{Having put off from himself} (apekdusamenos). Only here
and  3:9  and one MS. of Josephus (apekdus). Both apodu(935c) and
ekdu(935c) occur in ancient writers. Paul simply combines the two
for expression of complete removal. But two serious problems
arise here. Is God or Christ referred to by apekdusamenos? What
is meant by "the principalities and the powers" (	as archas kai
tas exousias)? Modern scholars differ radically and no full
discussion can be attempted here as one finds in Lightfoot,
Haupt, Abbott, Peake. On the whole I am inclined to look on God
as still the subject and the powers to be angels such as the
Gnostics worshipped and the verb to mean "despoil" (American
Standard Version) rather than "having put off from himself." In
the Cross of Christ God showed his power openly without aid or
help of angels. {He made a show of them} (edeigmatisen). First
aorist active indicative of deigmatiz(935c), late and rare verb from
deigma ( Jude 1:7 ), an example, and so to make an example of.
Frequent in the papyri though later than paradeigmatiz(935c) and in
N.T. only here and  Mt 1:19  of Joseph's conduct toward Mary. No
idea of disgrace is necessarily involved in the word. The
publicity is made plain by "openly" (en parr(8873)i(8369)). {Triumphing
over them on it} (	hriambeusas autous en aut(9369)). On the Cross
the triumph was won. This late, though common verb in _Koin(825f)
writers (ekthriambeu(935c) in the papyri) occurs only twice in the
N.T., once "to lead in triumph" ( 2Co 2:14 ), here to celebrate a
triumph (the usual sense). It is derived from 	hriambos, a hymn
sung in festal procession and is kin to the Latin _triumphus_
(our triumph), a triumphal procession of victorious Roman
generals. God won a complete triumph over all the angelic
agencies (autous, masculine regarded as personal agencies).
Lightfoot adds, applying 	hriambeusas to Christ: "The convict's
gibbet is the victor's car." It is possible, of course, to take
aut(9369) as referring to cheirographon (bond) or even to Christ.