The Gospel Paradox

If you have your Bibles, I would encourage you to open them to 2 Corinthians chapter 2. And we are going to be looking at verse 12 through verse 16a. Now, you don't normally see that, but what that means is we're only going to look at half of verse 16, because we'll pick up the second half of verse 16 next week, as that will tie into the rest of the lesson, which will come next week.

The title of today's message is The Gospel Paradox. One of the ways that we begin a gospel conversation, or at least one of the ways that I have begun gospel conversations when going out evangelizing, is I will simply ask people one question.

Do you understand the gospel? In fact, if you've ever worked at the fishing hole, which is our evangelism booth that we go and set up at the fair, and sometimes other places, we have a sign that we carved out of wood, and that sign hangs above the fishing hole, and the sign simply says, Do you understand the gospel?

I find that to be a very helpful question to ask, especially in our context. We live in what some would call the Bible Belt. This is a place where many people have grown up being around Christianity, being around believing people, and so they have heard the term gospel many times.

Many people have heard of gospel music, gospel churches, gospel preaching. But you ask, Do you understand the gospel? And sometimes people just look at you with crossed eyes. Well, what do you mean? I remember one time a preacher came to the booth, and he looked at my sign, and he said, Well, that's a hard question.

I said, Dude, that's your job. It's really not. Anyway, the word gospel means good news. Euangelion in the Greek. The prefix eu means good. Angelos means message, so it literally means a good message.

And when discussing the good news, one of the essential aspects of understanding the gospel or understanding the good news is that we have to also understand the bad news. And so I call this the gospel paradox.

The gospel paradox is this. We have good news from God, and it starts with you are a wretched sinner who deserves to go to hell. That doesn't sound like good news. In fact, for some, that may even sound offensive.

But if you don't understand that sentence, you won't understand the gospel. You won't understand the good news if you don't understand the bad news. It would be like me coming up to you and saying, Hey, listen, I paid your fine for you.

And you say, Great, I don't have a fine. I paid your penalty for you. I didn't have a penalty. If you don't know the fine, if you don't know the penalty, if you don't know what your sin deserves, you will not understand the value of the gospel.

And therefore, there's a paradox. Understanding good news means we understand the bad news. And it's somewhat paradoxical that you can't understand one without the other. In fact, I've heard people say, Oh, just go tell people Jesus loves them.

He has a wonderful plan for your life. You know what most Americans say to that? Great.

I love me too.

And I have a wonderful plan for my life. That's not the gospel. If you think the gospel is Jesus loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life, you don't understand the gospel.

That ain't it.

Most people think they're good people. Therefore, when you say Jesus loves you, they go, Yeah, no problem. I love him too. It's all good. Everybody loves me. That's the attitude, right? I'm a good person.

Everybody loves me. But when you say Jesus really shouldn't love you, Jesus shouldn't love me. I've committed high treason against the Lord of the universe. I have spit in the face of him who created me.

And every time I sin, I stab the creator in his chest. Now it's different. Now I understand. Why does he love me? The Bible says, While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Notice what Paul says in that same passage.

He says, For a good man, somebody may dare to die. And for a righteous man, someone might give themselves. But while we were sinners, Christ died for us. The idea is you weren't good. You weren't worth it.

You weren't worthy. But he did it anyway because he loved you. He loved you in spite of you. Isn't that amazing? And that's the paradox of the gospel. Well, today as we look at this text, we are going to see some paradoxes.

And one of those paradoxes is just what I just explained to you. We're going to see the paradox of the gospel. How Paul is going to say that when we share the gospel with people, some people are going to accept it as a life-giving message.

And other people are going to accept it not as life but as death. Where some will receive it as an aroma that is sweet and savory and wonderful. Some will receive it as an aroma of death and decay and destruction.

Same message but two results. This is the paradox of the gospel.

Let's stand together and read beginning at verse 12.

Paul says this in this section.

He says,.

When I came to Troas to preach the gospel of Christ, even though a door was opened for me in the Lord, my spirit was not at rest because I did not find my brother Titus there. So I took leave of them and went on to Macedonia.

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. For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing.

To one, a fragrance from death to death. To the other, a fragrance from life to life. Father in heaven, I thank you again for your word. May it now be that this word be applied to our heart. May you help me preach and keep me from error.

In Christ's name. Amen. For those of you who are visiting with us, or maybe it's your first time here, we are in a verse-by-verse study of the book of 2 Corinthians. And so last week we came to verse 11 in chapter 2 and we just pick up right where we left off.

And that's part and parcel of why I'm stopping in the middle of verse 16 today. Because I'm going to continue on next week. And what he says at the end of verse 16 goes right into the rest of this chapter.

And even on into the chapter 3. Because what Paul is doing, and I must be honest, I have found 2 Corinthians one of the most difficult books to outline. Because Paul is essentially giving an autobiographical message about himself and about the integrity of his ministry.

And he's not doing so in a didactic way like in the book of Romans where he clearly spells out for us the doctrines of the faith. Beginning with the doctrine of sin and then the doctrine of justification and then the doctrine of sanctification and the doctrine of election.

All of these things which come to us very clearly outlined in the mind of the apostle Paul. This book is not like that at all. This book is much more passionate. Paul is writing much more emotionally.

Not in an emotional way in the sense that it's bad, but it's certainly emotional in the sense that he is fighting a battle here. Because there are those in Corinth who believe that his ministry is a ministry that is without integrity.

That his ministry is one that is a ministry that isn't to be followed. There are people in Corinth, they are called the super apostles. And these people have called into question Paul's own ministry and integrity.

And Paul is defending himself. And so this book from the very beginning has been, as I said and have said over the weeks, more difficult to outline because one thing runs right into the other. It just continues, Paul hitting these points.

And he's recounted his various journeys. He's recounted his vexed relationships with the Corinthians. And he's already recounted the suffering that he's experienced in his ministry. Even in chapter 1 saying at a certain point he despaired even of living.

He said I didn't see any other way out. I thought I was going to die. Well in this section he again recalls a personal experience that brought him grief. And in the midst of this we're actually going to see three paradoxes.

Now a paradox is when you have two things that seem to be at odds with one another, but upon further inspection they are not contradictory. That's what a paradox is if you're unfamiliar with the term.

It's when you see two things, like some people believe the Trinity is a contradiction. The Trinity is not a contradiction, but it is a paradox. It seems at the beginning when we say God is one and three, that seems contradictory.

But when we say God is one in essence and three in person, it's not contradictory. Therefore the paradox is understood. And so we're going to see today three paradoxes. We're going to see the restless paradox.

That's in verses 12 and 13. We're going to see the triumph paradox in verse 14. And that's probably the one that's going to take most of our time. And then the ministry paradox, which is in verses 15 and 16a.

So let's look first at the restless paradox. He says again in verse 12, he says, When I came to Troas to preach the gospel of Christ, even though a door was open for me in the Lord, my spirit was not at rest because I did not find my brother Titus there.

So I took leave of them and went on to Macedonia. So Paul is again recounting his travel plans. Do you remember why? Paul has been called into question about his travel plans. His integrity has been called into question.

So here he's again recounting what's been happening. Troas is a place which was first mentioned in Acts chapter 16. It was likely a transit city between Greece and Asia Minor. And this place had significance in the ministry of the apostle Paul.

This is the place where likely Luke, you remember Luke, the beloved physician. This is likely where Luke joined the ministry of the apostle Paul. As well as this is the place where Paul had what we call the Macedonian vision or where he had the dream where he had a man from Macedonia calling for him to come.

He was in Troas when that happened. Well here he finds himself there again and notice what it says. He says, when I came to Troas to preach the gospel of Christ, even though a door was open for me in the Lord, my spirit was not at rest.

So what does that mean? Well, Paul is in Troas and he's waiting for Titus. Now what is he waiting for Titus for and why does this even matter? Well it matters because we'll see in chapter 12 that Titus has been with the Corinthians.

Titus is bringing Paul back a message from the Corinthians. And Paul is concerned about what's going on in Corinth while he's in Troas. And notice that it says that he was restless. It says, my spirit was not at rest.

Why was his spirit not at rest? Because Paul had sent a message to Corinth which was painful. Remember we read about this last week. Actually two weeks ago. Paul had sent a message to Corinth that was a painful message.

He says that he had sent it with tears. And so Titus is coming back to Paul and Paul is concerned about what's going on. And I know this is hard for us to understand because we live in the age of FaceTime and we live in the age of iPhones.

But understand this, at this point in history there was no telephone. There was no fax. There was no way to get this information except for by delivered message. So Paul is concerned about what Titus is bringing back to him.

He's concerned about the issues at hand. And here's the paradox. Paul has an opportunity to do something great in Troas. Paul has an opportunity to do a work of God. Notice what it says. He says, a door was opened for me in the Lord.

Now he doesn't tell us what it is. But we can make some assumptions. We can think that whatever it was, it was an opportunity for evangelism. Maybe it was an opportunity to plant another church. Maybe it was an opportunity to help a church that was already there.

Maybe it was an opportunity to do something great in Troas. But he says, I didn't do it. Why? Because my spirit was not at rest. I was concerned about what was going on in Corinth and therefore what was happening in Troas had to take a back seat.

Listen, that's hard. Because there was an open door of ministry and Paul didn't take a step through it. I find that paradoxical. Because you think, oh man, Paul is a great evangelist, great missionary, great gospel teacher.

Certainly, every door that was ever opened for him, he's going to walk through it. No, he didn't. He said, instead, even though a door was opened for me, my spirit was not at rest. Why? Because Titus wasn't here.

Because there was something going on elsewhere that I had to deal with. Understand this. We're going to pick Titus back up. Titus is going to be mentioned again in chapter 7. So there's going to be four chapters that we're going to go through.

But then we're going to pick this story up. He's going to get to Macedonia and he's going to arrive and rendezvous with Titus. And that's where this part is going to pick back up. In fact, chapters 3, 4, 5, and 6 are really a parenthesis.

Because here, he says, I'm awaiting Titus. He's not here, so I'm going to Macedonia. And chapter 7 is when he gets to Macedonia and meets Titus. And everything in between is a theological parenthesis.

It's what's going on in between. He's going to talk about the new covenant. He's going to talk about being separate and being holy. He's going to talk about several things in between. But this is what's going on in the life of Paul.

He's actually disturbed. He's restless about what's going on in Corinth. Now, I want to say this. This pleases me. You say, why in the world would I be pleased by this? Because sometimes people think that if you are a minister of the gospel and you have faith in the Lord, that you never worry.

Some people think if you're a minister of the gospel, or maybe if you're not a minister, maybe you're just a Christian, that you should never have concerns. Or that you should never be restless in your spirit.

Well, I have it on the authority of the Word of God that Paul, if there's ever a man I could say I'm pretty sure he was saved, and I'm pretty sure he was filled with the Holy Ghost, but he said my spirit was not at rest.

I had a concern in my heart. And a concern that was so great that it actually took me away from something that would have been a good thing, but I had to do this other thing. You ever been stuck in a position where you had something good to do, but you had something more important that you had to do?

And that's what Paul's dealing with here. He's got to go to where it's got to be. And you say, well, what is good about that? It's good because we get so discouraged. We get so downhearted on ourselves when we go through times of discouragement.

And we think times of discouragement prove that we have no faith.

That's not true.

Paul is the greatest faithful Christian of his age. And yet he had a time where his spirit was not at rest. That makes me feel good. You may think I'm nuts. But I actually feel good that someone who is a greater Christian than me could have a bad day, could have a concern in his heart that would actually make him have to make a tough decision.

I want to tell you something. Ministry is filled with tough decisions. Ministry is filled with days that are hard. Ministry is filled where you're having to make a choice to do something that needs to be done rather than something you want to do.

And that's what Paul's doing. He's got something. Certainly, if somebody said, Paul, do you want to go take a step through this door of ministry? Yes, I want to do that. But this other thing needs to be done.

And right now it's more important. So what's the paradox here? Can you have faith and still have discouragement? Some people say no. Some people have this weird view of faith. This weird health and wealth nonsense that has grown and permeated since the 1960s.

And it really did. It came in in the 50s and the 60s. This idea that if you are a person of faith, you're never going to get sick, you're never going to be ill,.

You're never going to have issues,.

And you're never going to have problems. That is a...

Well, there's a Greek word for it. Church, what is it?

It's baloney. It's absolute baloney. It's garbage. It's false. Now, I'm not saying we have to sit with our hands wringing all the time. There are times where that does demonstrate a lack of faith if we're always worried, if we're always down, if we're always concerned.

But what Paul is showing us here, there are times where we can have concerns. He has a concern. And while that may look like a paradox when you say, here's a person of faith, but he's also got a struggle, it's not a contradiction.

It's not a contradiction. Let me tell you something. You sit in a doctor's office, and they give you bad news, or if you get a phone call, and it's something of an accident, and in that moment you have concern, that's not a lack of faith.

That's dealing with the situation as it is,.

In the right now.

And we sometimes, I think, have this weird view of faith where we're never going to have any restlessness in our heart. And it just ain't so. I just love the fact that he says, my spirit was not at rest because I did not find my brother Titus there.

So I took leave of them, I took leave of that opportunity, and I went to Macedonia. Here's the only thing I think, and this is how weird my brain is, because I've been, again, I'm in the text all week, you guys aren't, but I'm in the text all week, and I'm thinking about it, thinking about it, thinking about it.

Here's what I thought about all week, was what if Titus was on a boat going this way, and Paul's going that way, and Paul shows up in Troas going, where's Paul? And Paul's in Macedonia going, that's the only thing I can think of.

Thank God that didn't happen. But you talk about ships crossing in the night,.

That was what,.

God is sovereign, didn't let that happen, but it's just an interesting, because I'm thinking, he's going towards where Titus is, Titus is coming where he is. It's amazing they never crossed paths, until they met in Macedonia.

That took a little longer than I wanted it to, but that's what I call the restless paradox. Let's look now at the most beautiful word in the Bible. What's the most beautiful word in the Bible?

But.

But changes things. Sometimes it's good.

You're very sick,.

But there's a cure.

That's good.

Sometimes but is bad. I really like you, but.

But can be bad.

But but changes things. And so Paul has just, Paul has just acknowledged his own discouragement. He has just said, my spirit is not at rest, so I made my way to Macedonia. But, thanks be to God. But thanks be to God, who in Christ leads us in triumphal procession.

But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession.

Paul knows.

Where the source of his encouragement will come when he is discouraged. Paul knows the one to go to when his spirit is not at rest. I've shared this with many of you. I've done podcasts about it, so it's not a secret.

I've been interviewed on.

Chris Arnzen's program about it, which is Iron Sharpens Iron, which is national program. But I have in my life struggled greatly with anxiety and depression. Never been diagnosed, never wanted to be diagnosed, didn't want medicine.

And by God's grace, it is something that I have been able to overcome in many areas. But I will say this. When people ask me, in how and in what way did you overcome? It was through the gospel of Christ.

It was not in any other way. Because what I have found in my own struggle is that when I am in the deepest and darkest place in those times, the place that I have to find myself going back to is to God.

But thanks be to God.

So Paul says, I'm restless. Yes, that can happen.

I'm a believer.

I'm a faithful man. This is Paul, not me. But he's saying, I'm faithful. I'm a believer. But yet I have a restless spirit. But thanks be to God. Here's where I'm going to go. Here's where I'm going to find my comfort.

Here's where I'm going to find my satisfaction. Here's where I'm going to find the rest that I'm not going to get anywhere else. Jesus said, come unto me, all ye who are weary and heavily laden, and I will give you rest.

Paul says, I have a spirit that's not at rest. But thanks be to God. He's not thanking God for the restless spirit. He's thanking God because God is the one who gives him comfort in the restlessness. He's thanking God because God is the one who can give him encouragement in his discouragement.

And he's thanking God for something very specific. Now, I want to tell you something. In my preparation for this week's sermon, I spent more time studying one word and the history of one word than any other word, and it's the word triumph.

And the reason why, because this passage is loaded with historical significance that most people are very unfamiliar with. It's translated different ways in different Bibles. In the King James Bible, it says, thanks be to God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ.

I'm right, Mike, aren't I? Which always causeth us to triumph in Christ. In the ESV, it says, Christ always leads us in triumphal procession. Doesn't sound a whole lot different, but it is slightly different.

In the NIV, don't you throw a stone at me, it says that Christ has taken us captive in his triumph. The New Living translation, thanks be to God, he has made us his captives and leads us in Christ's triumphal procession.

You say, wait a minute, that doesn't sound at all the same. Here's why. When I say triumph, your first thought is probably the idea of victory. If I say someone triumphs in a battle, that means they had victory.

If I say someone triumphed in a sporting event, that means they won. But in Paul's day, the word triumph had a very specific and particular meaning. The triumph was actually a parade. The triumph itself, in fact, I'll just read you this quote, it's a very interesting quote.

This is from Scott Haifman, who wrote extensively on this subject. He says, the triumphal procession was a lavish parade concocted in Rome to celebrate the great victories in significant military campaigns.

Like the St. Patrick's Day parade in Chicago, these were major cultural and civic events. Everybody in the Roman Empire knew about these parades, which were represented on Roman arches, reliefs, coins, statues, medallions, paintings, cameos, not to mention the approximately 350 triumphs that are recorded in ancient literature.

I'm going to stop the quote for a moment and just say this. When the Romans overtook Jerusalem in AD 70, when they went back, there was a triumph that celebrated that. Those marks on the wall for that triumph are still there today.

You can still see where they celebrated that triumph even down to today. So these events had major cultural significance.

I'll move on.

He says, Moreover, the triumphal procession demonstrated Rome's prowess as the victor not only by parading the spoils of war, but also by leading in triumph the most important leaders and intimidating warriors of the enemy now presented as conquered slaves.

Alright, so get in your mind. The triumph was a parade. The triumphing king would be decked in an ornamental robe. And there's debate as to what the robe looked like. I guess they did it different ways at different times because I've read different examples.

Some say the robe was all purple. Some say it was all gold. Some say his face was painted red because the statue of Jupiter was red. There's all different ways that it apparently was done. But there was all these different things where the one who conquered, the one who won the battle, would be leading this parade.

But in this parade were the ones who had been captured in battle. And the ones who had been captured in battle were being led in chains as a way of showing the success in the battle. So the ones being led were not the victors.

The ones who were being led were the captives. And they would lead them in as the people of Rome would watch this. Sometimes they would have the king and sometimes they would have the children of the king that had been caught in the battle.

And they would have them dressed in outfits meant to humiliate them. And they would walk them through as the conquering general came behind and these slaves were being marched forward. And they were being marched forward for one of three reasons.

Either when they got to the end of the parade they were going to slaughter all of them. Or they were going to take them to the Colosseum where they were going to be put on display for sport. Or they were going to be sold into slavery.

But all of the captives were going along having been taken captive by the conqueror. Now you say, wait a minute. That's weird. That doesn't sound right. That doesn't sound like what Paul is saying. That doesn't sound anything like what I think this verse should mean.

Understand this. Our understanding of what a verse should mean has to begin with what it meant to the original audience. In fact, there's a history behind this. Because notice the difference in translation.

I'm going to give the King James again. King James says, Causeth us to triumph. We are the subject of the triumph. Leadeth us in triumphal procession. We're no longer the subject. Christ is the subject leading us.

We are the object.

We're being led.

What's right? Well, linguistically it's the second one. From a linguistic perspective, it's not we're triumphing. It's Christ leads us. He is the one who triumphs. He is the one who is the victor.

Not us.

And here's the interesting part. Calvin knew that, but Calvin didn't like it. So he, in his commentary, I have it right here. In his commentary, he says it can't mean that.

I'll read it to you.

This is John Calvin. This is 400-year-old commentary. He says, Who causes us to triumph,.

If you render the word literally,.

It will be who triumphs over us. That's Calvin's own words.

He says,.

If you read this literally, it should say he triumphs over us. However. Calvin's own words. He said, However, Paul means something different from what this form of expression denotes. For captives are said to be triumphed over when, by way of disgrace, they are bound in chains and dragged before the chariot of the conqueror.

Paul's meaning, on the other hand, is that we are the sharer in the triumph enjoyed by God because it's been gained by his instrumentality just as the lieutenants accompanied on horseback the chariot of the chief general as sharers in this honor.

As accordingly as ministers of the gospel fight under God's auspices, so they also procure for him the victory and the honor of the triumph. So Calvin said, it can't be that we're the slaves. Can't be that.

We gotta be the conquerors because that makes more sense. And guess what happened? People agreed with Calvin. And since Calvin, for about 300 years, that's been the way it's been pretty much translated and the way it's been interpreted.

But,.

If you compare this to the only other time this word is used in the New Testament, it's in Colossians. I just preached through Colossians. It talks about Christ triumphing over.

The powers.

And the spirits. Remember we talked about it in chapter 2. That word is used there. It's the same exact word. So the use of the word in context and the use of the word in scripture would lean towards us being taken captive.

That's why the NIV translates it that way. That's why the NLT. And even the ESV when it says leads us in triumphal procession can be that.

Now,.

Here's the paradox. And again, before you come.

Wanting to argue with me afterwards.

Are we victors in Christ? Yes, we are. I'm not saying we're not. But is that Paul's focus here? I don't think so. And here's why. Paul sees himself as one who has been taken captive by Christ and made his slave.

And if you don't believe me, turn in your Bibles very quickly to 1 Corinthians and look at chapter 4 verse 9. Go to 1 Corinthians chapter 4. Look at verse 9. Paul is talking about himself and his ministry and he says this.

For I think that God has exhibited that word exhibited means put on display or could be said paraded. I think God has exhibited us apostles as last of all like men sentenced to death because we have become a spectacle.

That Greek word there is theatre. It's where we get the word theater. He has put us on display to the world, to angels and to men. We are fools for Christ's sake, but you are wise in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong.

See, Paul is talking not about the basic ministry. He's talking about the ministry of the apostles. And he says as the apostles of Christ, we have been made his slaves. He has conquered us. Think about Paul's life.

Paul was not Christ's friend. Paul was Christ's enemy. And on the way to Damascus, what did Christ do? He took Paul captive and set him free. He took him, captured him and saved him. Christ is the victor.

Christ is the conqueror.

And Paul is his slave.

Paul never, ever shrinks away from being called the slave of Christ. So how is it that we deal with a restless soul? Paul says, I understand. I've been taken captive by Christ. I am his.

Thanks be to God.

I can face whatever because I am his. And guess what happens when you're his? He can do whatever he wants. And I trust in him. Now, if you want to argue linguistics with me later, or if you want to argue that perhaps I have misunderstood this and along with, I have here probably 10 different commentators who all agree and you can argue with them too.

Here, let me finish by saying this. I do think there's a paradox here. I think the paradox is, yes, Christ is the victor. And being in him, we are victorious. But at the same time, Christ has taken us captive because we were not on the same side.

We didn't come into this world fighting the same battle that Christ fights. We were his enemies. We came into this world fighting against Christ. And what did he do? He went and died for us. And he led captivity captive.

He took us captive.

So there's more to this than just seeing us as victors marching a parade.

We have been taken captive by the King.

Thanks be to God. Now, the next part leads into this very interestingly. Because Paul says, and he spreads the fragrance of the knowledge everywhere. What in the world is that talking about? Well, in this Roman triumph,.

When...

And by the way, again, there's so much I want to share. Time doesn't allow. But this is such a neat thing. What happened first in the parade is they had floats. They actually had floats, y 'all. We did a float last week in the parade.

They had floats. And what the floats were, were either paintings or reconstructions of battles that happened. And some people actually believe it was like propaganda. Because most of the Romans had never left Rome.

They'd never seen anything outside of Rome. These soldiers go out. They defeat all these enemies. They take land for Rome. They take over kingdoms for Rome. They bring back these kings in chains. They're marching them down.

And out in front are these floats showing the exploits of battle. And as they're going through Rome, there are temples. And in these temples are these incense being burned. Which are being burned as acts of worship.

As the people are traveling through this parade. And you've got the slaves. And you've got the floats. And you've got the conquering general. And behind him are his lieutenants. That is true. And then there were these white bulls that would be brought behind.

Or white oxen. They were going to be used for a sacrifice at the end. There were these white animals that were being used for a sacrifice. All this was happening in this parade. And as the parade's going through, there's this smell of this incense that's filling the air.

And for the victors, that smell is the smell of victory. But that smell for the conquered is the smell of death. Because guess what's coming? Either slaughter, enslavement, or a trip to Circus Maximus.

One way or another, they don't have a good rest of the day. One of three bad things is about to happen. So as they inhale those smells, they're getting one step closer to their demise.

And Paul says, we are that smell.

Now there's a little bit of a change of metaphor here because he goes from being the slave to being the smell. But he's talking about his ministry. As one who's been taken captive to Christ, I now go and preach the gospel.