Verse (Click for Chapter) New International Version 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. New Living Translation But thank God! He has made us his captives and continues to lead us along in Christ’s triumphal procession. Now he uses us to spread the knowledge of Christ everywhere, like a sweet perfume. English Standard Version But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. Berean Standard Bible But thanks be to God, who always leads us triumphantly as captives in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of Him. Berean Literal Bible But thanks be to God, the One always leading us in triumph in Christ, and through us in every place making manifest the fragrance of the knowledge of Him. King James Bible 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. New King James Version Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place. New American Standard Bible But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us reveals the fragrance of the knowledge of Him in every place. NASB 1995 But 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. NASB 1977 But thanks be to God, who always leads us in His triumph in Christ, and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place. Legacy Standard Bible 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. Amplified Bible But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us spreads and makes evident everywhere the sweet fragrance of the knowledge of Him. Christian Standard Bible But thanks be to God, who always leads us in Christ’s triumphal procession and through us spreads the aroma of the knowledge of him in every place. Holman Christian Standard Bible But thanks be to God, who always puts us on display in Christ and through us spreads the aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place. American Standard Version 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. Aramaic Bible in Plain English But I thank God, who at all times makes us a vision in The Messiah and reveals the fragrance of his knowledge by us in every place. Contemporary English Version I am grateful that God always makes it possible for Christ to lead us to victory. God also helps us spread the knowledge about Christ everywhere, and this knowledge is like the smell of perfume. Douay-Rheims Bible Now thanks be to God, who always maketh us to triumph in Christ Jesus, and manifesteth the odour of his knowledge by us in every place. English Revised Version 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. GOD'S WORD® Translation But I thank God, who always leads us in victory because of Christ. Wherever we go, God uses us to make clear what it means to know Christ. It's like a fragrance that fills the air. Good News Translation But thanks be to God! For in union with Christ we are always led by God as prisoners in Christ's victory procession. God uses us to make the knowledge about Christ spread everywhere like a sweet fragrance. International Standard Version But thanks be to God! He always leads us triumphantly by the Messiah and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of knowing him. Literal Standard Version and to God [is] thanks, who at all times is leading us in triumph in the Christ, and the fragrance of His knowledge He is revealing through us in every place; Majority Standard Bible But thanks be to God, who always leads us triumphantly as captives in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of Him. New American Bible But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ and manifests through us the odor of the knowledge of him in every place. NET Bible But thanks be to God who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and who makes known through us the fragrance that consists of the knowledge of him in every place. New Revised Standard Version But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads in every place the fragrance that comes from knowing him. New Heart English Bible Now thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and reveals through us the sweet aroma of his knowledge in every place. Webster's Bible Translation Now thanks be to God, who always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savor of his knowledge by us in every place. Weymouth New Testament But to God be the thanks who in Christ ever heads our triumphal procession, and by our hands waves in every place that sweet incense, the knowledge of Him. World English Bible Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and reveals through us the sweet aroma of his knowledge in every place. Young's Literal Translation and to God are thanks, who at all times is leading us in triumph in the Christ, and the fragrance of His knowledge He is manifesting through us in every place, Additional Translations ... Audio Bible Context Triumph in Christ…13I had no peace in my spirit, because I did not find my brother Titus there. So I said goodbye to them and went on to Macedonia. 14But thanks be to God, who always leads us triumphantly as captives in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of Him. 15For we are to God the sweet aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing.… Cross References Song of Solomon 1:3 The fragrance of your perfume is pleasing; your name is like perfume poured out. No wonder the maidens adore you. Ezekiel 20:41 When I bring you from the peoples and gather you from the lands to which you have been scattered, I will accept you as a pleasing aroma. And I will show My holiness through you in the sight of the nations. John 16:33 I have told you these things so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take courage; I have overcome the world!" Romans 1:8 First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is being proclaimed all over the world. Romans 6:17 But thanks be to God that, though you once were slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were committed. 1 Corinthians 12:8 To one there is given through the Spirit the message of wisdom, to another the message of knowledge by the same Spirit, 1 Corinthians 15:57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ! Treasury of Scripture Now thanks be to God, which always causes us to triumph in Christ, and makes manifest the aroma of his knowledge by us in every place. thanks. 2 Corinthians 1:11 Ye also helping together by prayer for us, that for the gift bestowed upon us by the means of many persons thanks may be given by many on our behalf. 2 Corinthians 8:16 But thanks be to God, which put the same earnest care into the heart of Titus for you. 2 Corinthians 9:15 Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift. which. Psalm 106:47 Save us, O LORD our God, and gather us from among the heathen, to give thanks unto thy holy name, and to triumph in thy praise. Psalm 148:14 He also exalteth the horn of his people, the praise of all his saints; even of the children of Israel, a people near unto him. Praise ye the LORD. Romans 8:37 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. the savour. 2 Corinthians 2:15,16 For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish: … Song of Solomon 1:3 Because of the savour of thy good ointments thy name is as ointment poured forth, therefore do the virgins love thee. Romans 15:19 Through mighty signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God; so that from Jerusalem, and round about unto Illyricum, I have fully preached the gospel of Christ. Jump to Previous Always Aroma Causeth Christ Clear Everywhere Fragrance Hands Heads Incense Leads Makes Maketh Manifest Odour Overcome Praise Procession Reveals Savor Savour Spreads Strong Sweet Thanks Triumph Value WavesJump to Next Always Aroma Causeth Christ Clear Everywhere Fragrance Hands Heads Incense Leads Makes Maketh Manifest Odour Overcome Praise Procession Reveals Savor Savour Spreads Strong Sweet Thanks Triumph Value Waves2 Corinthians 2 1. Having shown the reason why he came not to them,6. he requires them to forgive and to comfort that excommunicated person, 10. even as he himself upon true repentance had forgiven him; 12. declaring why he departed from Troas to Macedonia, 14. and the happy success which God gave to his preaching in all places. (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 Colossians 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 God's 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 (2Timothy 4:21) were among those children. (See Excursus on the Later Years of St. Paul's 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. Verse 14. - Now thanks be unto God. The whole of this Epistle is the apostle's Apologia pro vita sua, and is more full of personal details and emotional expressions than any other Epistle. But nothing in it is more characteristic than this sudden outburst of thanksgiving into which he breaks so eagerly that he has quite omitted to say what it was for which he so earnestly thanked God. It is only when we come to 2 Corinthians 7:5, 6 that we learn the circumstance which gave him such intense relief, namely, the arrival of Titus with good news from Corinth about the treatment of the offender and the manner in which the first letter had been received. It is true that this good news seems to have been dashed by other remarks of Titus which, perhaps, he withheld at first, and which may only have been drawn from him, almost against his will, by subsequent conversations. But, however checkered, the main and immediate intelligence was good, and the apostle so vividly recalls his sudden uplifting out of an abyss of anxiety and trouble (2 Corinthians 7:5) that the mere remembrance of it awakens a thankfulness to God which can only find vent by immediate utterance. Now thanks be unto God. The order of the original is more forcible, "But to God be thanks." The remembrance of his own prostration calls into his mind the power and love of God. Which always causeth us to triumph; rather, who leadeth us in triumph. The verb thriambeuo may undoubtedly have this meaning, on the analogy of choreuo, I cause to dance, basileuo, I cause to reign, etc.; and other neuter verbs which sometimes have a factitive scribe. But in Colossians 2:15 St. Paul uses this word in the only sense in which it is actually found, "to lead in triumph;" and this sense seems both to suit the context better, and to be more in accordance with the habitual feelings of St. Paul (Galatians 6:17; Colossians 1:24), and especially those with which these Epistles were written (1 Corinthians 4:9-13; 2 Corinthians 4:10; 2 Corinthians 11:23). St. Paul's feeling is, therefore, the exact opposite of that of the haughty Cleopatra who said, Οὑ θριαμβευθήσομαι, "I will not be led in triumph." He rejoiced to be exhibited by God as a trophy in the triumphal procession of Christ. God, indeed, gave him the victory over the lower part of his nature (Romans 8:37), but this was no public triumph. The only victory of which he could boast was to have been utterly vanquished by God and taken prisoner "in Christ." The savour of his knowledge. The mental vision of a Roman triumph summons up various images before the mind of St. Paul. He thinks of the streets breathing with the fragrance of incense offered upon many a wayside altar; of the tumult and rejoicing of the people; of the fame and glory of the conqueror; of the miserable captives led aside from the funeral procession to die, like Vercingetorix, in the Tullianum at the foot of the Capitoline hill. He touches on each of these incidents as they crowd upon him. The triumph of L. Mummius over the conquest of Corinth had been one of the most splendid which the Roman world had ever seen, and in A.D. , shortly before this Epistle was written (A.D. 57), Claudius had celebrated his triumph over the Britons and their king Caractacus, who had been led in the procession, but whose life had been spared (Tacitus, 'Ann.,' 13:36). The savour of his knowledge; i.e. the fragrance of the knowledge of Christ. By us. The details of the metaphor are commingled, as is often the case in writers of quick feeling and imagination. Here the apostles are no longer the vanquished who are led in procession, but the spectators who burn and diffuse the fragrance of the incense. In every place. Even at that early period, not twenty-five years after the Crucifixion, the gospel had been very widely preached in Asia and Europe (Romans 15:18, 19).Parallel Commentaries ... Greek Butδὲ (de) Conjunction Strong's 1161: A primary particle; but, and, etc. thanks [be] χάρις (charis) Noun - Nominative Feminine Singular Strong's 5485: From chairo; graciousness, of manner or act. to Τῷ (Tō) Article - Dative Masculine Singular Strong's 3588: The, the definite article. Including the feminine he, and the neuter to in all their inflections; the definite article; the. God, Θεῷ (Theō) Noun - Dative Masculine Singular Strong's 2316: A deity, especially the supreme Divinity; figuratively, a magistrate; by Hebraism, very. who τῷ (tō) Article - Dative Masculine Singular Strong's 3588: The, the definite article. Including the feminine he, and the neuter to in all their inflections; the definite article; the. always πάντοτε (pantote) Adverb Strong's 3842: Always, at all times, ever. From pas and hote; every when, i.e. At all times. leads us triumphantly as captives θριαμβεύοντι (thriambeuonti) Verb - Present Participle Active - Dative Masculine Singular Strong's 2358: (properly: I lead one as my prisoner in a triumphal procession, hence) I lead around, make a show (spectacle) of, cause to triumph. in ἐν (en) Preposition Strong's 1722: In, on, among. A primary preposition denoting position, and instrumentality, i.e. A relation of rest; 'in, ' at, on, by, etc. Christ Χριστῷ (Christō) Noun - Dative Masculine Singular Strong's 5547: Anointed One; the Messiah, the Christ. From chrio; Anointed One, i.e. The Messiah, an epithet of Jesus. and καὶ (kai) Conjunction Strong's 2532: And, even, also, namely. through δι’ (di’) Preposition Strong's 1223: A primary preposition denoting the channel of an act; through. us ἡμῶν (hēmōn) Personal / Possessive Pronoun - Genitive 1st Person Plural Strong's 1473: I, the first-person pronoun. A primary pronoun of the first person I. spreads φανεροῦντι (phanerounti) Verb - Present Participle Active - Dative Masculine Singular Strong's 5319: To make clear (visible, manifest), make known. From phaneros; to render apparent. everywhere τόπῳ (topō) Noun - Dative Masculine Singular Strong's 5117: Apparently a primary word; a spot, i.e. Location; figuratively, condition, opportunity; specially, a scabbard. the τὴν (tēn) Article - Accusative Feminine Singular Strong's 3588: The, the definite article. Including the feminine he, and the neuter to in all their inflections; the definite article; the. fragrance ὀσμὴν (osmēn) Noun - Accusative Feminine Singular Strong's 3744: A smell, odor, savor. From ozo; fragrance. of τῆς (tēs) Article - Genitive Feminine Singular Strong's 3588: The, the definite article. Including the feminine he, and the neuter to in all their inflections; the definite article; the. [the] knowledge γνώσεως (gnōseōs) Noun - Genitive Feminine Singular Strong's 1108: Knowledge, doctrine, wisdom. From ginosko; knowing, i.e. knowledge. of Him. αὐτοῦ (autou) Personal / Possessive Pronoun - Genitive Masculine 3rd Person Singular Strong's 846: He, she, it, they, them, same. From the particle au; the reflexive pronoun self, used of the third person, and of the other persons. Links 2 Corinthians 2:14 NIV2 Corinthians 2:14 NLT 2 Corinthians 2:14 ESV 2 Corinthians 2:14 NASB 2 Corinthians 2:14 KJV 2 Corinthians 2:14 BibleApps.com 2 Corinthians 2:14 Biblia Paralela 2 Corinthians 2:14 Chinese Bible 2 Corinthians 2:14 French Bible 2 Corinthians 2:14 Catholic Bible NT Letters: 2 Corinthians 2:14 Now thanks be to God who always (2 Cor. 2C iiC 2Cor ii cor iicor) |
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