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

As we shared in the previous Note, the verse above is actually about the triumph of Christ, not our triumph. (Though, to be clear, we see elsewhere in the New Testament that we surely are victorious in Him; e.g., 1 Cor. 15:57, Eph. 2:5-7.) Instead, in this verse Paul is sharing how Christ had triumphed over him, who before had been such an enemy of the gospel, so that he became instead a slave of Christ to follow Him and spread His fragrance in every place. (See the Note, “Conybeare & Howson: The Triumph of the Christ”; and also the most recent edition of our podcast, “Slaves of Christ Jesus, Defeated by Him.”)

Yet, while this was Paul’s experience, we have to ask, Is it ours as well? Have we, like Paul, been defeated by Christ, practically speaking, so that we are now being led as captives in His triumphal procession? To the contrary: so often, as Witness Lee points out in the quote below, in terms of our experience, it is not Christ who defeats us, but we who defeat Christ. And this is what prevents Him from working out in our lives all that He desires to do.

Lord, we ask for your mercy, to deal with us day by day until you finally defeat us, so that we fully surrender to You as Your captives and Your slaves! Have Your way to lead us in Your triumph as those who spread Your fragrance everywhere!

— Witness Lee —

Have You Been
Defeated by Christ?

Day by day there are many struggles, not between you and the world, but between you and the Lord. Day by day there are many battles, not between you and sins, but between you and the Lord. Do not focus on the world or sins, but take care of the battle between you and the Lord. If you would only be willing to be defeated by the Lord, all the world and all the sins would be under your feet. Why are you defeated by the world? Because you defeated Christ. Why are you defeated by any besetting sin? Because you are defeating Christ all the time.

I hope you would concentrate your prayer on this one thing: “Lord, make me your captive. Never let me win. Defeat me all the time.” After praying in this way, you will see what will happen to you. All the self will, self desire, self emotion, self thoughts, and so many things of the self are still existing within you, and day by day, hour after hour, Christ has been defeated by you. This is the problem….

[Paul] said that God “always leads us in triumph.” When I was young I thought this was my triumph. Today, though, I realize that this is not my triumph but His triumph. God always leads us as a captive in the triumph of Christ.

An Autobiography of
a Person in the Spirit,
Chapter 3,
“Captured by Christ,”
pages 26-27

Sent to our mailing list on
—  4 February 2024 —