“V-J Day in Times Square” is the name of the famous photograph taken on August 14, 1945, in which a U.S. Navy sailor spontaneously grabbed and kissed a total stranger, a dental assistant, dressed in all white, in New York’s Times Square. The iconic image captured the nation’s sentiment as America eagerly anticipated President Truman’s announcement of the end of the war with Japan. That kind of victory-induced revelry is what many Christians envision when they read what Paul wrote to the church in Corinth.
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. (2 Cor. 2:14)
This verse has been the basis of many sermons about the believer’s victory in Christ, effectively characterizing Christians as partiers in a ticker tape parade. That interpretation of the text is unsurprising when reading the verse’s original translation, “But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ….” Since the mid-1970s, however, scholars have replaced the English translation of “triumph” with “triumphal procession.”
Does that matter? Yes! It’s significant because it was written to the church in Corinth, a predominantly Roman city. To be sure, a triumphal procession for the Romans included pageantry, but not the kind displayed in the emblematic American snapshot. Participants would assemble outside the crowded city where they were arranged in a specific order. Leading the procession would be magistrates and senators, followed by musicians. Next would be displays (modern-day floats) of the gold, silver and exotic goods that had been seized, along with confiscated animals that would be sacrificed at the temple.
Next, in the train of spoils of war would be the captives. The enemy leaders and their families were paraded as a show of humiliation and dominance. Like the animals, many of these were led to a public execution. It was on the heels of the column of captives that the victorious general entered in royal apparel.
Of course, Christians are “more than conquerors,” (Rom. 8:37), but be careful not to take that out of context too. It comes right after the description of Christians “being killed all the day long” and being “regarded as sheep to be slaughtered” (Rom. 8:36). The “triumphal procession” of 2 Corinthians 2 is not a picture of divine euphoria, but of being Christ’s captives. They are His spoils of war!
However, unlike the cruelty of the Romans that humiliated their prisoners, Christ’s captives never had more dignity than when they became His bounty. In the opening verses of Romans, Philippians, Titus and Galatians, Paul unashamedly refers to himself as a “slave of Christ Jesus.” And in 1 Corinthians 7:22, all believers are called “bondservants” (slaves) of Christ. Ephesians 6:5-6 even commands actual human slaves to conduct themselves as “slaves of Christ.”
In reality, Christians are captives in the Great General’s triumphal procession, marching through life as a spectacle to the watching world. The triumphal procession is a testament to His victory, not a celebration of our personal victory. We’re used to thinking of all slavery as evil, but according to the Bible, it’s inescapable. The question then is, to whom will you be enslaved?
Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? (Rom. 6:16)
Doesn’t the “triumphal procession” understanding seem more consistent with your experience in this life? Paul began that verse with “thanks be to God,” not because he was enjoying a festive life, but because he knew that “this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison” (2 Cor. 4:17). He welcomed the role of being God’s “winnings.”
Embrace being a slave of God. Thank Him that you are in His triumphal procession. Praise Him that He has bound the strong man and taken you as plunder. To God be all glory for taking prisoner His spoils of war!
But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. (Rom. 6:22)