14 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.
2 Corinthians 2:14 New King James Version (NKJV)
We have heard many phrases resembling, “This is our year of breakthrough”, “Your financial breakthrough is on the horizon”, “Your spiritual breakthrough is near”. Although I strongly agree with all of these, we neglect to consider what is being broken and what is coming through. Let’s take a closer look at 2 Corinthians as a means of explanation for what living a life of breakthrough truly looks like.
Verse 14 says, “thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ”. It is here where most people shout and celebrate, considering our enemies and those who would dare come against a child of God. What we fail to do is fully understand what the Apostle Paul was saying. The original language might conflict with most people’s initial interpretation of this verse. The Greek word used for the phrase, “leads us in triumph” is “thriambeuonti”. Paul is referencing what a Roman general would do when he would lead his CAPTIVE ENEMIES, whom he conquered, into DEATH or SLAVERY.
You might be saying to yourself, “Wait a minute Shawn. We are not an enemy to God.” However, if we look at Romans 5:10 it says, “For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son…” What we discover is, while we were still sinners, we were an enemy to God.
This word is used only one other time in the New Testament. Colossians 2:15 says, “[God] having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing (thriambeusas) over them in it.”
So it is the devil and us who are led in this triumphal procession of being conquered unto death and slavery. This bothers many people because breakthrough for most is about external victory and not personal sacrifice. It’s about changing the outward situation without personal submission. It’s less about what will be required from me and more about what will be required from others. But Romans 6:6 contradicts this path of reasoning by saying, “knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin.” So we die and are no longer slaves to sin but rather slaves to God.
Breakthrough is real and it is personal. In our brokenness the Spirit of God comes through. I like how 2 Corinthians 2:14 puts it, “God leads us in (Death and Slavery) in Christ, and THROUGH US diffuses the fragrance…”.
The question I will leave you with today is this, what needs to die in you so the Spirit may be the sweet fragrance to the world around you?