Keep sharing good news without ads.
No description available
Hello, welcome back to Coffee with a Calvinist. This is a daily conversation about scripture, culture, and media from a Reformed perspective. Get your Bible and coffee ready and prepare to engage today's topic.
Here's your host, Pastor Keith Foskey.
Welcome back to Coffee with a Calvinist. My name is Keith Foskey and I am a Calvinist. On today's program, I'm going to be answering a listener question. This question came in several days ago from a man by the name of James Hook.
And James, I know that you're a listener, so hopefully you'll be able to hear this program as I seek to answer the question that you gave. And the question that James sent in was about 2 Corinthians chapter 4 and verse 4.
So if you have your Bibles open, let's go to that passage and let's read it, and then we will examine James' question. The verse says in the ESV, which is what I'll be reading in, In their case, the God of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
Okay, that's the verse. That is 2 Corinthians chapter 4 verse 4. And the question that James is asking is that, basically the question is, this is typically understood to be referring to the devil when it says the God of this world.
But he asked the question, would it be inconsistent to say that this is actually talking about the triune God? That this could actually be talking about God himself. And I understand the heart of the question, and I want to go ahead and say that having looked at a few commentaries already and having looked at the text itself, I can see where this question would arise, because it does use the word theos, and you included that James if you're listening, you included that in your email to me, the Strong's Concordance reference here.
And the Greek actually does read in 2 Corinthians 4, 4, in ois, hatheos, to a onos. That is, in their case, God, excuse me, let me say that again. In their case, the God of this world. That is, to a onos.
So when we see this phrase referring to the God of this world, it is the word that we typically think of for the true God, the word theos. So why is it that so many commentators, and I will go ahead and tell you, the vast majority of commentators do see this as being a reference to the devil, but why is it that we see the word theos and we assume that it's referring to the devil?
And I think there's several reasons, James, why the commentators and why translators have assumed that when Paul is writing here that he's referring to the devil and not to the God of Scripture, the true God.
And one of the first things is the ultimate context, and again, context is key, context is always the first thing that you want to look at. And so if you start back at verse 1, it says, therefore, having this ministry by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart, but we have renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways.
We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God's word, but by the open statement of the truth, we would commend ourselves to everyone's conscience in the sight of God. And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing.
In their case, the God of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Christ Jesus as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake.
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. I hope you're listening, anyone who's listening to this, how many times the word God is used in the verses that I just read, verses 1 to 6.
The word God is used several times over and over and over. We have the words over and over referring to God, and the thing that's important about that is there's only one time where the word God is used with a qualifier.
Because when the word God comes up in the other sections of the text, it does not have.
A qualifier.
It simply says God, by the mercy of God. It says with God's word, and it says in the sight of God, and it says who is the image.
Of God.
Even in verse 4, which is the verse in question, the word God comes up, but only once is the phrase God applied a qualifier. The two eonos, that's the God of this world, and you say, well, why does that matter, or the God of this age?
Because it seems to me, and I think that this is correct, it seems to me that Paul is distinguishing the God who is blinding the minds of unbelievers from the true God. So here we have the distinction, and why many commentators do agree that the God of this world, or the God of this age, in verse 4, eonos could be age or world, that the God of this age, or the God of this world, could be referring to the devil rather than the true God, is because all the other times God is used in this passage, it's not qualified.
It simply says God, God, God, God. But when it refers to this instance of the word God, it refers to him as the God of this age, or the God of this world. Now is the true God the God of this world? Yes, he is the God of everything, he is the sovereign, he is the maker of heaven and earth.
But is Satan ever referred to as the God of this world? Well, not specifically, unless you assume that that's the meaning of this passage, but there are other places where we do see the phrase, the power of Satan in the world is referenced.
For instance, in John 14, 30, Satan is called the prince of this world, and in 1 John 5, 19, it talks about the evil one and the world, life, and wickedness in regard to the evil.
One.
And so we see he is called the prince of the power of the air, and so we know that there are specific references to Satan having a certain type of power in this world. And one of the commentators that I was looking at as I was preparing for putting this recording together, made the point that it's not so much that he is the God of this world, but rather he is the God of the worldly.
And I thought that was an interesting way of understanding it. That's actually Jameson Fawcett Brown, which is a one-volume commentary, kind of an older commentary, not a lot of people use it anymore, but I still reference it a lot, I think they had a lot of good things to say.
And what they say is they say, God of this world is actually the worldly, make him their.
God.
And that is what Satan is, Satan is the God of the worldly. He is the God of those whose allegiance is to this world. He is the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that ruleth in the children of disobedience.
Again, Ephesians 2 .2, the spirit that rules in the heart of the disobedient, the children of disobedience. So I do think that there is a reason to believe and a reason to agree with the commentators and the translators, because even some translators even say Satan, instead of translating this God of this world, such as you referenced in your email, that the New Living Translation actually uses, it just translates it out, Satan has blinded the mind of unbelievers.
So it would be, in my opinion, simply looking at it as I have, that the God of this world is being distinguished from the other references to God in this same context, because it adds the qualifier, and the qualifier would cause it to be referencing Satan, who does have authority over this world in the sense that he is the object of worship for unbelievers who are idolaters and who are trusting not in the true God, but they're trusting in the God of this world or the God of this world system, which would be Satan.
And I want to, I do want to go back and say a couple other things very quickly. One, we do know that what is being said here of Satan blinding the minds of unbelievers is something that is referenced in other passages, I think particularly of the parable of the soils, when the Bible, when Jesus tells the story in the Bible about the man, the sower goes out to sow his seed, and he throws the seed, some falls on the pathway, and the birds come and snatch it up, and then he goes out, it says some goes in the thorns, some goes in the rocky soil, and some go into good soil.
But ultimately, the point I'm making is the point about the birds coming to eat it up. Jesus makes a specific reference, and he says that is Satan coming to, even though they've heard the word, to essentially rob it from them, to rob the word.
As the birds are eating that seed that's sitting on that hard pathway, Satan comes and robs the people of the word. Now, as a Reformed theologian, as a Calvinist, people say, well, why should Satan do that?
They can't believe anyway. And I've heard that argument made, well, Satan doesn't have to blind anybody, they're already blind. But that is not exactly how we understand total depravity. Total depravity is a willful unwillingness to believe the gospel, but it's not a blindness necessarily.
The blindness is something that is affected from the outside. The willful unwillingness is something from the sinful man, and then there's this outside effect where it's the, I've told this on a previous podcast, the difference between me covering my own eyes and saying I don't want to see something, and someone coming along and plucking out my eyes to where I can't see something.
And so the difference would be a willful unwillingness to see versus someone who is blinding me by poking out my eyes. So, I think that in 2 Corinthians 4 .4, the God of this world, in the context that I've mentioned, is referring to the devil.
I think that fits within the surrounding context. I think that fits within the biblical context. Does the Bible say the true God, Yahweh, does he blind people? Yes, the Bible does say that. So could this be referring to Yahweh?
I'm not going to say it's impossible. I did find a few commentators who would agree with that, but they were certainly in the minority. So, if you take the position that 2 Corinthians 4 .4 is, when it says the God of this world, that that is referring to Yahweh, the true God, then that would be the minority position, and you should understand that if you take that position.
If that's where you land on this, understand that, you know, and it's not always wrong. I mean, that doesn't mean you're necessarily wrong. I've been in the minority position, and sometimes when I'm preaching, I say I take the minority view on this.
I think it's correct, but in this case, I do think the context lends itself to the majority position, and oftentimes when you are looking at a position, and almost every commentator, almost every translator is going in one direction, then you should think about why they do.
It doesn't always mean they're right, but at least take a few moments to consider what would make somebody go in that direction. So, that's my thoughts on 2 Corinthians 4 .4. I appreciate you, James, for sending in that question.
That is, it's a blessing to me to know that you're out there and that you're listening, and I hope that other listeners have had the opportunity to be blessed by this, and also understand how we do exegesis.
We look at the passage. We look at the original language. We look at the context. We look at what other commentators have said, and that can help us arrive at a good conclusion about what a text means.
So, this has been the program for today. I appreciate you, James, for sending in that question, and I appreciate you, listener, for being with us. Thank you for listening to Coffee with a Calvinist. My name is Keith Foskey, and I have been your Calvinist.
May.
God bless you.
Thank you for listening to today's episode of Coffee with a Calvinist. If you enjoyed the program, please take a moment to subscribe and provide us feedback. We love to receive your comments and questions and may even engage with them in a future episode.
As you go about your day, remember this, Jesus Christ came to save sinners. All who come to Him in repentance and faith will find Him to be a perfect Savior. He is the way, the truth, and the life, and no one comes to the Father except through Him.
May God be with you.