"But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, 4:4 whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them." -2 Cor 4:3-4
A few more things are made clear about the spiritual hardening - the veiling that occurs in unbeliever’s hearts. The gospel is veiled or hidden to those who are literally on their way out and headed to destruction. God however is not to blame, notice that after John tells us that the unbelieving world is already self-condemned for not believing he says, “This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil.” (Jn 3:19)
But we must be dreadfully aware of who our real enemy is, it is not the world but “the god of this age” satan himself who further deceives the spiritually blind so their chances of believing are slim. Briefly looking at the parable of the four soils will help us understand this; (Mt 13:4, 19) the first soil that the seed (the gospel) was scattered upon was hard ground where there was no real chance of fertilization and because the seed remained on the surface of the hard ground (hard heart) birds came and snatched it away (satan). So how exactly does he blind you ask? Well he does this by obstructing the light and blocking the gospel from ever taking root. The picture given at the end of verse four is that of an object (or entity here) coming in between humans and the light of the gospel, preventing it from shining upon mankind.
Satan does this several ways: First he convinces the world that evil is good and good is evil; “It’s the gun’s fault not the person”, “she has the right to do what she wants with her body”, “I identify as a woman/man/dog/dragon”, “marriage can be two people of the same sex so stop discriminating” and all the ungodly rhetoric spewed from the mouths of the lost. Number two he further blinds the world by propagating the idea that there is no God, that science isn’t compatible with the Bible, that evolution is true and you are no more than random stardust evolved from an apelike creature. Once this idea gets out (and it has) we start to see the consequences in our youth; no God equals no accountability, no accountability means no judgement so I can live like I want and do as I please. Number 3 he uses vices to keep people prisoners of their own sin. Sex, drugs, alcohol, and the love of money are all tools he uses to further blind the lost.
Now while it is true that there are those who will not believe all the way to their graves - those who utterly reject the gospel and continue to embrace the darkness, it is also true that we were once on our way to hell as well - we were veiled and our hearts darkened. But we are no longer veiled because Christ has removed the veil (3:16). This tells us that there is hope for our unbelieving friends and family, and that the enemy's strongholds can be taken down, by continuing to pray for them and reaching out to them with God’s love through the gospel.
But we must be dreadfully aware of who our real enemy is, it is not the world but “the god of this age” satan himself who further deceives the spiritually blind so their chances of believing are slim. Briefly looking at the parable of the four soils will help us understand this; (Mt 13:4, 19) the first soil that the seed (the gospel) was scattered upon was hard ground where there was no real chance of fertilization and because the seed remained on the surface of the hard ground (hard heart) birds came and snatched it away (satan). So how exactly does he blind you ask? Well he does this by obstructing the light and blocking the gospel from ever taking root. The picture given at the end of verse four is that of an object (or entity here) coming in between humans and the light of the gospel, preventing it from shining upon mankind.
Satan does this several ways: First he convinces the world that evil is good and good is evil; “It’s the gun’s fault not the person”, “she has the right to do what she wants with her body”, “I identify as a woman/man/dog/dragon”, “marriage can be two people of the same sex so stop discriminating” and all the ungodly rhetoric spewed from the mouths of the lost. Number two he further blinds the world by propagating the idea that there is no God, that science isn’t compatible with the Bible, that evolution is true and you are no more than random stardust evolved from an apelike creature. Once this idea gets out (and it has) we start to see the consequences in our youth; no God equals no accountability, no accountability means no judgement so I can live like I want and do as I please. Number 3 he uses vices to keep people prisoners of their own sin. Sex, drugs, alcohol, and the love of money are all tools he uses to further blind the lost.
Now while it is true that there are those who will not believe all the way to their graves - those who utterly reject the gospel and continue to embrace the darkness, it is also true that we were once on our way to hell as well - we were veiled and our hearts darkened. But we are no longer veiled because Christ has removed the veil (3:16). This tells us that there is hope for our unbelieving friends and family, and that the enemy's strongholds can be taken down, by continuing to pray for them and reaching out to them with God’s love through the gospel.
- WHY IS THE SPIRITUAL ARMOR OF GOD IMPORTANT FOR US TO WEAR ON A DAILY BASIS? IN WHAT OTHER WAYS DOES THE ENEMY BLIND THE LOST?
- "Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven." -Jesus (Lk 10:20)