The God of This Age Has Blinded the Minds of Unbelievers (2 Cor. 4:3–6)

2 Cor. 4:3. But if our gospel is also veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing.

The thoughts laid out above directly lead to the question: why then did not everyone accept the word of the gospel? — Because not everyone had their spirit in motion with fear of God and conscience. Those in whom it was in motion immediately received the gospel; those whom the word of the gospel could not arouse, were awakened by the action of the wondrous gracious change taking place in believers; those whose spirit was so blocked that neither these nor other extraordinary things awakened it, remained and persisted in unbelief. The gospel remained veiled for them, because there was no organ for receiving it. Their spirit, natural to them, was so blocked that there was no access for the gospel to rouse it. The Apostle calls them those who are perishing, not because they were ordained to destruction, but because they, by the manner of life that had formed them up to that point, had placed themselves in such a state that the gospel is incomprehensible to them, veiled, they can understand nothing in it, it does not adhere to their soul in any way, and the soul finds nothing in it that could interest it. Therefore they do not accept it, and as salvation is possible only on the condition of this acceptance, they remain outside the realm of the saved, among those who are perishing. These are those whom the Apostle means by the perishing. But now or sometime later, their spirit too may awaken and heed the gospel, and they will enter into the community of the saved. Holy Chrysostom says that in these words the Apostle expresses the same thought he expressed before in the words: “To some we are the aroma of death leading to death, to others the aroma of life leading to life” (2 Cor. 2:16). Oecumenius places such speech in the Apostle’s mouth: “It is not our fault that the gospel is veiled for some; the cause is their own blindness and perishedness.”

2 Cor. 4:4. In whom the god of this age has blinded the minds of the unbelieving, so that the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of the invisible God, might not shine on them.

“The god of this age” here means the same as in other places “the prince of the world” (Jn. 12:31, 14:30), “the ruler of the darkness of this age” (Eph. 6:12), the spirit working “in the sons of disobedience” (Eph. 2:2). He is the god of this age because those living according to the spirit of the age obey him, willingly listen to his suggestions, and eagerly act according to his principles. This authority is not natural to him, but accidental, based on human negligence and attraction to fleshly life in self-indulgence. Those subject to him do not directly obey him, but rather are devoted to self-indulgence, and their self-indulgence opens the door for him to enter their souls, and entering there, he rages, drawing them to evil and shameful deeds, depending on the degree of self-indulgence of each. He himself rarely acts directly. His personal work was the seduction of our first parents, the temptation of Christ the Saviour, and will be his work in the Antichrist. Usually he acts through his hordes of demons, who prowl about everywhere and meddle in everything, seeking where they might perpetrate something evil. Some of them take up residence in human bodies, in those parts through which a passion to which someone is enslaved chiefly acts. Those possessed are not only those in whom the demon’s violence is visibly manifested. In the majority of the possessed, demons live quietly, managing their passionate deeds only through suggestions and intensifying their activity at the time when someone intends to repent and reform. Some have several demons dwelling in them; these are those who serve many passions. Through them the god of this age holds his dominion. The Gentiles worshipped him, transforming their passions into divinity; now they bow to him by yielding to the impulses of passions, inflamed and guided by him.

How does he blind the minds of the unbelieving? — By completely obscuring God from them and the order of divine things, and binding their consciousness to the visible and tangible alone, as if the invisible and intangible did not exist. God is on their tongue, but the word passes through their lips without trace; the word about death flickers, but as though this matter did not concern them. Usually they themselves are their own god, they themselves take thought for themselves, they themselves secure themselves, they themselves arrange their fate, putting faith in themselves alone and relying on means and methods at their disposal. Their goals do not extend beyond the present life. This alone they seek to transform into paradise, and all their care is directed there, all plans aimed there, all enterprises directed there. Their goal is to live in abundance, with honor, and with the greatest measure of comfort and pleasure. Conscience has no say here, and the fear of God does not reach into this sensual darkness. True conscience is trampled; its place is taken by the rule of conducting oneself as is considered best among others and judging by them, with the aim—not to disgrace oneself. God is had as something extraneous, and satisfaction of religious customs in external form is considered fully sufficient to avoid fearing Him; as if neither does He care about our soul, nor does our soul care about Him. To this circle belong not only thieves, robbers, fornicators, drunkards, and other manifest sinners. These are not well regarded even among them. A world-loving life usually flows gently, with visible gloss of propriety, dutifulness, and dignity. Its spirit is against God, and it is this that causes the eyes of the children of this age to be closed to seeing the light of the gospel. The gospel belongs to one realm, and they with all their structure belong to another. They have nothing in common with the gospel; it is even incomprehensible to them.

The beginning of the gospel’s action is the disturbance of conscience, but the sons of this age are self-satisfied: they do not recognize any guilt in themselves and do not understand what is meant when one says: “Repent,” the “kingdom” of God is at hand (Matt. 3:2, 4:17). The completion of the gospel’s action is the fear of God’s judgment, but the son of this age says: a sacrifice has been offered (with us—a candle lit, a prayer service performed), so what more? Death and judgment are far away; let us live yet a while. And the thought never takes root in him that judgment will fall upon him with the full weight of justice. The gospel is inspiring through the promised paradise—eternal blessedness; but the sons of this age think they already have paradise, living in their own pleasure and drowning in the visible and tangible, can experience no sympathy for the invisible paradise and blessedness in the intangible. These three moments, so essential to the disposition of the sons of this age and so opposed to the principles of the gospel, make it so that the gospel for them is veiled, unintelligible, incomprehensible. Everything in it is foreign to them; they cannot properly understand anything in it; no sympathy is wrung from their breast toward its proclamations: hearing they hear not, seeing they see not; the heart of these people has become dull. And thus the true meaning of the words—“the god of this age has blinded the minds of the unbelieving”: the spirit of the sons of this age, working in them under the influence of the god of this age—Satan—has made them incapable of heeding the gospel, understanding its beneficence, and accepting it. Without saying so, they say to the gospel-preachers: go on your way; this does not concern us.

“Has blinded,”—says the Apostle,—“so that the light” of the gospel “of the glory of Christ might not shine on them.” The light of the gospel, when heard and received, shines as a brightly burning lamp suddenly kindled in a dark place. For the one who heeds it, it illuminates everything and makes everything comprehensible to him: he clearly sees both the hopeless ruin in which he finds himself and the suitability of the means for escape from it offered by the gospel; therefore he seizes it with all the strength of his being. And when he tastes its healing power in deed, then there is no measure to the spiritual light shining in him. In a single glance he embraces both past and present and future, and heaven and earth,—and he sees all embraced by one God in the Lord Jesus Christ through the grace of the Holy Spirit. The starting point of the light is the face of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God incarnate, who has glorified our poor nature in Himself and seated it at the right hand of God the Father. The gospel illuminates all things,—and especially radiates the countenance of Christ the Saviour, for it all rests on Him. Therefore it is the gospel “of the glory of Christ.” The unbelieving see none of this, for they have closed the eyes of their minds with unbelief. The door to God’s mysteries is not opened for them, and the light does not illuminate them. The god of this age keeps them in darkness and does not allow the light of God to shine in them. He does this not by force, but cunningly by devising to deceive the sons of this age. Walking in delusion, they do not notice their darkening and are content in darkness, through deception taking it for light. But however thick the darkness of blindness, there is nothing here forcing them. They themselves wish it, and they are blind; if they wish it, they will open their eyes; for the light of God is all around. The god of this age tries in every way to keep them in blindness; but he does this by offering them blinding elements, which they themselves willingly accept and are blinded. Direct power over anyone or anything the god of this age has not, and dare not force anyone. We ourselves are at fault in everything.

Holy Chrysostom says: “What happened to the Jews in the time of Moses happens now to all the unbelieving in the times of the Gospel. Because of the hardening of their hearts, the ‘light’ of the gospel ‘of the glory of Christ’ is hidden from them, that is, they do not see that the cross is the salvation and glory of the universe, that the Crucified wishes to come again with great glory,—and all else, present and future, visible and invisible, the ineffable revelation of the expected good remains hidden from them; but it is hidden because they themselves before did not want to believe in this.”

“Who is the image of the invisible God.” “The Apostle called Christ the ‘image of’ God, as God from God, because Christ manifests the Father in Himself, wherefore He says: ‘He who has seen me has seen the Father’ (Jn. 14:9)” (Theodoret). God will always remain invisible and hidden. He deigned to manifest Himself more tangibly through the incarnation of the Son of God. In His eyes, through divinized humanity, rational creatures, Angels and the saints, can meet face to face with Divinity and as it were touch It. Outside of this It is hidden and is apprehended only through Its working according to the receptivity of creatures. For those who do not know the Son, the Father is unknown and will remain unknown forever. Holy Chrysostom says: “To show that those who have not known ‘the glory of Christ’ do not know only Christ’s glory, but also the Father’s glory, the Apostle added: ‘who is the image of the invisible God.’ But one cannot stop at Christ alone, because as through Christ you see the Father, so, not knowing the glory of Christ, you do not know the Father’s glory either.”

2 Cor. 4:5. For we do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake.

Having explained why the gospel remains veiled in those who are perishing, in the unbelieving, he turns again to point out the mystery of the gospel’s action in the conscience of those capable of receiving it. The mystery lies in this: in our gospel we do not put ourselves forward,—neither in the form of our words, nor in the form of our actions, nor in our purposes (2 Cor. 4:2)—we are not seen at all—Christ the Lord stands before, His face we portray before the consciences of men, and they themselves already recognize in Him the Saviour from ruin, the Healer of infirmities, the Giver of all strength to the weak. Therefore they cling to Him with all their soul. Behold the mystery of the gospel’s action! We ourselves are only instruments, only laborers, your servants, ministers to your salvation, for the Lord’s sake. Theodoret writes: “He wrote the same thing in the first epistle: ‘Let a man regard us as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God’ (1 Cor. 4:1). But here he spoke of himself even more humbly, calling himself a servant not only to Christ but to all believers, from love for Christ; for this is what the words mean: ‘for Jesus’ sake.’” Holy Chrysostom looked at the Apostle’s speech from a somewhat different angle: “Inasmuch as the false teachers strongly rose up against the Apostles and attacked them from all sides, he says: in taking up arms against us, you take up arms not against us, but against the One we proclaim, for we do not preach ourselves. We are slaves and servants even to those who receive this proclamation; we labor for another, that is, for the Lord, and do everything for His glory, so that those who war against us war against the Lord. We are so far from seeking any gain for ourselves from the preaching of the Gospel that we do not refuse to be even your servants for Christ, when it pleased Him to honor you so much, when He so loved you and did everything for you. Therefore he says: ‘and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake.’ Do you see a soul not at all concerned about glory? He says: we not only do not appropriate to ourselves what belongs to the Lord, but we even serve you for His sake.”

2 Cor. 4:6. For God, who said ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

In conclusion, the Apostle directs everyone’s attention to what is now given through the gospel being spread across the face of all the earth. A veil lay upon the hearts of the Jews, he said, and they do not see the light hidden in the Law; all Gentiles walked in darkness, and no one saw God’s light. But the Lord Jesus Christ came, and light of understanding shone upon the world. The illuminating power is the Holy Spirit, who descended upon the Apostles. Illumined by Him, guided and taught by Him, they walk about the world and proclaim the light of truth to all. The Spirit of God, illuminating them, illuminates also the hearts of believers, and they begin to see clearly the light of understanding of God’s glory. Thus amid the darkness that covered the whole world, the light of knowledge of God has now shone forth. Now the same thing is taking place in the moral world that occurred on the first day of creation for the material world, when God commanded light to shine out of darkness. “God said: Let there be light. And there was light” (Gen. 1:3). Now that same God speaks through us to all: “Repent and believe in the gospel” (Mk. 1:15). And this word shines light in the hearts of believers. Those who receive it begin to see clearly the indescribable glory of the boundless God in the face of Jesus Christ. The face of Jesus Christ makes it clear that God, so great and wondrous, is our merciful Father, who did not wish to leave us in our fall, but deigned to devise a wondrous way of salvation for us in His Only-Begotten Son, who came to earth, was incarnate, suffered and died on the cross, rose again, ascended to heaven, and sits at the right hand of God the Father, drawing all believers and the elect to salvation there, so that where He is, they too may all be. Such is the face of Jesus Christ! What perfections of God are not reflected in this face?! Here is infinite goodness and endless justice, here is unthinkable wisdom and immeasurable omnipotence, here is all-caring providence and all-embracing sovereignty. And the mystery of the Holy Trinity is radiantly revealed in this same face. God the Father willed it, the Son accomplished it, the Holy Spirit completes in believers what is accomplished in the Son. “For through Christ we know God the Father, just as through the Spirit we are brought to Him” (Holy Chrysostom). Thus the light of understanding (knowledge) of God’s glory in the face of Jesus Christ has shone in the world through shining in the hearts of believers. “By the shining of this light, we too see not things perceptible to the senses, but God Himself through Christ” (Holy Chrysostom).

Theodoret writes: “He who of old by his word brought nature of light into being and said: ‘Let there be light,’ has now, not by that, but by His own light, illumined our minds, so that we might see His glory through Christ Himself. And this: ‘in the face of Jesus Christ’ has such a meaning: since the nature of God is invisible, It becomes, as much as possible, visible through the humanity that it has assumed, illumined by Divine light and emitting brilliant radiance.” Oecumenius continues the same thought: “He who commanded light to shine out of darkness at the beginning, has shone in our hearts. He shone, illumining us and revealing to us knowledge of His glory, and this ‘in the face of Jesus Christ.’ For through the Son alone have we obtained true knowledge of the Father, as He Himself says in the Gospel to the Father: ‘I have revealed your name to men…’and ‘I have glorified you on earth’ (Jn. 17:6, 4). And through Christ Jesus alone has it been revealed to us that the Father does not wish to be honored by incense and blood, but by spiritual sacrifices, and that true worshippers of God should bow before God not otherwise than in the Trinity, consubstantial and co-equal.”