Ministers of the New Covenant
12Now when I went to Troas to preach the gospel of Christ and found that the Lord had opened a door for me, 13I still had no peace of mind, because I did not find my brother Titus there. So I said good-by to them and went on to Macedonia.
14But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him. 15For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. 16To the one we are the smell of death; to the other, the fragrance of life. And who is equal to such a task? 17Unlike so many, we do not peddle the word of God for profit. On the contrary, in Christ we speak before God with sincerity, like men sent from God.
Dig Deeper
I once went to an outdoor church service in another state. When we arrived we saw one guy, in particular, running around furiously, setting up chairs and picking up garbage. I was looking for the senior minister in the Church because I wanted to meet him, so I asked this guy where I might find him. My assumption was that this couldn’t be the minister since he was running around doing such mundane tasks so conscientiously before the service was to begin. Of course, you see where this is going. This guy was, in fact, the minister. What I had forgotten was a lesson I needed to learn badly. It was precisely because he was the minister, the servant of the Lord, that this man was doing all of that work. His work was not a sign that he wasn’t the minister, as I had supposed, it was in fact the sign that he was the true minister of that church, doing whatever needed to be done.
Paul will continue in this passage, as he does in much of this letter, to defend his apostolic ministry. In almost every instance that Paul’s critics used to discount his ministry and apostolic authority, Paul demonstrates that it’s quite the opposite. What they were using as evidence to point out that he couldn’t be a true apostle was actually proof that he was.
Paul says that his change of plans in Troas did not demonstrate that he was unstable and led by the mind of his flesh as his detractors were no doubt claiming. His changes of plans were a demonstration of the fact that he was an apostle. They were an expression of his Christ-like suffering on their behalf. Paul had sent Titus ahead to Corinth to determine how the Corinthians had responded to his “tearful letter.” He had expected him to come back quickly but, for reasons unknown to us, Titus had not. His concern for the spiritual condition of the Corinthians was so overwhelming that Paul left an open spiritual door in Troas to go to Macedonia to find Titus. Paul didn’t try to conceal his anxiety; he said “good-bye” to them, and presumably, openly explained why he was leaving. No doubt, his critics would have argued that this was another demonstration that he was no true apostle, to leave an open spiritual door because of his own anxiety. Paul’s answer to that charge, once again turns things on its head. His leaving of Troas was an example of the suffering that God had called him to as an apostle, not a sign that he was not one. His love and concern for the Corinthians was so intense and deep that this was among the most difficult suffering Paul had to endure.
The fact that Paul saw this example of anxious suffering as being part of his call from God is demonstrated in verses 14-16. (Some commentators claim that the switch between verses 13 and 14 is too abrupt and that 2:14 begins a section of a different letter fragment that was inserted here. This doesn’t hold water, though, because if Paul truly left off at 2:13 and 2:14 is from another letter, then he would be playing right into the hands of his critics, not at all answering the potential charge that he left Troas because he was unstable. Verses 14-16, as we will see, clearly explain why Paul saw his anxious suffering as being from God, and thus, a demonstration of his apostolic authority.) The key to understanding verses 14-16 is in the phrase triumphal procession, which in the Greek is thriambeuo, a technical term referring to Roman victory processions.
The Roman triumphal procession was a common event that would have been familiar to everyone in Corinth. The average processional would have been led by a victorious general. There were very specific criterion in a victory during battle that needed to be met in order to qualify for a processional. The processional was much like a parade and was intended to bring honor to the victorious conqueror. Also in the processional would be the enemies of Rome who had been captured in the battle. They would march along with the processional, going off to their death. One of the many aspects of the processional was the burning of incense along the route. The sights, smells (which often included people walking up and down the processional swinging incense sifters), and sounds of the entire processional served as a great sign of life and victory for the conquering Romans, but it signified death and defeat for the conquered enemy and for those being led as prisoners to their certain death.
This brutal imagery is precisely the point Paul wants to make about his ministry and service to the Lord. He is not, however, claiming to be the leading, victorious general in this great procession. No, that spot is reserved for the Messiah. Paul considered himself one of the vanquished prisoners. He was one of God’s conquered enemies being led to his death. Paul was Christ’s slave being led to his death in order to display the glory and majesty of God, his conqueror. Rather than Paul’s suffering being a demonstration that he was not an apostle, he describes his suffering as the means through which God was revealing Himself. When Paul’s suffering was too much for him to bear, he needed to be strengthened by God, which demonstrated God’s power. It is then, the surrendered lives of Christians that serve as the fragrance of incense in the victorious processional of Jesus Christ, serving as the sweet smell of life to those who submit, but the putrid smell of death to those who would remain as enemies of God.
If we understand Paul’s understanding of the gospel, this picture makes perfect sense. We tend to think of the gospel and the encouraging message that Jesus has died for us and offers us personal salvation and a relationship with God. For Paul, though, the gospel was the proclamation that the Messiah was the Son of God who had defeated death through resurrection, which had vindicated him as the true king and ruler of the world. This gospel announcement then had the effect of bringing salvation to all who would accept it in faith and die to self by entering into the life of the Messiah. For Paul, then, the spreading of the gospel was like a triumphal procession. It was the announcement that Jesus was the victor and it invited all who would act in faith to join in on the march to their. The one difference, of course, between this death and the death of the Roman triumphal procession was that death for the sake of the Messiah meant true life.
Verse 17 offers another example of his apostolic credibility. Because he is a slave in Christ’s procession, Paul will not make a profit on the Word of God. This in not, as his critics would suppose, another example that what he was teaching was then worthless. It was the very sign of his sufficiency for the ministry because of his special circumstances. Unlike those who peddled the gospel purely for profit, Paul’s ministry in no way glorified himself, he was after all, merely a conquered foe, being led to his death. Of course, the huge difference that Paul doesn’t mention here, is that rather than being merely led to the end of his life, Paul was being led through his death so that he might have the life of Christ.
Devotional Thought
Paul obviously had an extremely intense love and concern for the Corinthians. Do you have that same sort of passion for other Christians? Are you as concerned about the spiritual welfare of other Christians in your life as Paul was? If not, what can you do to change that situation?
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