118 Andreas Hock God in Christ! They are sharers in His victory (26). Consequently, it is quite implausible to identify the ministers and angels with the captives, or else with the white bull destined for sacrifice, or even with the general himself. Christ is the general who after defeating the reign of darkness allows apostles and angels to partake in the glory of His victory (27). After having reflected on the last of the four syntactic features as indicated in the introduction let us now draw the threads together. * ** This essay was intended to reaffirm the methodological indispensability of comparing infrequently used biblical terms with corresponding occurrences in the Scripture. Diverse ways of considering the parallel Greek expressions in 2 Cor 2,14a and Col 2,15b were meant to aid in the verification of a parallelism of the Sitz im Leben. So, let us then reiterate the basic arguments concerning the positive connotation of qriambeuvein, thereby arriving at our conclusion. By scrutinizing the similarity and dissimilarities contained in the expressions ejn tw/' Cristw/' in 2 Cor, and ejn aujtw/' in Col, we found that Paul intended a substantial union of the apostles and angels with Christ that goes beyond simple knowledge or spiritual closeness. We concluded that the separation of the apostles from Christ caused commentators to seek the “place” of the apostles/angels in the triumphal parade. Yet, if one accepts the above-mentioned personal union with Christ then the apostles/angels take the same place as Christ in the parade. In both phrases we are dealing with a participle dependent on a finite verb. Our claim was that if the main finite verb of the proximate context has a positive tone, then the participles coordinate or subordinate to it should also be interpreted in a positive way. Now, since the participle in 2 Cor echoes the sentiment of thankfulness to God, its context cannot be understood as identifying the apostles with the captives in that triumphal parade. This opinion was then corroborated by taking into account the positive image of sweet fragrance spread everywhere in v. 14b. Likewise, in Col the verb ‘convivificare’ was found central to the tenets of vv. 11-15. We judged, therefore, that the interpretation of qriambeuvsa" should reflect that positivity: Christ parades the angels in Himself. In seeking to identify the individuals behind the pronoun hJma'" in 2 Cor we gathered that it referred to the three persons mentioned in 2 Cor 1,19. It appeared fitting, however, to correlate this plural also with Paul’s friend Titus spoken of in 2,13, and through him with all the apostles and their co-workers of the early Church. Regarding the pronoun auvtou'" in Col, we contended that Paul had primarily the angels in mind. Our goal then was to comprehend “who is who” in that triumphal parade. We conjectured the apostles as featuring in the place of senators and (27) In accord with the connotations of the actual triumph: pomp, joyful public celebration, festivity and exultation of victory/success, elation, rapturous delight, and victory, cf. The Oxford English Dictionary, XI, 386.