2 Corinthians 4:3-4 And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. 4 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.
Paul clearly proclaims the gospel. It is only hidden to those who refuse to believe it. Paul describes these kind of people as perishing. They have written their own fate by refusing to believe the truth. Verse 3 is a strong warning to any who would accept a false gospel or preach a false gospel. As Galatians 1:10 indicates, Paul warns strongly about anyone who distorts the clear truth of the gospel. Paul continues to use the image of the veil as an illustration of the deeper spiritual truth of faith in Christ. As he writes in 1 Corinthians 1:18, “For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”
The reason why people do not believe in the gospel and why there is a veil that covers their hearts is that they have been deceived by the god of this world. The great deceiver, Satan, has given them a false promise. There are many ways this can happen. One of the most obvious is the claim that selfish pursuits will bring happiness. In our age, this is particularly seen in materialism. This can also be seen in spiritual matters where people try to find meaning and peace in things of this world or in intellectualism. A term used for this is humanism, where the human is the center of the universe and a person seeks to find meaning without God.
The result is that people like this become blind to the gospel. They don’t see Jesus for who he is, the image of God. This is the image into which we are changed, referenced in 2 Corinthians 3:18. Our goal is to be remade into Christ’s likeness who is the perfect human image of God. This is a profound theological claim. This goal is lost to those who follow the ways of the world and give in to Satan’s lies. The gospel reveals the truth of this goal. Believers are called to help those who have been caught in this deceit to come to a deeper understanding and clarity of this call.
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