Which version interprets 2 Cor ii:14 more accurately, the English Standard Version or the New Living Traslation?

"But thank you be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere" (ESV).

"But give thanks God! He has made us his captives and continues to lead us along in Christ'due south triumphal procession. Now he uses us to spread the noesis of Christ everywhere, like a sweet perfume" (NLT).

The implication of this verse, every bit I was taught equally a young Christian, was that Christ the victorious general was leading me every bit a fellow member of his conquering army in a k victory parade. The rendering of the King James Version gives even greater cause for optimism: "Now cheers be unto God, which e'er causeth the states to triumph in Christ."

The difficulty with these translations, and many others likewise (NIV 1984, NJB, NKJV, RSV, ESV, NASB), is that there are no examples from Greek literature where the verb thriambeuo (to triumph) ever means this. If we were to render this clause in accord with the merely attested meaning of this Greek construction, nosotros would have to follow the NLT, or perphas the most contempo NIV or TNIV: "Simply thanks be to God, who always leads u.s.a. as captives in his triumphal procession."

This translation, coupled with the noesis of the historical and cultural context of the passage, leads to a drastically different agreement than the i commonly accepted. In two:14-16, Paul alludes to one of the near spectacular and important celebrations in antiquity, the Roman Triumph. Awarded by the senate to honour a victorious general, the Triumph was essentially an enormous parade through the heart of Rome. Information technology was designed to display the glory of the Roman general and offer cheers to Jupiter for granting the victory.

The festivities could terminal several days, and the unabridged populace of Rome would turn out to view the spectacle. The metropolis would be copiously adorned to cover her acquisition hero, with incense wafting from every temple. Josephus, an bystander to ane such Triumph, remarks, "It is impossible to depict the multitude of the shows as they deserve, and the magnificence of them all" (Jewish Wars 7.132).

The pageant included plunder taken from the enemy, the victorious soldiers, and especially captured soldiers and leading officers of the enemy. The captives would be led earlier the chariot of the acquisition general, to the mockery and taunts of the onlookers. In recounting the events of his reign, Augustus boasted, "I waged wars on land and on body of water. …  In my Triumphs ix kings or children of kings were lead before my chariot" (Acts of Augustus 1.four). The climax of the procession involved a sacrifice to the Roman deities and the execution of any eminent captives in the forum.

The difficulty with reading 2 Corinthians 2:14 in lite of this background is theological: How could Paul draw himself equally a conquered enemy being led by God to his death? We should recall, however, that this is precisely how Paul describes himself in 1 Corinthians 4:9: "Information technology seems to me that God has put the states apostles on display at the end of the procession, like men condemned to dice in the loonshit." Moreover, Paul reckons all humanity to be "enemies" of God prior to conversion (Rom. v:10; 11:28; Phil. 3:eighteen). And then we shouldn't be too surprised to see Paul describing himself as a previously conquered foe.

The imagery of two Corinthians 2:14-16 actually represents Paul's theology of the cross in its most vivid and arresting form. As the analogy of the Roman triumph and the incense-filled parade route continues in verses xv and 16, nosotros find Paul portraying his crushed and vanquished apostolic ministry as the means through which the odour of the crucified Christ is mediated to those effectually him. Paul understood the paradox that God'southward forcefulness is most potently displayed through his own weakness and suffering. What is clothed in metaphor in ii:14, is later stated explicitly: "And then, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, so I am strong" (2 Cor. 12:10).

Paul's words may be difficult to comprehend — even Peter thought and then (ane Pet. 3:16) — but they comport witness to an of import principle: God ministers more powerfully through our tragedies than our triumphs. It is the broken vessel that reveals the treasure within (2 Cor. 4:seven-12).