Now thanks be unto God, who always causes us to triumph in Christ, and makes manifest the fragrance of his knowledge by us in every place.
All Commentaries on 2 Corinthians 2:14 Go To 2 Corinthians 2
Cornelius a Lapide
AD 1637
Now thanks be unto God which always causeth us to triumph in Christ. The Syriac and Theophylact render this "triumphs in us," i.e, makes us conspicuous to all. A triumph is the procession of a victorious commander through the midst of the city with his trophies and other signs of victory. But those things which seem to us to be suffering and shame are our glory and triumph, says Theophylact. Secondly, Anselm understands it of God triumphing over the devil in us or through us. Cf. Colossians 2:15.
The Apostle seems to have had to bear sharp persecution in Macedonia, and, indeed, in vii5 he says that he had suffered there every kind of tribulation: without were fightings, within were fears; but God"s grace gloriously and triumphantly overcame them all. S. Jerome ( Ephesians 150 ad Hedibiam, qu. xi.) says beautifully that the Apostle here gives thanks to God for counting him worthy to be the subject of the triumph of His Son over so many persecutions and evils, which he underwent in his task of converting the Gentiles to Christ. "For the triumph of God," says S. Jerome, "is the suffering of the martyrs for the name of Christ, the shedding of their blood, and their joy in the midst of torture. For when anyone saw the martyrs stand firm, and so perseveringly endure tortures, and glory in their sufferings, the odour of the Knowledge of Christ was shed abroad among the Gentiles, and the half unconscious thought would arise that if the Gospel were not true it would never be proof against death." The preaching of the Gospel therefore triumphs in the Apostles, inasmuch as in it faith overcomes unbelief, truth falsehood, the love of Christ the hatred of the scornful, patience every kind of suffering and persecution, and even death itself.
