Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place.
The Apostle Paul wrote this letter to the church in Corinth, a city in ancient Greece, during a time when he was defending the authenticity of his ministry. He uses the image of a Roman triumphal procession — when a Roman general won a great military victory, he would parade through Rome with his soldiers, captives, and priests burning fragrant incense. The crowd could smell the procession coming before they could see it. Paul says God leads us in that same kind of procession, in Christ. And through us — through our ordinary lives — the fragrance of knowing God spreads everywhere we go. The idea is striking: we are not spectators of God's victory. We are the incense.
Thank you, God, for leading — even when I cannot see where we are going or feel the victory. Help me trust that my ordinary life carries something of you into every room. Make me conscious of the fragrance I carry today, and keep me close enough to you that it is yours and not mine. Amen.
A Roman triumph was a full-sensory spectacle — cheering crowds, the crash of soldiers' boots on stone, and the thick scent of burning incense rolling through the streets before the procession even came into view. Everyone could smell it coming. Paul borrows that breathtaking image and says: that is you. Your life — your ordinary, tired, sometimes confused and fumbling life — releases the fragrance of God into every room you enter, every relationship you carry, every unremarkable Thursday afternoon. You might not feel like a victory parade. Most days feel more like showing up and surviving and trying again tomorrow. But Paul's point is that the triumph does not depend on how you feel — it depends on who is leading. "God always leads us," he says. Not sometimes. Not when you have it together. Always. The question isn't whether you are spreading something into the world around you — you are, every day. The question is whether you are staying close enough to the source that what people smell when they're near you is actually him.
In the image of a Roman triumphal procession, who is the general and what role does Paul suggest believers play in it? What does it mean to you that the fragrance spreads 'everywhere'?
How have you thought — or not thought — about your ordinary daily presence as something that carries or reflects God to the people around you?
Paul says God 'always' leads us in triumph, even through hardship and failure. How do you hold that claim honestly against seasons of your life that felt far more like defeat than victory?
What kind of fragrance do the people closest to you experience when you are under pressure or in conflict — and is it what you would want it to be?
Choose one relationship or space in your life this week. What would it look like to more intentionally carry the knowledge of God into that room?
Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift.
2 Corinthians 9:15
For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.
Romans 1:16
But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
1 Corinthians 15:57
That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God;
Colossians 1:10
But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you.
Romans 6:17
To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:
Colossians 1:27
And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour.
Ephesians 5:2
Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.
Romans 8:37
But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us spreads and makes evident everywhere the sweet fragrance of the knowledge of Him.
AMP
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.
ESV
But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place.
NASB
But 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.
NIV
Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place.
NKJV
But thank God! He has made us his captives and continues to lead us along in Christ’s triumphal procession. Now he uses us to spread the knowledge of Christ everywhere, like a sweet perfume.
NLT
And I got it, thank God! In the Messiah, in Christ, God leads us from place to place in one perpetual victory parade. Through us, he brings knowledge of Christ. Everywhere we go, people breathe in the exquisite fragrance.
MSG