of the man, and such as one man might be supposed, if he knew all cases of need as Christ doth, to manifest to another. Reader! what are your views of this representation of Jesus? Can you express Paul’s words from the same cause, and thank God, who always causeth you to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savor of his knowledge, in your heart?

I pray the Reader to pause, over the scripture which follows, in the relation Paul gives of his ministry, that it became unto God a sweet savor in Christ in them that are saved, and in them that perish. As we read the solemn, but precious words, the people of God rejoice; but they rejoice with trembling. The sentence is like the pillar of the cloud in the camp of Israel. To God’s people, light, and life, and joy. To the enemies of our God and of his Christ, darkness, death, and sorrow, Exo 14:19-20 .

In them that are saved (saith the Apostle,) we are a sweet savor of Christ. Sweet indeed! For what can be so grateful to the children of God, chosen in Christ, when gathered out of the offences of a fallen, sinful, and loathsome nature; to have all the fragrant graces of the Spirit manifested to their consciences, and shed abroad in their hearts, to the acknowledgment of God, and of the Father, and of Christ; in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge: and to behold their compleatness in Him ? Col 2:10Col 2:10 .

And I pray the Reader to remark, unto whom those that thus minister in divine things are said to be made this sweet savor. It is unto God. Yes! for their commission is from Him and their ministry is unto His glory. It is the Lord that makes them this sweet savor. For in themselves they are nothing. They have an unsavoriness of corruption by reason of sin, as well as those they minister unto. And, what they minister is not their own, but the Lord’s. It is Jesus they hold forth to his people, to whom they are a sweet savor; because his suitableness, and all-sufficiency for salvation in his blood and righteousness, become very precious when the poor lost soul, through divine teaching discovers, that there is salvation in no other; neither is there any other name under Heaven given among men whereby we must be saved, Act 4:12 .

But it is said also, that they are a sweet savor of Christ, not only in them that are saved, but in them that perish. Yes! For the sweet savor of Christ loseth nothing of its flagrancy because men despise it. God’s justice, and wisdom, in redemption by Christ, are everlastingly displayed, and even upon sinners themselves, who reject such great salvation. For we are taught, that God’s glory will be as compleatly manifested at the last day, in the destruction of sinners, as in the salvation of saints, Psa 110 throughout; Eph 1:10 . And the sweet savor of Christ will then be fully manifested. It was with an eye to the same doctrine that Joshua said unto Achan in the moment of his destruction: My son! give, I pray thee, glory to the Lord God of Israel, and make confession unto him, Jos 7:19 . And most unquestionably, the divine glory is, and must be, as fully displayed in the administration of his justice, as in his mercy. Christ therefore is a sweet savor of Jehovah’s wisdom, sovereignty, and rectitude, in them that are saved, and in them that perish. And well might Paul sum up the solemn account with demanding: who is sufficient for these things? Who indeed can be competent to form a single thought by way of explaining, how it is that some should have their spiritual senses called forth into exercise, so that Christ’s name, Person, blood, righteousness; yea, all and everything in Christ, and belonging to Christ, become more precious, than thousands of gold and silver: whilst others hate his name, his people, and all the precious doctrines of salvation. Who is sufficient to discover the cause? And how shall it be accounted for, but by referring it unto the sovereign will, and pleasure of God! One line of our dear Lord’s, sweetly settles the point, and, properly considered, silenceth every objection: Even so, Father! for so it seemed good in thy sight, Mat 11:26 . But Reader! shall not you and I, if so be the Lord by his grace hath made Christ a sweet savor of life unto life, to our souls; shall not we find cause to cry out with the wondering Apostle, and say as he did: Lord! how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world? Joh 14:22 .

Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

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.

Ver. 14. Now thanks be to God ] Deo gratias was ever in Paul’s mouth, ever in Austin’s; and a thankful man is ever ready with his present, as Joseph’s brethren were, Gen 43:26 .

Causeth us to triumph ] Maketh us more than conquerors, even triumphers; while he rides upon us as upon his white horses, all the world over, “conquering and to conquer,” Rev 6:2 .

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

14 17 .] Omitting, as presupposed, the fact of his having met with Titus in Macedonia, and the nature of the intelligence which he brought, he grounds on these a thanksgiving for that intelligence, and a magnification of his apostolic office . It is evidently beside the purpose to refer this thanksgiving to the diffusion of the gospel in Macedonia (as Flatt), or in Troas (as Emmerling), or to general considerations (as Bengel): both the context, and the language itself (see below), shew that its reference is to the effects of the apostolic reproof on the Corinthians.

Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament

14. ] leading us in triumph , see ref. Two kinds of persons were led in triumph: the participators of the victory , and the victims of the defeat . In Col. the latter are plainly meant; here, according to many Commentators (Calv., Elsner, Bengel, De Wette, al.), the former : which however is never elsewhere the reference of the word, but it always implies triumphare de aliquo . Wetst. quotes this sense, , Plut. Rom. p. 38 D, and in four other places: and the Scholiast to Hor. Od. i. 37. 31, who relates of Cleopatra, “invidens Privata deduci superbo Non humilis mulier triumpho,” that she refused the terms offered her by Augustus, saying, . Meyer in consequence understands it in this sense here: who ever triumphs over us , i.e. ‘who ceases not to exhibit us, His former foes, as overcome by Him:’ and adds in a note, “Remark the emphatic , prefixed, to which the similarly emphatic , at the end, corresponds. God began His triumph over the at their conversion; over Paul, at Damascus, where he made him a servant, from being an enemy. This triumph he ever continues, not ceasing to exhibit before the world these His former foes, by the results of their present service, as overcome by Him. This, in the case before us, was effected by Paul, in that (as Titus brought him word to Macedonia) his Epistle had produced such good results in Corinth.” De W. objects to this as a strange way of expressing thankfulness for deliverance from our anxiety. But is it so to those who look beneath the surface? In our spiritual course, our only true triumphs are, God’s triumphs over us. His defeats of us , are our only real victories. I own that this yet appears to me to be the only admissible rendering . We must not violate the known usage of a word, and invent another for which there is no precedent, merely for the sake of imagined perspicuity. Such is that of ‘to make to triumph’ (Beza, Estius, Grot., al.): , Mat 28:19 , and , 1Ki 8:22 , are not cases in point, their sense being, to ‘make a disciple,’ ‘to make a king,’ whereas that required for , would be, ‘ triumphatorem facere.’ , for ‘to make to dance,’ is more to the point: , , Eur. Herc. Fur. 688, , ib. 873: but the Apostle’s own usage in ref. Col., in my mind, decides the question. See also the following context.

., as usually, in our connexion with , ‘ as members of ,’ Christ : not, ‘by Christ.’

] The similitude is not that of a sacrifice , but still the same as before: during a triumph, sweet spices were thrown about or burnt in the streets, which were , Plut. mil. p. 272 (cited by Dr. Burton). As the fact of the triumph, or approach of the triumphal procession, was made known by these odours far and wide, so God diffuses by our means, who are the materials of His triumph, the sweet odour of the knowledge of Christ (who is the Triumpher, Col 2:15 ).

.] genit. of apposition: the odour , which in the interpretation of the figure, is the knowledge.

, , cf. next verse.

Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament

2Co 2:14 . . . .: but thanks be to God, etc. Instead of giving details of the information which Titus brought to him in Macedonia (chap. 2Co 7:6 ), he bursts out into a characteristic doxology, which leads him into a long digression, the main topic of the Epistle not coming into view again until 2Co 6:11 . : who always, sc. , even in times of anxiety and distress, leadeth us in triumph in Christ . , “to lead as captive in a triumphal procession,” occurs again in this sense Col 2:15 . The rendering of the A.V., “which causeth us to triumph,” though yielding a good sense here (and despite the causative force of verbs in – ), must be abandoned, as no clear instance of in such a signification has been produced. The splendid image before the writer’s mind is that of a Roman triumph, which, though he had never seen it, must have been familiar to him as it was to every citizen of the Empire. He thinks of God as the Victor (Rev 6:2 ) entering the City into which the glory and honour of the nations (Rev 21:26 ) is brought; the Apostle as “in Christ” as a member of the Body of Christ is one of the captives, by means of whom the knowledge and fame of the Victor is made manifest. He rejoices that he has been so used by God, as would appear from the tidings which Titus has brought him. . . .: and maketh manifest through us the savour of the knowledge of Him ( sc. , of Christ) in every place, sc. , at Corinth as well as in Troas and Macedonia. It is possible that the metaphor of the is suggested by and is part of that of the triumph; e.g. , Plutarch ( mil. Paul. c. 32) says that the temples were “full of fumigations” during the passage of the procession. But is a frequent LXX phrase (see reff.).

Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson

2 Corinthians

THE TRIUMPHAL PROCESSION

2Co 2:14

I suppose most of us have some knowledge of what a Roman Triumph was, and can picture to ourselves the long procession, the victorious general in his chariot with its white horses, the laurelled soldiers, the sullen captives, with suppressed hate flashing in their sunken eyes, the wreathing clouds of incense that went up into the blue sky, and the shouting multitude of spectators. That is the picture in the Apostle’s mind here. The Revised Version correctly alters the translation into ‘Thanks unto God which always leadeth us in triumph in Christ.’

Paul thinks of himself and of his coadjutors in Christian work as being conquered captives, made to follow their Conqueror and to swell His triumph. He is thankful to be so overcome. What was deepest degradation is to him supreme honour. Curses in many a strange tongue would break from the lips of the prisoners who had to follow the general’s victorious chariot. But from Paul’s lips comes irrepressible praise; he joins in the shout of acclamation to the Conqueror.

And then he passes on to another of the parts of the ceremonial. As the wreathing incense appealed at once to two senses, and was visible in its curling clouds of smoke, and likewise fragrant to the nostrils, so says Paul, with a singular combination of expression, ‘He maketh manifest ,’ that is visible, the savour of His knowledge. From a heart kindled by the flame of the divine love there will go up the odour of a holy life visible and fragrant, sweet and fair.

And thus all Christians, and not Christian workers only in the narrower sense of the word, who may be doing evangelistic work, have set before them in these great words the very ideal and secret of their lives.

There are three things here, on each of which I touch as belonging to the true notion of a Christian life-the conquered captive; that captive partaking in the triumph of his Conqueror; and the conquered captive led as a trophy and a witness to the Conqueror’s power. These three things, I think, explain the Apostle’s thoughts here. Let me deal with them now.

I. First then, let us look at that thought of all Christians being in the truest sense conquered captives, bound to the chariot wheels of One who has overcome them.

The image implies a prior state of hostility and alienation. Now, do not let us exaggerate, let us take Paul’s own experience. He is speaking about himself here; he is not talking doctrine, he is giving us autobiography, and he says, ‘I was an enemy, and I have been conquered.’

What sort of an enemy was he? Well! He says that before he became a Christian he lived a pure, virtuous, respectable life. He was a man ‘as touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.’ Observant of all relative duties, sober, temperate, chaste; no man could say a word against him; he knew nothing against himself. His conscience acquitted him of wrong: ‘I thought I ought to do many things,’ as I did them. And yet, looking back from his present point of view upon a life thus adorned with many virtues, pure from all manifest corruption, to a large extent regulated by conscientious and religious motives of a kind, he says, ‘Notwithstanding all that, I was an enemy.’ Why? Because the retrospect let him see that his life was barren of the deepest faith and the purest love. And so I come to some of my friends here now, and I say to you, ‘Change the name, and the story is true about you,’ respectable people, who are trying to live pure and righteous lives, doing all duties that present themselves to you with a very tolerable measure of completeness and abominating and trying to keep yourselves from the things that your consciences tell you are wrong, yet needing to be conquered, in the deepest recesses of your wills and your hearts, before you become the true subjects of the true King. I do not want to exaggerate, nor to say of the ordinary run of people who listen to us preachers, that they commit manifest sins, ‘gross as a mountain, open, palpable.’ Some of you do, no doubt, for, in every hundred people, there are always some whose lives are foul and whose memories are stained and horrible; but the run of you are not like that. And yet I ask you, has your will been bowed and broken, and your heart overcome and conquered by this mighty Prince, the Prince of Peace, the Prince of Life? Unless it has, for all your righteousness and respectability, for all your outward religion and real religiousness of a sort, you are still hostile and rebellious, in your inmost hearts. That is the basis of the representation of my text.

What else does it suggest? It suggests the wonderful struggle and victory of weaponless love. As was said about the first Christian emperor, so it may be said about the great Emperor in the heavens, ‘ In hoc signo vinces!’ By this sign thou shalt conquer. For His only weapon is the Cross of His Son, and He fights only by the manifestation of infinite love, sacrifice, suffering, and pity. He conquers as the sun conquers the thick-ribbed ice by raying down its heat upon it, and melting it into sweet water. So God in Christ fights against the mountains of man’s cold, hard sinfulness and alienation, and by the warmth of His own radiation turns them all into rivers that flow in love and praise. He conquers simply by forbearance and pity and love.

And what more does this first part of my text say to us? It tells us, too, of the true submission of the conquered captive; how we are conquered when we perceive and receive His love; how there is nothing else needed to win us all for Him except only that we shall recognise His great love to us.

This picture of the triumph comes with a solemn appeal and commandment to every one of us professing Christians. Think of these men, dragged at the conqueror’s chariot-wheels, abject, with their weapons broken, with their resistance quelled, chained, yoked, haled away from their own land, dependant for life or death on the caprice of the general who rode before them there. It is a picture of what you Christian men and women are bound to be if you believe that God in Christ has loved you as we have been saying that He does. For abject submission, unconditional surrender, the yielding up of our whole will to Him, the yielding of all our possessions as His vassals-these are the duties that are correspondent to the facts of the case.

If we are thus won by infinite love, and not our own, but bought with a price, no conquered king, dragged at an emperor’s chariot-wheels, was ever half as absolutely and abjectly bound to be his slave, and to live or die by his breath, as you are bound to your Master. You are Christians in the measure in which you are the captives of His spear and of His bow; in the measure in which you hold your territories as vassal kings, in the measure in which you say, stretching out your willing hands for the fetters, ‘Lord! here am I, do with me as Thou wilt.’ ‘I am not mine own; be Thou my will, my Emperor, my Commander, my all.’ Loyola used to say, as the law of his order, that every man that became a member of the Society of Jesus was to be like as a staff in a man’s hand, or like as a corpse. It was a blasphemous and wicked claim, but it is but a poor fragmentary statement of the truth about those of us who enter the real Society of Jesus, and put ourselves in His hands to be wielded as His staff and His rod, and submit ourselves to Him, not as a corpse, but yield yourselves to our Christ ‘as those that are alive from the dead.’

II. Now we have here, as part of the ideal of the Christian life, the conquered captives partaking in the triumph of their general.

Two groups made up the triumphal procession-the one that of the soldiers who had fought for, the other that of the prisoners who had fought against, the leader. And some commentators are inclined to believe that the Apostle is here thinking of himself and his fellows as belonging to the conquering army, and not to the conquered enemy. That seems to me to be less probable and in accordance with the whole image than the explanation which I have adopted. But be that as it may, it suggests to us this thought, that in the deepest reality in that Christian life of which all this metaphor is but the expression, they who are conquered foes become conquering allies. Or, to put it into other words-to be triumphed over by Christ is to triumph with Christ. And the praise which breaks from the Apostle’s lips suggests the same idea. He pours out his thanks for that which he recognises as being no degradation but an honour, and a participation in his Conqueror’s triumph.

We may illustrate that thought, that to be triumphed over by Christ is to triumph with Christ, by such considerations as these. This submission of which I have been speaking, abject and unconditional, extending to life and death, this submission and captivity is but another name for liberty. The man who is absolutely dependent upon Jesus Christ is absolutely independent of everything and everybody besides, himself included. That is to say, to be His slave is to be everybody else’s master, and when we bow ourselves to Him, and take upon us the chains of glad obedience, and life-deep as well as life-long consecration, then He breaks off all other chains from our hands, and will not suffer that any others should have a share with Him in the possession of His servant. If you are His servants you are free from all besides; if you give yourselves up to Jesus Christ, in the measure in which you give yourselves up to Him, you will be set at liberty from the worst of all slaveries, that is the slavery of your own will and your own weakness, and your own tastes and fancies. You will be set at liberty from dependence upon men, from thinking about their opinion. You will be set at liberty from your dependence upon externals, from feeling as if you could not live unless you had this, that, or the other person or thing. You will be emancipated from fears and hopes which torture the men who strike their roots no deeper than this visible film of time which floats upon the surface of the great, invisible abyss of Eternity. If you have Christ for your Master you will be the masters of the world, and of time and sense and men and all besides; and so, being triumphed over by Him, you will share in His triumph.

And again, we may illustrate the same principle in yet another way. Such absolute and entire submission of will and love as I have been speaking about is the highest honour of a man. It was a degradation to be dragged at the chariot-wheels of conquering general, emperor, or consul-it broke the heart of many a barbarian king, and led some of them to suicide rather than face the degradation. It is a degradation to submit ourselves, even as much as many of us do, to the domination of human authorities, or to depend upon men as much as many of us do for our completeness and our satisfaction. But it is the highest ennobling of humanity that it shall lay itself down at Christ’s feet, and let Him put His foot upon its neck. It is the exaltation of human nature to submit to Christ. The true nobility are those that ‘come over with the Conqueror.’ When we yield ourselves to Him, and let Him be our King, then the patent of nobility is given to us, and we are lifted in the scale of being. All our powers and faculties are heightened in their exercise, and made more blessed in their employment, because we have bowed ourselves to His control. And so to be triumphed over by Christ is to triumph with Christ.

And the same thought may be yet further illustrated. That submission which I have been speaking about so unites us to our Lord that we share in all that belongs to Him and thus partake in His triumph. If in will and heart we have yielded ourselves to Him, he that is thus joined to the Lord is one spirit, and all ‘mine is Thine, and all Thine is mine.’ He is the Heir of all things, and all things of which He is the Heir are our possession. ‘All things are yours, and ye are Christ’s.’ Thus His dominion is the dominion of all that love Him, and His heritage is the heritage of all those that have joined themselves to Him; and no sparkle of the glory that falls upon His head but is reflected on the heads of His servants. The ‘many crowns’ that He wears are the crowns with which He crowns His followers.

Thus, my brother, to be overcome by God is to overcome the world, to be triumphed over by Christ is to share in His triumph; and he over whom Incarnate Love wins the victory, like the patriarch of old in his mystical struggle, conquers in the hour of surrender; and to him it is said: ‘As a prince thou hast power with God and hast prevailed.’

III. Lastly, a further picture of the ideal of the Christian life is set before us here in the thought of these conquered captives being led as the trophies and the witnesses of His overcoming power.

That idea is suggested by both halves of our verse. Both the emblem of the Apostle as marching in the triumphal procession, and the emblem of the Apostle as yielding from his burning heart the fragrant visible odour of the ascending incense, convey the same idea, viz. that one great purpose which Jesus Christ has in conquering men for Himself, and binding them to His chariot wheels, is that from them may go forth the witness of His power and the knowledge of His name.

That opens very wide subjects for our consideration which I can only very briefly touch upon. Let me just for an instant dwell upon some of them. First, the fact that Jesus Christ, by His Cross and Passion, is able to conquer men’s wills, and to bind men’s hearts to Him, is the highest proof of His power. It is an entirely unique thing in the history of the world. There is nothing the least like it anywhere else. The passionate attachment which this dead Galilean peasant is able to evoke in the hearts of people all these centuries after His death, is an unheard of and an unparalleled thing. All other teachers ‘serve their generations by the will of God,’ and then their names become speedily less and less powerful, and thicker and thicker mists of oblivion wrap them round until they disappear. But time has no power over Christ’s influence. The bond which binds you and me to Him nineteen centuries after His death is the very same in quality as, and in degree is often far deeper and stronger than, the bond which united to Him the men that had seen Him. It stands as an unique fact in the history of the world, that from Christ of Nazareth there rays out through all the ages the spiritual power which absolutely takes possession of men, dominates them and turns them into His organs and instruments. This generation prides itself upon testing all things by an utilitarian test, and about every system says:-’Well, let us see it working.’ And I do not think that Christianity need shrink from the test. With all its imperfections, the long procession of holy men and women who, for nineteen centuries, have been marching through history, owning Christ as their Conqueror, and ascribing all their goodness to Him, is a witness to His power to sway and to satisfy men, the force of whose testimony it is hard to overthrow. And I would like to ask the simple question: Will any system of belief or of no belief, except the faith in Christ’s atoning sacrifice, do the like for men? He leads through the world the train of His captives, the evidence of His conquests.

And then, further, let me remind you that out of this representation there comes a very stimulating and solemn suggestion of duty for us Christian people. We are bound to live, setting forth whose we are, and what He has done for us. Just as the triumphal procession took its path up the Appian Way and along the side of the Forum to the altar of the Capitol, wreathed about by curling clouds of fragrant incense, so we should march through the world encompassed by the sweet and fragrant odour of His name, witnessing for Him by word, witnessing for Him by character, speaking for Him and living like Him, showing in our life that He rules us, and professing by our words that He does; and so should manifest His power.

Still further, Paul’s thanksgiving teaches us that we should be thankful for all opportunities of doing such work. Christian men and women often grudge their services and grudge their money, and feel as if the necessities for doing Christian work in the world were rather a burden than an honour. This man’s generous heart was so full of love to his Prince that it glowed with thankfulness at the thought that Christ had let him do such things for Him. And He lets you do them if you will.

So, dear friends, it comes to be a very solemn question for us. What part are we playing in that great triumphal procession? We are all of us marching at His chariot wheels, whether we know it or not. But there were two sets of people in the old triumph. There were those who were conquered by force and unconquered in heart, and out of their eyes gleamed unquenchable malice and hatred, though their weapons were broken and their arms fettered. And there were those who, having shared in the commander’s fight, shared in his triumph and rejoiced in his rule. And when the procession reached the gate of the temple, some, at any rate, of the former class were put to death before the gates. I pray you to remember that if we are dragged after Him reluctantly, the word will come: ‘These, mine enemies, which would not that I should reign over them, bring hither and slay them before Me.’ Whereas, on the other hand, for those who have yielded heart and soul to Him in love and submission born of the reception of His great love, the blessed word will come: ‘He that overcometh shall inherit all things.’ Which of the two parts of the procession do you belong to, my friend? Make your choice where you shall march, and whether you will be His loyal allies and soldiers who share in His triumph, or His enemies, who, overcome by His power, are not melted by His love. The one live, the other perish.

Fuente: Expositions Of Holy Scripture by Alexander MacLaren

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: 2Co 2:14-17

14But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place. 15For we are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing; 16to the one an aroma from death to death, to the other an aroma from life to life. And who is adequate for these things? 17For we are not like many, peddling the word of God, but as from sincerity, but as from God, we speak in Christ in the sight of God.

2Co 2:14 “thanks be to God” See Special Topic following.

SPECIAL TOPIC: PAUL’S PRAYER, PRAISE, AND THANKSGIVING

“always” God always leads us (1) through Christ; (2) in Christ’s victory; and (3) for the purpose of witness (i.e., “manifests through us,” present active participle, cf. 2Co 2:15-16).

NASB, NKJV”who always leads us in triumph in Christ”

NRSV”who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession”

TEV”led by God as prisoners in Christ’s victory procession”

NJB”who always gives us in Christ a part in his triumphal procession”

This phrase refers to the Roman military practice of the triumphal march for victorious legion commanders through the streets of Rome, which would emphasize Christ as victor (the participle is singular). He has destroyed all hostile powers (cf. Col 2:15, the verb appears only in these two verses in the NT). Believers follow Him, not as prisoners (TEV, NEB, and REB translate this explicitly as “prisoners,” but this goes against the obvious victory of the context, unless Paul is referring to his sufferings and humiliations as an evangelist compared to the prisoners in a Roman parade), but as fellow soldiers! We are overcomers because of and through Him! Our victory is won, but we must choose to claim it and walk in it daily.

“us” The plural pronouns in 2Co 2:14-17 refer to (1) the Apostles; (2) Paul and his mission team; or (3) all believers who spread the gospel. To me option #2 is the focus, but option #3 is the implication.

Evangelists are victorious, but there is a price to be paid (cf. 2Co 4:7-12; 2Co 6:3-10; 2Co 11:23-30).

“manifests” Paul uses this word so often in 2 Corinthians (cf. 2Co 2:14; 2Co 3:3; 2Co 4:10-11; 2Co 5:10-11[twice]; 2Co 7:12; 2Co 11:6). The term means to clearly display or make known. Paul’s great desire was to fully, publicly, and clearly reveal God by revealing Christ’s person and work (i.e., the gospel).

“of the knowledge of Him in every place” The Corinthian church was proud of their intellectual heritage. Paul was proud of his knowledge of God through Christ. Knowledge is not for personal glory, but for evangelism. As we are “always” (i.e., pantote) led in triumph in Christ, we also are expected to clearly reveal (i.e., manifest) the message of Christ “in every place” (i.e., panti). The universal gospel of Christ is to be shared by His victorious followers in every place (cf. Mat 28:19-20; Luk 24:47; Act 1:8).

Paul uses this little phrase “in every place” often (cf. 1Co 1:2; 1Th 1:8; 1Ti 2:8). I wonder if it is not an allusion to Mal 1:11, which prophesies a worldwide worship of God’s Messiah?

2Co 2:15 “For we are a fragrance of Christ to God” This phrase has two possible backgrounds.

1. in the OT the smoke from a sacrifice and incense rose to God and was accepted as a sweet aroma (cf. Gen 8:21; Exo 29:18; Exo 29:25; in LXX in Lev 1:9; Lev 1:13; Lev 1:17; Lev 2:2; also used metaphorically by Paul in Php 4:18)

2. in the first century incense was burned along the route of Roman military parades into Rome

The spreading of the gospel is YHWH’s accepted sacrifice of praise. Believers are accepted in Christ for the purpose of becoming like Christ and sharing His gospel.

“who are being saved and among those who are perishing” The distinction seems to be that those who are perishing are perishing by a continuing act of their own will (present active participle), and those who are saved are being saved by the will of God through Christ (present passive participle). For the theological significance of “who are being saved.” See SPECIAL TOPIC: SALVATION (GREEK VERB TENSES) at 1Co 3:15.

For the concept of “perishing” see the full theological discussion at 1Co 1:18, which is a parallel to this text.

2Co 2:16 “And who is adequate for these things” The preaching of the gospel divides humanity eternally. From 2Co 3:5-6 we understand that God equips His children for this awesome witnessing responsibility. Each believer’s life is an aroma to God that others react to, either in trust toward Christ or rejection of Christ. It is important how we live; others are watching (cf. 2Co 2:16; 2Co 3:2-3).

As I read this verse I think of how many times and places I have had the privilege of sharing the gospel. One never knows who is present or what they are going through! Some of my sermons are done well and some are real flops! How can a proclaimer stand the pressure that one’s hearers have an eternal choice to make based on what they hear from the human speaker? They cannot! The task is the Spirit’s, not the proclaimer’s! We must be faithful to speak the gospel but our spiritual responsibility has limits! It is God’s gospel! It is His world! No one can be saved without the Spirit’s touch (cf. Joh 6:44; Joh 6:65). Human logic or eloquence is not the crucial factor!

2Co 2:17 “we are not like many” Paul is referring to (1) itinerant teachers in the Greco-Roman world who traveled from place to place teaching and (2) philosophers where were compared with the false teachers who came from Palestine (like those in Gal 1:6-9) and attacked Paul, his gospel, and his apostleship (cf. 2Co 4:2).

There is a variant connected to “many” (MSS , A, B, C, K, P). Other early MSS (P46, D, F, G, L) have “the rest” (NKJV, NRSV footnote). Bruce Metzger, A Textual Commentary of the Greek New Testament, p. 577, says the second option is an “offensive” term which Paul would not have used in this context. The UBS4 gives option one a “B” rating (almost certain).

“peddling the word of God” This is a term from the wine industry. It was used in two ways:

1. to water down wine so as to make more money (i.e., adulterate)

2. to hawk one’s product for profit (i.e., a huckster)

Paul did not change his message (the gospel) for different audiences (i.e., Greeks, Jews), but he did customize his approach (see Paul’s sermons in Acts and his statement in 1Co 9:19-23).

“but as from sincerity” This term is from a root “to be unmixed” (cf. 2Co 1:12). This would be the opposite of “peddling.” This rare word for sincerity is possibly a compound term from “sunshine” and “judge.” It conveys the concept of unhidden, pure motives (cf. 1Co 5:8; 2Co 1:12; 2Co 2:17; Php 1:10; 2Pe 3:1). Notice the parallel between “but as from sincerity” and “but as from God.”

“the word of God. . .from God. . .in the sight of God” Paul affirms his gospel message is God’s message and that the message is Christ! Paul thanks God (cf. 2Co 2:14) for:

1. our triumph in Christ (cf. 2Co 2:14)

2. our manifesting a knowledge of Him in every place (cf. 2Co 2:14)

3. our message about Him produces life or death (cf. 2Co 2:15-16)

4. our unmixed message is from God, before God, about Christ, and in Christ (cf. 2Co 2:17)

“we speak in Christ in the sight of God” This exact phrase is repeated in 2Co 12:19. It seems to be an idiomatic way of asserting the trustworthiness and truthfulness of the gospel.

Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley

thanks. Greek. charis. App-184.

God. App-98.

causeth us to triumph = leadeth us in triumph (Greek. thriamheud), or triumphs over us as in Col 2:15. Only in these two places. Paul was a captive won by grace. In a Roman triumph there were captives destined to be spared and captives destined to death. See 2Co 2:16.

maketh manifest. Greek. phaneroo. App-106.

savour. Greek osme. Elsewhere, 2Co 2:16. Joh 12:3 (odour). Eph 5:2. Php 1:4, Php 1:18 (odour).

knowledge. Greek. gnosis. App-192.

by = by means of. Greek. dia. App-104. 2Co 2:1. Paul gave evidence of the wisdom which dwelt in Him (Col 2:3) in his own conversion (1Ti 1:16), as well as in his preaching.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

14-17.] Omitting, as presupposed, the fact of his having met with Titus in Macedonia, and the nature of the intelligence which he brought,-he grounds on these a thanksgiving for that intelligence, and a magnification of his apostolic office. It is evidently beside the purpose to refer this thanksgiving to the diffusion of the gospel in Macedonia (as Flatt), or in Troas (as Emmerling), or to general considerations (as Bengel):-both the context, and the language itself (see below), shew that its reference is to the effects of the apostolic reproof on the Corinthians.

Fuente: The Greek Testament

2Co 2:14. , but [now] to God) Although I have not come to Corinth, I did not remain at Troas; nevertheless there is no want of the victory of the Gospel even in other places: The modal expression is added [Append. on Modus, i.e. with expression of feeling, not a mere categorical proposition]; Thanks be unto God.-, always) The parallel follows, in everyplace.- ) who shows us in triumph, not as conquered, but as the ministers of His victory; not only the victory, but the open showing of the victory is denoted: for there follows, Who maketh manifest. The triumph forcibly strikes the eyes; the savour, the nostrils [sense of smell.]- , the savour) The metaphor is taken from all the senses to describe the power of the Gospel. Here the sight (of the triumph) and its savour occur.-, of Him) of Christ, 2Co 2:15.-, who maketh manifest) a word, which often occurs in this epistle, and refutes the suspicions of the Corinthians [towards the apostle.] So 1Co 4:5.

Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament

2Co 2:14

2Co 2:14

But thanks be unto God, who always leadeth us in triumph in Christ,-He thanked God who always delivered him from danger and caused him to triumph over his enemies. He had done this at Corinth, over those denying his claim to be an apostle, even in his absence. [This sudden outburst of thanksgiving is very characteristic of Paul. He does not finish his story, telling where and when he met Titus, but lets this outburst of feeling imply the meeting and its glad results. The first characteristic, then, of Pauls ministry is its continual triumph; so at least he feels as he rises suddenly out of his anguish of suspense and learns how fully the Corinthians had obeyed his instructions and how truly they trust him.]

and maketh manifest through us the savor of his knowledge in every place.-[As in the diffusion of the sweet odor of the incense; so in the life of Paul, wherever he went there was the diffusion of the knowledge of Christ. That Christ should be known was the end of his mission, and was of all things the most acceptable to God. Wherever he went he presented to men the knowledge of Christ through his preaching and life. And this, both when surrounded by those who accepted Christ and were thus in the way of salvation, and those who rejected him and were thus perishing (Col 1:18). For in each case his word was acceptable to God, as accomplishing a divine purpose.]

Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary

The Triumph of the Vanquished

But thanks be unto God, which always leadeth us in triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest through us the savour of his knowledge in every place. For we are a sweet savour of Christ unto God, in them that are being saved, and in them that are perishing; to the one a savour from death unto death; to the other a savour from life unto life.2Co 2:14-16.

1. The text in its immediate connexion presents a striking instance of a peculiarity in St. Pauls style of writing. He often drops the subject in hand and goes off, at the suggestion of a word, into a digression which has little apparent relation to it. In the thirteenth verse of this chapter he says that he left Troas in deep distress at not having met Titus there, and came into Macedonia. But, notwithstanding his sorrow, at the mention of Macedonia he startles us by an outbreak of thanksgiving, But thanks be unto God, etc. He does not explain this outburst of thankfulness, and tell us why he thus breaks forth. But we happen to know why. In Macedonia he received Titus, whom he expected at Troas, with news from Corinth, which he had anticipated with dread, but which, as it turned out, instead of confirming his fears, filled him with joy. He feared the Corinthians might have resented the faithfulness of his dealing with them in his former letter, and been hardened by it, instead of being made penitent, but Titus brings him news of their repentance and reformation, and he is overwhelmed with joy. He finds he has achieved a triumph when he half dreaded a defeat, and he cannot help expatiating upon it at the mention of the name of the place where Titus met him. And in doing so he generalizes the thought to the expression of this truththat the exercise of sincerity and faithfulness on the part of a Christian minister, in speaking the truth in love, is always a triumph in the sight of God, whatever may be its effect upon the persons addressed. He therefore enlarges the sphere of his joy, and thanks God, which always leadeth us in triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest through us the savour of his knowledge in every place.

2. The image before the mind of the Apostle is the triumphant entry of a Roman general who, after some victorious campaign, has returned to the capital laden with spoils. The civic dignitaries met him at the gate. The long vista of the Sacred Way that led to the Temple of Jupiterthe most venerable spot in the imperial citywas lined with crowds of spectators. The route was strewn with flowers, and adorned with various devices. The doors of the temples were flung wide open, and from innumerable altars clouds of incense were wafted into the streets. There also fragrant spices were burnt till the air was filled with the rarest perfumes. As the stately procession advanced, with its troops of prisoners and trains of waggons, a shout of universal joy rent the air. It was the moment when the proud and boastful confidence of the people tasted its most exquisite gratification, when the wine of their exultation was quaffed to the dregs. But amid all the rejoicing and smoking of incense, there were some whose hearts were full of ominous forebodings. The captives who enhanced the glory and lustre of the victor were destined to taste the severity of their masters. Arrived at the temple, which marked the termination of the route, some were mercilessly slain, to show how Rome rewarded her opponents, while some were spared, to remember what they owed to her haughty generosity. To the one the pageantry of the spectacle with its far-spreading odours was a savour of death unto death, to the others a savour of life unto life. So, says St. Paul, has it been with us. God has led us about from place to place in the train of His triumph to celebrate His victory over the enemies of Christ. By us He has made known the reality of His might, in us has been seen the evidence of His conquest; and wherever we have gone there we have been a living testimony to His prevailing prowess. Just as the prisoners who were paraded through the streets of Rome showed that the victorious general had been engaged in no sham warfare, so we have been led from place to place as proofs of the saving vigour of the gospel of His grace.

A couple of centuries earlier, Corinth had fallen before the military prowess of Rome. The ruin of the city had been completed by a conflagration in which, as St. Paul had before reminded them, the hovels of the vast slave population, built of wood, hay, stubble, had been consumed. But in addition, Mommius, the victorious consul, had collected many of the pictures and statues of the city to adorn, together with a train of captives, his triumph. Perhaps the ancestors of some of those to whom St. Paul wrote had been of that throng; the memory, at least, of that humiliation could not have died away. Yet the blush of shame which the mention thereof brought to the face must have been lost in astonishment at one who rejoiced in his defeat, and exulted in that he was led captiveand that alwaysby the conquering grace of God.1 [Note: J. T. L. Maggs, The Spiritual Experience of St. Paul, 45.]

I

The Conqueror

1. God Himself is the great Conqueror. It was God who in the Person of Christ had entered into conflict with the enemies of man, and having spoiled principalities and powers, had made a show of them openly. Our triumphs only begin after God has triumphed over us, after He has brought us to follow in the order of His progress, and so to testify to the riches of His grace. He had begun His triumph over the Apostle when He changed him at Damascus from a bitter foe into a faithful servant, and there also the triumphs of St. Paul himself had commenced. Every service he had rendered since, every hardship he had suffered, every deed he had dared, had only attested how thorough and complete that victory had been. And so it must be with us all. So long as we prevail and carry everything before us, so long are we really suffering defeat. We are straining our efforts to win inferior and worthless prizes, while we allow the only good ones to remain unsought. And attainment in such a case is worse than failure. It confirms the soul in its false pursuit, hardens it into a habit of selfishness, and, while deceiving our hearts with the plaudits of a triumph, rivets upon us the fetters of the slave. Only when God checks us in our wilful course and shows us the folly of our doings, only when He baffles us and brings us to see, through the ruin and dim perplexity of our defeated aims, the nobler purposes He has called us to embrace, do we begin to master our worst foes and win our truest victories.

2. How does God gain the victory over us? As was said about the first Christian emperor, so it may be said about the great Emperor in the heavens, In hoc signo vincesby this sign Thou shalt conquer! For His only weapon is the cross of His Son, and He fights only by the manifestation of infinite love, sacrifice, suffering, and pity. He conquers as the sun conquers the thick-ribbed ice by raying down its heat upon it, and melting it into sweet water. So God in Christ fights against the mountains of mans cold, hard sinfulness and alienation, and turns them all into rivers that flow in love and praise, by the warmth of His own radiation. He conquers simply by forbearance and pity and love.

Petrus Venerabilis approached the Moslem, as he says, not with arms but with words, not by force but by reason, not in hatred but in love; and in so far he was the first to breathe the true missionary spirit toward the Saracens. But he did not go out to them. It was reserved for the Spanish knight to take up the challenge and go out single-handed against the Saracens, not by force but by reason, not in hatred but in love. It was Raymund Lull who wrote: I see many knights going to the Holy Land beyond the seas and thinking that they can acquire it by force of arms; but in the end all are destroyed before they attain that which they think to have. Whence it seems to me that the conquest of the Holy Land ought not to be attempted except in the way in which Thou and Thine apostles acquired it, namely, by love and prayers, and the pouring out of tears and of blood.1 [Note: S. M. Zwemer, Raymund Lull, 52.]

II

The Captives

1. St. Paul thinks of himself and of his coadjutors in Christian work as being conquered captives, made to follow the Conqueror and to swell His triumph. He is thankful to be so overcome. What was deepest degradation is to him supreme honour. The image implies a prior state of hostility and alienation. St. Paul was one who had resolutely kicked against the pricks. He had stood out against the claims of the new faith and allegiance to the sway of Christ. I verily thought with myself, that I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth. This rebel heart Jesus would win. As there have been men whose defeat has seemed essential to the extension of the Kingdom of God, foemen whose boldness or strength of character has marked them as heroes in the ranks of wickedness, so was this enthusiast for Judaism a foe whom Christ would vanquish and bind, and then win over to Himself. As Captain of our salvation He entered upon the campaign, and in the broad plain outside the gates of Damascus there was struck the decisive blow that broke down the persecutors resistance, vanquished him in the struggle, and led him away a conquered man. Yet learning that this loss was gain, that in his defeat by Christ it was as though he had won a splendid victory, he cries: I thank Him who leadeth me in triumph.

St. Paul rejoices that he is led in the train of his conquering Lord. This, he declares, is the real significance of his apostolic ministry. Across rivers and seas, over mountains and across plains, into cities and through wildernesses, among cultured yet degenerate men, among hardy highlanders is he led, the trophy of Divine grace. Yet in that service he never wearies, but loses himself in the joy of the victorious Lord. His wanderings are not self-chosen; he is but a captive following the Conquerors car. Men gaze at him spending his life, sacrificing his comfort and all else to diffuse a faith he once resolutely opposed; they see the unshrinking, unmeasured devotion which dedicates his very being to his apostolic work. Well, he is but a vanquished man, whose whole work now is to adorn, as best he may, his Conquerors triumph. If men would know the invincible power of the Lord of armies, let them mark him who now attends His triumph, the former champion of Judaism, of old the persecutor of the Church; and let them listen to his boast, I thank Him who always leadeth me in triumph. For the hand of Jesus bound up the wound, assuaged the aching smart of his discomfiture; the victory of Divine might became the victory of Divine love; and the submission of defeat grew into the allegiance of devotion.

2. And why does he rejoice? Because the captives led by God share in the great triumph. They may be a spectacle to angels or to men. Sometimes in the stocks: often accounted the off-scouring of all things; yet, in the spiritual realm, they are made to triumph always. Conquered, they conquer; enslaved, they are free; last in this world, but in the front rank of heavenly society. God has first triumphed over them, and is now making them partners of His triumph. Conybeare and Howson thus translate the language of the text: But thanks be to God, who leads me on from place to place in the train of His triumph, to celebrate His victory over the enemies of Christ; and by me sends forth the knowledge of Himself, a stream of fragrant incense, throughout the world. A pretty free translation, it is true; but embodying, no doubt, the precise meaning of the writer. St. Paul regarded himself as a signal trophy of Gods victorious power in Christ; his Almighty Conqueror leading him about through all the cities of the Greek and Roman world, as an illustrious example of His power at once to subdue and to save. The foe of Christ was now the servant of Christ. Grace Divine had subdued and disarmed him. The rebel, the persecutor, the conspirator with hell, was brought into subjection, and rejoiced in his burden as a blessing. As to be led in triumph by man is miserable degradation, so to be led in triumph by the Lord of Hosts is highest honour and blessedness.

3. The number and the quality of the captives who walked in the triumphal procession of any Roman general were the measure of the magnitude of the victory won by him. People could argue from the multitude and the rank of the captives up to the skill and prowess of the victorious general. In much the same way the power, the subduing and resistless power of Jesus, is revealed by the captives He takes, by the multitude of prisoners who walk before His triumphal car. In imagination one can see the triumphal procession of which the Apostle here speaks. And when it comes to the trophies of victory, they are a multitude which no man can number; they are of every kindred and tribe and people and tongue; they are of every colour and speech.

All these centuries Jesus Christ has been casting His spell upon the great thinkers of the world, and taking captive their hearts. Augustine, Galileo, Francis Bacon, John Milton, John Locke, Samuel Butler, Alfred Tennyson, Robert Browningthey are all in the procession. People tell us that in these days science is discarding faith. Some loud and blatant folk tell us that no man of any intellect now believes. They forget that the greatest scientists of our day and time, and other master-minds like the late Mr. Gladstone, all delight to own allegiance to Jesus. And though there be some who seem to repudiate His authority for the moment, like that great and candid soul, G. J. Romanes, they will return to Jesus before long and gladly acknowledge Him as Lord and King. St. Paul in the procession is a tribute to the mighty power of Christ. St. Paul in the procession is a proofif proof were neededthat we shall yet see all things put under Him; that the kingdoms of this world must become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ.1 [Note: J. D. Jones, The Gospel of Grace, 180.]

III

The Incense-Bearers

In the second clause of the fourteenth verse the figure abruptly changes. Any attempt to explain the phrase maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge as referring to the captives is forced. The incense was carried, not by the captives, but by the incense-bearers, and St. Paul uses this feature of the procession to illustrate the work of the Christian for God. As captives God leads us in triumph in Christ; as incense-bearers it is ours to make manifest the savour of the knowledge of Christ.

1. Like incense-bearers, Christians are to spread wherever they go the knowledge of the grace of their Divine Conqueror. The captives in the procession through the streets of Rome were in a way a testimony to the general. They were a tribute to his prowess and military skill. They revealed him as a general to be feared and dreaded. And their death at a certain stage in the procession was a testimony to his pitilessness. St. Paul, too, was a testimony to his Captor. But not to His pitilessness. And not simply to His prowess. St. Paul was a testimony to His grace and mercy and love. He manifested the savour of the knowledge of God in every place. The savour of it! The sweetness and winsomeness and charm of it! A look at the captive made men realize the love and grace of the Captor. People looked at St. Paul, and they fell in love with St. Pauls Master and King. For St. Paul was a man full of radiant peace and joy. He went through the world with a singing heart and a shining face. And this was how he accounted for it: By the grace of God I am what I am. It was his Conqueror who gave him his peace and his joy. St. Pauls speech, his looks, his life, all commended his Gospel; they gave charm and winsomeness to his message. He manifested in every place the savour of the knowledge of God.

T. H. Green had been a Fellow of Balliol for twenty years or more, and for about twelve years he was Tutor in Philosophy in the College. His lectures on the Ethics of Aristotle were said to be quite the best lectures given in his time. And his personal influence was even greater than his influence as a lecturer. I never go to see Green without feeling that I ought to be ashamed of myself, and by Jove, I am ashamed of myself, an undergraduate of these days said to me. It was not by any peculiar grace of speech or manner that he acquired this influence; his instinct was to be silent and shun society; and few of his sayings are recorded. His strong and simple character seemed to need no words to express it; he lived his thoughts, not moving about in worlds unrealized. but carrying his convictions into practice.1 [Note: The Life and Letters of B. Jowett, ii. 192.]

It is personal influence that determines the size of a life; not words, or even deeds.2 [Note: R. W. Barbour, Thoughts, 72.]

2. The incense-bearers can manufacture no incense of their own; they derive all the incense from Christ. We are a sweet savour of Christ unto God. By this must be meant that we may so live as to recall to the mind of God what Jesus was in His mortal career. It is as though, as God watches us from day to day, He should see Jesus in us, and be reminded of that blessed life which was offered as an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savour. It is a gracious encouragement, not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit.

A joiner wielding a hammer, a ploughman making a furrow, a mariner guiding his bark on the ocean, a merchant conducting his business, a medical man attending his patients, a judge administering justice, a teacher instructing the young, a boy or a girl attending school, a woman whose duties lie specially at home, may each of them, in every act, be unto God a sweet perfume of Christ, because they do everything in His name, animated by love to Him, relying on His grace, and seeking His glory.3 [Note: J. Kelman, Redeeming Judgment, 235.]

In speaking on one of the Beatitudes, Dr. Moberley says that the men who exercise the greatest personal and abiding influence upon their fellows are not the great men of history, but sometimes the inconspicuous men who have lived together in the shade and have cast upon the world some sweet song, some deep thought, which lived after they were gone. He takes as illustration the names of two men who lived about 200 years ago. One of them was the famous Duke of Marlborough, who had the greatest influence perhaps among his contemporaries in setting William the Third on the throne of these realms, who became afterwards one of the greatest generals in history, who won great victories over the Grand Monarch, which will never be forgotten so long as the British flag floats anywhere in the world; and he compares with him who occupied a foremost place in the history of his day, in their present influence over the hearts and souls of men, a certain bishopKenwho, because he could not take the oaths of William the Third, was expelled from his bishopric, who lived in poverty, and was regarded with suspicion, but who was the author of two immortal hymnsthe simple morning and evening hymns which we all know

Awake, my soul, and with the sun

Thy daily course of duty run,

and the other,

Glory to Thee, my God, this night,

For all the blessings of the light.

And Dr. Moberley askswhich of these two, the Duke or the Bishop, exercises the greater power in the world to-day? I have no hesitation in replying, he says, it is the inconspicuous bishop, whose name is not even mentioned in some of the standard works of the period. He lives in his hymns.1 [Note: Memories of Horatius Bonar, 69.]

IV

The Incense

The Apostle has viewed himself and his coadjutors as captives, and then as incense-bearers. But now he regards himself and them as the incense itself. In the Roman triumphal processions the incense arose to the gods who had given the victory; our service rises as incense to the one true God. And because our service is the outcome of our living union with Christ, it is at the same time Christs incense arising to God.

1. To St. Pauls view all those to whom he preached were divided into two classesthose who were being saved, and those who were perishing. The former were being increasingly delivered from sin, from unbelief, from unrest, from all the power of evil. While iniquity was surging around them on every side, they were becoming more and more confirmed in the choice of all good; were attaining to a remarkable beauty and nobleness of Christian character; and were free and joyful in the love and service of God. In striking contrast with the community around, they were being saved. The latter were giving themselves up to licentiousness and vice, were undergoing a process of rapid deterioration, and coming increasingly under the power of evil. Their moral nature, not to speak of their spiritual, was falling into utter wreck and ruin. In a word, they were visibly perishing.

At the foot of the Capitoline Hill the ancient triumph divided. Some of the captives were led off to the dark precincts of the Tullianum, where they were put to death. Others were reserved to live. The same fragrance was associated with the perishing on the one hand and the saved on the other. Thus it is in all gospel preaching and holy living. The sun that melts wax hardens clay; the light that bleaches linen tans the hands which expose it; the cloud is the light to Israel, and darkness to Egypt. Those who have life are helped to intenser life, and those who lack it are only driven to further excesses of sin. To one we are the savour of life unto life, to the other of death unto death.1 [Note: F. B. Meyer, Paul, 78.]

2. The message, which is the sweet perfume of Christ to both classes, becomes in the one case life tending unto life, and in the other death tending unto death. That is to say, things are to us what we are to them. Opposite effects follow the same cause. The gospel that blesses some condemns others. The gospel has this peculiaritythat it touches the deepest point in our nature, and affects our character more profoundly than anything else can. It does not deal with passing phases of our life merely, or with the accidents of our environment: it bears directly upon our eternal welfare. It speaks with a clear, authoritative voice, resolving its whole message into one supreme offer whose terms can hardly be misunderstood. And as every truth carries with it a certain authority just because it is truth; and the authority becomes more distinct the higher the truth is; so in the gospelwhich is the highest truth of all, corresponding most entirely to the sum of human needs, and thus attesting the oneness of its origin with that of the humanity which it has come to redeemso in the gospel, there is felt to be an authority, unique of its kind, and its rejection is marked with the deepest dye of guilt.

(1) To the one we are the savour of life unto life. The ministry of the grace of God in Christ is the breathing forth of a spiritual essence fragrant with life. It has the power of life, of the sweetness of life, of the joy of life, of the beauty of life. As ministers of the Word of the truth of the Gospel, as truth is in Jesus, we are sowers of living seed which grows from life to life; from life quickened to life raised up; from life liberating itself from the bondage of death, cleansing itself and putting on its beautiful garmentsas summer life frees itself from its winter imprisonmentto life free, fully clothed, putting forth its blossoms and breathing out fragrance; from life weighted and restricted by its foundations in the dust to life which has put off all weight, free to rise in its own living vessel, and that vessel eternal in the heavensfrom life to life, life natural to life spiritual.

The gospel is a perfume tending unto life, because its successful progress tends to the strengthening and developing and enlarging of the Christian lifethat they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. Conversion is a daily, hourly thing. It is the continuous revelation of sin met by the continuous revelation of Christ. Is not this the deep pathos of life, that within each of us is going on direst contest between the sin-principle and the Christ-principle? Thus it is that Christ for us is life unto life. The more life, the more it creates. The more of Christ, the more of life; the more of life, the more of love.

I will go to that fair Life, the flower of lives;

I will prove the infinite pity and love which shine

From each recorded word of Him who once

Was human, yet Divine.

Oh, pure sweet life, crowned by a godlike death;

Oh, tender healing hand; oh, words that give

Rest to the weary, solace to the sad,

And bid the hopeless live!

Oh, pity, spurning not the penitent thief;

Oh, wisdom stooping to the little child;

Oh, infinite purity, taking thought for lives

By sinful stains defiled!1 [Note: Sir Lewis Morris, Songs of Two Worlds.]

(2) To the other the savour of death unto death. St. Paul felt acutely that he could not be the minister of the word of life to men without increasing their responsibility and aggravating the condemnation of those who rejected it, who, comparatively, might have had no sin if this light of life had not shone upon them, but who now would have no cloak for their sin. For, in proportion to its quickening power of life in those who receive it, does it work death in those who refuse to accept it. Just as the balmy, life-giving breezes of spring bring life to the constitutionally sound, but death to those radically diseased, so is it with the gospel. To some it is life to hear it, to others death; to the one the sweet breath of life, to the other the odour of deathof death unto death, the death of indifference unto the death of obduracy; the death of hopelessness unto the death of despair.

As the foul malaria of a swamp tells of the presence of death, and is itself creative of more death, so an un-Christlike man reveals his moral condition as one of death, and, in revealing it, involves others in his fate. This is the law of spiritual influence. No act or thought dies, but is a living force, germinant of good or evil. Cast your deed or speech into the current of the worlds life, and it will affect that current to its utmost bound. Speak but a word for God or man into the listening air, the winds will seize it and waft it adown the centuries, and men in distant lands and times, feeble and tempest-tossed, hearing it will take heart again. The reverse holds good. Selfishness and meanness, narrowness of thought or vision, mammon-worship, indifference to the eternal realities around you let these things mould you, and you become not only dead yourself, but a bearer of death to others, a sower scattering with careless hand seeds of anarchy and ruin.2 [Note: S. McComb.]

Thoughts holy place is like a sepulchre;

The wine of loves communion cup is spilled;

The House of Life is like a tavern filled

With harlots, slaves and strangers, and the stir

Of dancing feet before the flute-player,

Of shallow voices shrill and counterfeit:

And there the smoky lamps of lust are lit,

And faith is frail, and truth is sinister.

Yet, in the sacred chambers of the mind,

He lies as in his grave who is the Lord.

No rumours vex him, and his eyes are blind

As death, and he is deadlike Lazarus!

What Christ shall resurrect him with a word?

What Saviour bring him back to being thus?1 [Note: G. C. Lodge, Poems and Dramas, ii. 139.]

The Triumph of the Vanquished

Literature

Burrell (D. J.), The Church in the Fort, 276.

Cross (J.), Old Wine and New, 161.

Hodge (C.), Princeton Sermons, 314.

Jones (J. D.), The Gospel of Grace, 172.

Kelman (J.), Redeeming Judgment, 224.

Maclaren (A.), Creed and Conduct, 375.

Maggs (J. T. L.), The Spiritual Experience of St. Paul, 43.

Manning (H. E.), Sermons on Ecclesiastical Subjects, 223.

Moinet (C.), The Great Alternative, 279.

Parker (J.), City Temple Pulpit, ii. 89.

Price (A. C.), Fifty Sermons, vii. 249.

Spurgeon (C. H.), New Park Street Pulpit, i. (1855), No. 26.

Whitworth (W. A.), The Sanctuary of God, 179.

Christian World Pulpit, xxxviii. 349 (S. McComb); xxxix. 81 (F. W. Farrar); lvii. 385 (W. C. Doane).

National Preacher, xxv. 185 (E. F. Hatfield).

Preachers Magazine, xi. (1900) 209 (G. A. Clayton).

Fuente: The Great Texts of the Bible

thanks: 2Co 1:11, 2Co 8:16, 2Co 9:15, Eph 5:20, 1Th 3:9, Rev 7:12

which: Psa 106:47, Psa 148:14, Rom 8:37, 1Co 15:37

the savour: 2Co 2:15, 2Co 2:16, Son 1:3, Rom 15:19, Col 1:6, Col 1:23

Reciprocal: Num 23:21 – the shout 1Ch 29:13 – we thank Psa 45:8 – All Psa 71:21 – comfort Psa 92:4 – General Psa 108:13 – tread Son 3:6 – perfumed Son 7:8 – the smell Hos 14:6 – his smell Mat 12:20 – till Luk 1:46 – General Joh 15:22 – they Act 4:4 – many Act 28:15 – he thanked Rom 1:13 – even Rom 1:16 – for it is Rom 15:17 – whereof 1Co 1:14 – thank 1Co 15:31 – your 1Co 15:57 – thanks 2Co 3:4 – such 2Co 7:4 – I am filled 2Co 7:6 – that comforteth Phi 1:20 – with Phi 2:1 – any consolation Col 1:10 – increasing Col 1:27 – whom Col 4:4 – as Rev 11:17 – We give

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

THE TRIUMPH OF LOVE

But thanks be unto God, Which always leadeth us in triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest through us the savour of His knowledge in every place.

2Co 2:14

That is from the Revised Version. The Authorised VersionNow thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ gives the idea of a general just returned from a glorious victory.

I. The true meaning is the exact opposite. St. Paul and his fellow-believers are not here compared to a general triumphing after a battle; they themselves are led in triumph as captives by a victorious general. In very deed they have been conquered themselves.

II. Thanks be to God, or, Glory to God, St. Paul may well say, for it was the love of God which sent Jesus Christ, and it is the story of His dying love which melts, subdues, and conquers human hearts, and transforms human lives, and brings the sweetness of heaven down to this earth of tears and blood.

III. If a man is to be saved, the will must bow, the heart must surrender. But how can this miracle be wrought? Christ acts on human wills and human hearts by the spell, by the charm, by the force of irresistible love. So that the man says

Saviour, I yield, I yield,

I can hold out no more;

I sink by dying love compelld,

And own Thee Conqueror.

Rev. F. Harper.

Illustration

John Newton was a well-known evangelical preacher of rather more than a hundred years ago, and he was a miracle of grace. I was a wild beast on the coast of Africa, he said, but the Lord caught me and tamed me, and now you come to see me as people go to look at the lions in the Tower. In truth he had been a swearing sea-captain, and withal a dealer in slaves, but he became transformed, and sat at the feet of Jesus, and heard His Word, and preached it too, and wrote the hymn How sweet the Name of Jesus sounds.

Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary

2Co 2:14. Paul was induced to change his plans on account of the disappoint ment. However, a devoted servant of Christ will not permit such an experience to lead him astray, for his trust in the Lord will enable him to triumph. Savour means odor or fragrance, and Paul likens the knowledge of Christ to something pleasingly fragrant.

Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary

2Co 2:14. But thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ. The objections made to this sense are considered in the footnote.[1] Beyond all doubt, what immediately follows agrees best with the causative sense of the word here used,and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place. Though as good soldiers of Jesus Christ we seemed to be almost everywhere victorious, we feared greatly that Corinth, apparently our most wonderful triumph, was to prove a sad exception; but, blessed be God, it has not been so, but in every placeeven thereHe makes the sweet savour of the knowledge of Him in Christ, diffused through us, to go up as that of the offering up of an acceptable sacrifice.

[1] According to the classical usage of the word, the true rendering of this clause is, who triumphs over us, or leads us in triumph; and some of the best interpreters think themselves bound so to interpret it, understanding the apostle to mean that God had so subdued his anxieties and fears as to make him feel as one conquered and carried in triumph as a captive. But this is so very unnatural (not-withstanding Meyers elaborate attempt to represent it as natural), that othersin view of the obvious allusion to the Roman triumphs granted to distinguished conquerors to enter Rome with their captives in chainsthink that the victors as well as the vanquished were regarded as led home thus. But there are two fatal objections to this: (1) It is not according to the classical use of the Greek word, any more than that of the Authorised Version; (2) while it yields the same sense as our own version, it does so in a way not at all natural. It only remains to take the word here in a factitive or causative sense, as Meyer admits that in a number of passages in the LXX. and the New Testament words of that termination are used. (See Winer, Lexical Peculiarities, sec II. b.; Grimm, Lex, Nov. Test. sub voce; Lidd. and Sc.) The instincts of some of the Greek interpreters have led them to substantially the same result.

Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament

TRIUMPHS OF PAULS MINISTRY

Pursuing the consideration of his principles of action, Paul now shows his ministry to have been a triumphant one, notwithstanding the opposition of his enemies (2Co 2:14-17). The triumph however, was of Gods power and grace, and not in himself. Note the comparison between himself and the false teachers (2Co 2:17).

It was not only a triumphant ministry but one fully accredited by themselves (2Co 3:1-5).

It was a spiritual ministry as distinguished from one of legalism (2Co 3:6-18). This is the meaning of the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life (2Co 3:6), the first referring to Judaism and the latter to the Gospel of grace. Not that Paul would disparage the former which was glorious in its revelation (2Co 3:7), but the latter more so (2Co 3:8-15). Prof. Robertson in The Glory of the Ministry gives a beautiful exposition of the last-named verses. The glory of Moses was:

1. A Real Glory the ministration of death written and engraven in stones, was glorious; 2. A Hidden Glory Moses put a veil over his face; 3. A Temporary Glory Israel could not stedfastly look to the end of that which is abolished; 4. An Overshadowed Glory if the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory; 5. A Defective Glory who hath made us able ministers of the New Testament; not of the letter but of the spirit 6. An Ineffective Glory their minds were blinded.

Verses 13-14 referring to Exo 34:33-35, are rather obscure because of a wrong rendering of the Old Testament passage. The Revised Version indicates that the Israelites saw the glory on Moses face as he spake; but when he had ceased, the veil was put on that they might not look on the end, i.e., the fading of that transitory glory. They were permitted to see it as long as it was necessary to be seen as a credential of his ministry but then it was withdrawn. Thus the declaration of Gods will to them was not in openness of speech, but interrupted and broken by intervals of concealment. This was not the case in the Christian dispensation of which Paul was a minister.

It was an honest ministry (2Co 4:1-7), for the reason that the apostles life harmonized with the truth he preached (2Co 4:1-2); because it was Jesus Christ he preached and not himself (2Co 4:3-6); and because the power in which he preached was of God (2Co 4:7).

QUESTIONS

1. What four points concerning Pauls ministry are here named?

2. How do you understand the distinction between the letter and the spirit?

3. Give an analysis of 2Co 3:8-15.

4. How does the Revised Version throw light on Exo 34:35?

5. On what grounds was Pauls ministry honest?

Fuente: James Gray’s Concise Bible Commentary

2Co 2:14. Now thanks be to God, who In Macedonia, as elsewhere; causeth us to triumph Makes our ministry successful against all opposition; in Christ Namely, by the influence of his truth and grace. To triumph implies not only victory, but an open manifestation of it. And maketh manifest the savour Rather odour; of his knowledge Namely, the knowledge of God and Christ, and his gospel; in every place Where he calls us to labour, or in the course of his providence casts our lot. As in triumphal processions, especially in the East, fragrant odours and incense were burned near the conquerors, so he seems beautifully to allude to that circumstance in what he says of , the odour of the gospel, in the following verses. And he seems further to allude to the different effects of strong perfumes to cheer some, and to throw others into violent disorders, according to the different dispositions they are in to receive them. So Doddridge. Macknight gives rather a different interpretation of the passage, thus: In triumphs, the streets through which the victorious generals passed were strewed with flowers, Ovid, Trist. 4. eleg. 2, line 29. The people, also, were in use to throw flowers into the triumphal car as it passed along. This, as all the other customs observed in triumphal processions, was derived from the Greeks, who in that manner honoured the conquerors in the games when they entered into their respective cities. Plutarch, (Emil., p. 272,) tells us, that in triumphal processions, the streets were , full of incense.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

But thanks be unto God, who always leadeth us in triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest through us the savor of his knowledge in every place.

Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)

THE GOSPEL OMINOUS OF DOOM

14. Thanks be unto God, who causeth us to triumph in Christ, manifesting the odor of the knowledge of Himself through us in every place. The apostles are everywhere the heralds of victory in Christ, who causes them to triumph over all of their spiritual foes, their message of truth, testimony of personal Salvation, songs of joy and shouts of victory filling the very atmosphere with the fragrant odors of the knowledge of Christ; i. e., everything they say and do is constantly revelatory of the knowledge of Christ.

15. Because we are a sweet savor to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing. So long as we are in this world we are not saved in a final sense, but only being saved, i. e., in process of salvation, ripening for Heaven, justification being primary salvation, sanctification full salvation and glorification final salvation. Meanwhile the wicked are not yet damned, but only condemned, with an opportunity to have the condemnatory sentence rescinded. There is no final issue in either case till we pass out of this probation. The true ministers are a sweet savor to God, because they so proclaim the whole counsel of God as to turn the full responsibility over to the hearers, thus vindicating the Divine justice and magnifying sovereign mercy, whether in the case of salvation or perdition.

16. To the latter an odor from death unto death, and to the former an odor of life unto life. Who is sufficient for these things? In the case of the wicked, we are an odor from the spiritual death which now locks them tight unto the eternal death which awaits them. In the case of the righteous, we are an odor from the glorious spiritual life they now enjoy, to the ineffable joys of the eternal life to which they fast hasten, the present state in either case being significantly ominous of the momentous future. No wonder he indulges in the interjection, Who is equal to these things? Tremendous are the issues and immeasurable the responsibilities.

17. For we are not as many, who are in the habit of adulterating the Word of God . What an awful responsibility! and yet how many are guilty of bending the Word to suit the creed or the congregation. Gods Word is His voice, replete with His awful majesty. In the first place, it is an awful pity a creed was ever made. This is the reason why they corrupt the Word to suit the creed. No one should assume the awful responsibility of handling Gods Word till he is dead to creeds, opinions, and everything but God. But as from purity, but as from God, we speak before God in Christ. The sincerity in E.V. is eilikrineias, from eilee, a sunbeam, and krinoo, judge. Hence it means judged in a sunbeam,, i. e., God proposes to make your heart so pure that when illuminated by the infallible Sun of Righteousness, His own omniscient eye can see no impurity in it. We are to preach in the constant realization that we are standing in the presence of God.

Fuente: William Godbey’s Commentary on the New Testament

Verse 14

In every place; that is, wherever we go. Though he left a favorable opening for usefulness in Troas he found that he was made the instrument of disseminating the knowledge of God in Macedonia.

Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament

2:14 Now thanks [be] unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the {k} savour of his knowledge by us in every place.

(k) He alludes to the anointing of the priests, and the incense of the sacrifices.

Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes

Thanksgiving for a share in Christ’s triumph 2:14-17

"The passage that follows (2Co 2:14 to 2Co 7:4) is the longest coherent section within 2 Corinthians and is, arguably, the centerpiece of the entire letter. Nonetheless, it is not freestanding, but continuous with what precedes it." [Note: Barnett, p. 137. See also Carson and Moo, pp. 436-38.]

Paul’s recollection of his happy reunion with Titus in Macedonia and the good news his friend brought from Corinth triggered the following "great digression." The Corinthians, Paul learned, had responded favorably to the "severe letter." The apostle viewed their response as a divine vindication of his apostleship and a triumph of divine grace in the Corinthians’ hearts.

". . . 2.14-7.4 is a lengthy digression on Paul’s part, caused by the contrast between the agitation of mind which he has just described and his present sense of relief and rejoicing." [Note: Bruce, p. 187.]

". . . one thought leads on to another in an outpouring of spiritual wealth unsurpassed in any other of his epistles." [Note: Hughes, p. 77.]

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

This outburst of praise sprang from Paul’s deep-seated conviction that God’s working in and through him, regardless of the appearance of the set-back just mentioned, proceeded on triumphantly. This viewpoint is one of the great emphases of this epistle. Jesus Christ is without exception continuing to advance in His work. He is building His church and the gates of hell are not prevailing against it (Mat 16:18). Because Paul and the Corinthians were in Christ they shared in this triumph.

"The major objection to the hypothesis that 2Co 2:14 is the beginning of a new letter, one of several said to have been combined to create 2 Corinthians, is the fact that such a letter has no clearly defined ending. . . .

"The thesis of this article is that it was the resonances of the term ’Macedonia’ in 2.13 that switched Paul’s thoughts into the channel evidenced in 2.14-17." [Note: Jerome Murphy-O’Connor, "Paul and Macedonia: The Connection Between 2Co 2:13-14," Journal for the Study of the New Testament 25 (October 1985):99, 100.]

Paul compared the irresistible advance of the gospel, in spite of temporary setbacks, to a Roman triumph.

"Christ undertook a battle not rightly his; we share in a triumph not rightly ours." [Note: Harris, p. 332.]

Paul compared the wafting of fragrant incense, as the triumph proceeded through the streets of Rome, to God disseminating the knowledge of Himself through the apostles.

"The metaphor is at the same time triumphal and antitriumphal. It is as God leads his servants as prisoners of war in a victory parade that God spreads the knowledge of Christ everywhere through them. Whereas in such victory processions the prisoners would be dejected and embittered, from this captive’s lips comes only thanksgiving to God, his captor. Here is restated the power-in-weakness theme (cf. 2Co 1:3-11) that pervades the letter." [Note: Barnett, p. 150.]

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)