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Bible Dictionaries
Triumph
Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament
or This verb (θριαμβεύειν) is used in later Greek as the equivalent of the Latin triumphare, to which it seems to be etymologically akin. It occurs twice in the NT- 2 Corinthians 2:14, Colossians 2:15. In Colossians 2:15 the Crucifixion is represented as the triumph which crowns the Holy War of redemption. As the Roman conqueror led the vanquished captives in triumphal procession up to the Capitol and offered them to the supreme God, so in exalting to His right hand the Crucified Christ, by whom He has reconciled us unto Himself in the body of His flesh through death, God led in triumph the ‘principalities and powers,’ the world-governing spirits who are unfriendly to man, and to whose dominion man in the state of nature is subjected. The thought of the passage is similar to that of 1 Corinthians 2:8, where the spirit-rulers of this world are represented as ignorantly bringing about that crucifixion through which their own power is brought to naught (1 Corinthians 15:24). In 2 Corinthians 2:14 the general meaning is clear. ‘In a magnificent figure Paul represents himself as by God’s ordinance sharing, in his travels through the world, the triumph Christ is celebrating over all that has withstood His cause’ (A. Menzies, The Second Epistle to the Corinthians, 1912, p. 17). But in what capacity-as conqueror or as captive? The only meaning which the known usage of the word justifies is that St. Paul himself is the most auspicious trophy of the conquering power of Christ (Heinrici, Bousset). Many modern commentators, however (Schmiedel, Menzies, etc.), give the verb an active sense, ‘maketh us to triumph’ (Authorized Version ), on the ground that, though no lexical parallel is found, the sense of the passage requires it. Others (Theodoret, Lietzmann) take the word in the more general sense of ‘to lead about in a conspicuous manner,’ for which Lietzmann quotes corroborative instances from Suidas. The Revised Version ‘leadeth us in triumph’ is felicitously ambiguous.
Robert Law.
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Hastings, James. Entry for 'Triumph'. Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/hdn/t/triumph.html. 1906-1918.
