“Just as Paul has previously compared the cross to a signal trophy or triumphal march, in which Christ paraded His enemies, so also he now compares the cross to a triumphal car, in which He appeared in great magnificence.
For although in the cross there is nothing but curse, this was nevertheless so swallowed up by the power of the Son of God, that the cross has put on, as it were, a new nature.
For there is no tribunal so magnificent, no kingly throne so stately, no show of triumph so distinguished, no chariot so lofty, as the gibbet on which Christ subdued death and the devil, the prince of death. Moreover, He has utterly trodden them under His feet.”
–John Calvin, Commentaries on the Epistles of Paul the Apostle to the Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians, trans. T.H.L. Parker (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1965), 336. Calvin is commenting on Colossians 2:15.
