Biblion Bible Commentary
Read the introduction to 2 Corinthians · About this commentary
A Fragrance of Christ
2 Corinthians 2:12-17
12 Now when I came to Troas for the Good News of Christ, and when a door was opened to me in the Lord, · WEB
An open door is walked away from out of anxiety, and then a victory parade is described from the losing side of it.
Verse 12 sets up an opportunity in the strongest terms available: when I came to Troas for the Good News of Christ, and when a door was opened to me in the Lord.
And he left. I had no relief for my spirit, because I didn't find Titus my brother, but taking my leave of them, I went out into Macedonia. An open door, described as opened by the Lord, abandoned because a friend had not arrived with news. Paul reports it without excusing it, which is the same candor the letter has shown about despair 2 Corinthians 1:8.
Then verse 14 breaks in with thanks, and the image chosen is a Roman triumph: thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ.
The procession he names had two kinds of participant. The general rode; the captives walked in front of his chariot on their way to be displayed and often killed. Paul puts himself in the parade without claiming the chariot, which fits a man who has just described leaving a city because he was too anxious to work.
The incense in verse 15 comes from the same scene, and its double effect is the point: we are a sweet aroma of Christ to God in those who are being saved and in those who perish: to the one a stench from death to death, to the other a sweet aroma from life to life.
One smell, two meanings, decided entirely by which side of the procession a person is on. Nothing about the aroma changes. What that says about preaching is uncomfortable and deliberate — the same message cannot be adjusted to smell better to those it condemns, and a messenger who tries has stopped carrying it.
Which is why the paragraph ends in a question rather than a claim: who is sufficient for these things? The answer is withheld until the next chapter, where it is given away from himself 2 Corinthians 3:5.
And verse 17 names the alternative he refuses: we are not as so many, peddling the word of God. The verb belongs to a tavern keeper who waters the wine — a retailer who makes a living by weakening the product.
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