But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ, and manifests through us the aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place.
— 2 Corinthians 2:14

Most translations of this verse, especially the more literal ones, read in basically the same manner as given above in the LSB (cf. KJV, ASV, YLT, DBY, NKJV, ESV, RSV). In this understanding, Christ has made us, the believers in Christ, the victors, and we are now marching in triumphal procession with Him as our leader.

However, according to W. J. Conybeare & J. S. Howson, in their highly regarded study, Life and Epistles of Saint Paul, (see the excerpt below), that is not what this verse is actually saying; rather it is better translated along these lines:

But thanks be to God, who always leads us as captives in Christ’s triumphal procession and uses us to spread the aroma of the knowledge of him everywhere.
— NIV; cf. CSB, NLT; see also the rendering of the SV, given below

So, Paul is not saying here that God is leading him in triumph, but that Christ has triumphed over him, who before had been such a great enemy of Christ, and is now leading Paul and so many others as captives in the celebration of His victory over him and all his vanquished foes (cf. Eph. 4:8).

Vincent, in his Word Studies, agrees with this reading, saying the Greek word here is used “habitually…of the person or thing triumphed over, and never of the triumphing subject.” He goes on to state,

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.

In brief, it is Christ who is the victor, not us; as the followers of Christ today, we need to be very clear about this point.

In our most recent Note we considered how all the writers of the New Testament were “slaves of Christ Jesus.” (See “Slaves of Christ Jesus”.) Surely, every slave is a defeated one and a captive; may the Lord have His way to “defeat” so many more of His believers in these days, so He may gain us as His captives and bring us into His triumphal procession!

Conybeare & Howson:
The Triumph of
the Christ

But thanks be to God,
who always leads us as captives
in the triumph of the Christ
and manifests the fragrance of
the knowledge of Him through us
in every place.
— 2 Corinthians 2:14, SV

The verb here used (which is mistranslated in A. V.) means to lead a man as a captive in a triumphal procession; the full phrase means, to lead captive in a triumph over the enemies of Christ. The metaphor is taken from the triumphal procession of a victorious general. God is celebrating His triumph over His enemies; St. Paul (who had been so great an opponent of the Gospel) is a captive following in the train of the triumphal procession, yet (at the same time, by a characteristic change of metaphor) an incense bearer, scattering incense (which was always done on these occasions) as the procession moves on. Some of the conquered enemies were put to death when the procession reached the Capitol; to them the smell of the incense was “an odor of death unto death”; to the rest who were spared, “an odor of life unto life.” The metaphor appears to have been a favorite one with St. Paul; it occurs again Colossians 2:15.​
— Life and Epistles of St. Paul, page 444

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—  4 February 2024 —