2 Corinthians 2:14

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 1 Corinthians 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. 2 Corinthians 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 triumphmay also be rendered, leadeth us in triumph. It is used in the latter sense in Colossians 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 Romans 8:37.

and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge The word savour(from the Latin sapor, flavour) is, with oneexception (Matthew 5:13), used in the Scriptures to denote an odour. See Genesis 8:21; Ecclesiastes 10:1; Joel 2:20, &c. The Apostle as yet does not refer to the -sweet savour" of the sacrifices (Exodus 29:18; Leviticus 1:9; Leviticus 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 usin 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 (Romans 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; 1 Peter 5:13.