2 Corinthians 2:14

Τῷ δὲ θεῷ χάρις. This abrupt transition graphically, though unintentionally, reproduces the sudden revulsion of feeling caused by the news which Titus brought from Corinth. At the mere mention of Macedonia, the memory of what he experienced there carries him away. The journey, the search, the meeting, the report brought by his emissary are all passed over, and he bursts out into thanksgiving for God’s great mercies to him and to the cause. Note the emphatic position of τῷ θεῷ here, as in 1 Corinthians 15:57. He commonly writes χάρις τῷ θεῷ (2 Corinthians 8:16; 2 Corinthians 9:15; Romans 6:17; Romans 7:25 : comp. 1 Timothy 1:3). The outburst of thanksgiving makes him forget the story of the return of Titus. We might have guessed it; but he tells it 2 Corinthians 7:6-7 : interjacet nobilissima digressio (Bengel). It is surprising that anyone should attribute this sudden outpouring of praise to the success in Troas, or to that in Macedonia (of which there is here no hint), or to God’s blessings generally. Along with the signal mercy granted to him in the crisis of Titus’ mission to Corinth S. Paul thinks of the constant blessings which he enjoys; but it is the remembrance of that unspeakable relief from a sickening anxiety which inspires this thanksgiving. The connexion with 2 Corinthians 2:13 is close, and the R.V. rightly makes 2 Corinthians 2:12-17 one paragraph.

τῷ πάντοτε θριαμβεύοντι ἡμᾶς ἐν τῷ χριστῷ. ‘Which always causeth us to triumph’ (A.V.) is almost certainly wrong. In Colossians 2:15, as in classical Greek, θριαμβεύω means ‘I lead in triumph,’ and is used of a conqueror in reference to the vanquished. No doubt some verbs of similar formation at times acquire a causative sense. Thus, μαθητεύω, ‘I am a disciple’ (Matthew 27:57, where the differences of reading illustrate both uses), also means ‘I make a disciple of’ (Matthew 28:19; Acts 14:21): and βασιλεύω, ‘I am a king’ (Luke 19:14; Luke 19:27), sometimes means ‘I make to be king’ (Isaiah 7:6). But that does not prove that θριαμβεύω ever has a causative sense, still less that it means ‘cause to triumph’ here. To say that ‘causeth us to triumph’ is the only rendering which makes sense here, is superficial criticism. It would be nearer the truth to say that the meaning which θριαμβεύω has in every other known passage gives a deeper sense than the rendering which at first sight seems to fit so well. But it is going too far on the other side to say that it must mean ‘triumph over.’ It need mean no more than ‘lead in triumph’; and which always leadeth us in triumph (R.V.) is the safest rendering here. ‘He leads us about here and there and displays us to all the world’ is Theodoret’s paraphrase: τῇδε κἀκεῖσε περιάγει δήλους ἡμᾶς πᾶσιν�. In Tatian, Oratio ad Graecos XXII., we have ‘Cease making a display of other people’s sayings and, like the jackdaw, decorating yourselves with plumage not your own’: παύσασθε λόγους�, ὥσπερ ὁ κολοιός, οὐκ ἰδίοις ἐπικοσμούμενοι πτεροῖς. Suicer shows that Chrysostom uses θριαμβεύω and θριάμβευσις simply in the sense of display. Here, those who are led in triumph are so led, not to humiliate them, but to show them to the whole world as being the property and the glory of Him who leads them. In a Roman triumph the general’s sons (Liv. XLV. 40), with his legati and tribuni (Cic. In Pis. xxv. 60; Appian, Mith. 117), rode behind his chariot. So God has made a pageant of the Apostle and his fellow-workers, as instruments of His glory. We may go farther, and say that, before exhibiting them as His, He had taken them captive, as was true, in a very marked way, of S. Paul; or that He had triumphed over them by showing that all their anxiety, which they ought to have cast upon Him (1 Peter 5:7), was needless. But the idea of display is all that is required (comp. 1 Corinthians 4:9), and it fits on very well to φανεροῦντι, which follows. The success of his letter to Corinth and of the mission of Titus was a conspicuous example of God’s showing to the world that the Apostle and his colleagues were His ministers working for His glory. The addition of ἐν τῷ χριστῷ, like ἐν κυρίῳ in 2 Corinthians 2:12, marks the sphere in which the display takes place. It is as being Christ’s that they are God’s (1 Corinthians 3:23). See Field, Otium Norvic. III. p. 111, Notes on Translation of the N.T. p. 181; but he denies the reference to a Roman triumph.

τὴν ὀσμὴν τῆς γνὡσεως αὐτοῦ. The idea of a triumphal procession continues, with the burning of incense which accompanied such things. The sweet odour is the knowledge (genitive of apposition) of God in Christ, diffused by the Apostles and their fellows in every part of the world. It is immaterial whether we interpret αὐτοῦ of God or of Christ. 2 Corinthians 2:15 favours the latter: comp. 2 Corinthians 4:6. God is revealed in Christ, who came in order to reveal Him; so that the meaning is the same, however we interpret αὐτοῦ. See Chase, Chrysostom, p. 184.

διʼ ἡμῶν. Through us (R.V.). As in 2 Corinthians 1:19-20, διά indicates that they are only instruments. Throughout the passage everything is attributed to God. It is to Him that thanks are due. It is He too who, not makes us to triumph, but displays us in His triumph, as instruments which He owns and uses in diffusing the fragrant knowledge of Himself in His Son. Note the πάντοτε, ‘at every time,’ at the beginning, and the ἐν παντὶ τόπῳ, ‘in every place,’ at the end, of this description of God’s work.