2 Corinthians 2:12-17·~1 min

Triumph in Christ

Paul says that when he came to Troas to preach Christ's gospel and found a door open in the Lord, he still had no peace because he did not find Titus there. So he took leave of them and went on into Macedonia, carrying his personal unrest into the next stage of his ministry.

N¹²ow when I went to Troas to preach the gospel of Christ and a door stood open for me in the Lord, 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.

But thanks be to God, Paul says, who always leads them in Christ's triumph and spreads through them the fragrance of his knowledge everywhere. They are Christ's aroma before God among both the saved and the perishing, a life-bearing or death-bearing scent, and because the task is so weighty Paul insists that they speak in Christ sincerely, before God, not like those who peddle the word for profit.

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. ¹⁶To the one we are an odor that brings death, to the other a fragrance that brings life. And who is qualified for such a task? ¹⁷For we are not like so many others, who peddle the word of God for profit. On the contrary, in Christ we speak before God with sincerity, as men sent from God.

Section summaryPaul says that even when a door for the gospel stood open in Troas, he had no rest because Titus was absent, so he moved on to Macedonia. Yet this unrest opens into thanksgiving: God leads his servants in Christ's triumph and through them spreads the fragrance of Christ everywhere, a ministry that brings life or death depending on the hearer and therefore cannot be carried on in the self-serving way of those who peddle God's word.

Role in the chapterThis section widens the chapter from one relational wound to the larger character of apostolic ministry. Paul's vulnerability and restlessness are set inside God's triumphal leading and the searching seriousness of speaking Christ's word.