Five-minute study · Day 178 · Colossians 2
Colossians 2:15
A word worth stopping on: triumphing θριαμβεύω thriambeuo
Paul is writing from prison. The Colossian church is under pressure from teachers pushing a blend of Jewish mysticism, ascetic practice, and angel worship. Paul's response is a single, extraordinary image: 'And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it.' The word for triumphing is thriambeuo. Every person in the Roman world knew what a thriambos looked like. They had lined the streets to watch one.
Word study: triumphing
- Greek
- θριαμβεύω
- Pronounced
- thriambeuo
- Strong's
- G2358
- Definition
- To lead in a triumphal procession, to triumph over, to celebrate a victory publicly. Derived from thriambos, the Greek name for the Roman victory procession.
Thriambeuo appears only twice in the New Testament: here and in 2 Corinthians 2:14. The word is drawn directly from the Roman military ritual of the triumphal procession (triumphus). BDAG defines it as 'to lead in a triumphal procession, to cause to be seen publicly in a display of triumph.'
The Roman triumph was the highest honor a general could receive. After a decisive foreign victory, the Senate could vote the commander a triumphus. The general entered Rome in a chariot drawn by four white horses. He wore a purple toga embroidered with gold, his face painted red to resemble Jupiter. Behind him marched his legions. Before him walked the defeated enemy kings, generals, and soldiers in chains. The procession moved through the streets to the Capitol, where the captives were publicly displayed and often executed.
Paul takes this image and places Christ in the chariot. The principalities and powers, the spiritual forces that the Colossian false teachers were telling the church to fear and appease, are the chained captives stumbling behind the conqueror. The cross, which Rome designed as its ultimate instrument of humiliation, is the vehicle of Christ's triumphus.
Wright's commentary on Colossians draws out the irony. The very instrument intended to display Rome's power over a condemned criminal has become the chariot in which the condemned criminal rides as the conquering general. The shame has been relocated. The powers that conspired to put Jesus on the cross are now the ones being paraded in disgrace. Paul's imagery asks the Colossians: why would you negotiate with captives? Why fear what has already been publicly humiliated?
Historical context · First century AD, Roman Empire
The Spectacle of Victory
The Roman triumph was a meticulously choreographed event. Livy, Plutarch, and Josephus all describe the spectacle in detail. The procession began at the Campus Martius, passed through the Porta Triumphalis, wound through the streets past cheering crowds, and terminated at the Temple of Jupiter Capitolinus on the Capitoline Hill.
The order of the procession was fixed by tradition. First came the captured weapons, standards, and treasury of the defeated enemy, loaded on carts for the crowd to see. Then came paintings and models depicting scenes from the campaign. Next walked the captive enemies, chained and displayed for public mockery. Then the general in his chariot, followed by his soldiers singing bawdy songs about their commander (a tradition meant to ward off the jealousy of the gods). The whole city turned out. Shops closed. It was a national celebration.
The most famous triumph of Paul's era was Vespasian and Titus' celebration in 71 AD after the destruction of Jerusalem. Josephus, who witnessed it, describes the golden vessels from the temple carried through the streets, the seven-branched menorah displayed as spoil, and the Jewish captives, including Simon bar Giora, who was executed at the end of the procession. The Arch of Titus in the Roman Forum still displays the relief panels showing the menorah being carried in triumph.
Paul's audience in Colossae had either witnessed a triumph or heard vivid accounts from those who had. The image of Christ leading defeated powers in triumphal procession was not abstract. They could see the chariots, hear the crowds, picture the chained enemies. The cross, that shameful wooden beam, had become the victory chariot. The image turns the Roman world's most powerful spectacle on its head.
For reflection
Paul wrote this from a Roman prison. He was chained while writing about Christ's triumph. The circumstances of his body contradicted the claim of his pen. What circumstance in your life right now seems to contradict what you believe is true? Hold both realities in the same hand and see which one Paul says is winning.
The chariot looked like a cross. The spectators misread the event.
Sources: BDAG; Wright, 'Colossians and Philemon' (TNTC); Josephus, 'Jewish War' 7.123-157; Versnel, 'Triumphus'