2 Corinthians 4:4a "Whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe"
What is the context of this passage, who is
Paul referring to, what caused their blindness, when did their blindness occur
and most importantly, how is their blindness removed?
What is the context of
this passage?
In
chapter 3, Paul is primarily focused on setting up a contrast between the ministry
of death which comes by the law and is temporary in purpose (passing
away vs 3:11, 13) with that of the ministry of the Spirit which
comes when one turns to Christ (has faith in) and is eternal in purpose.
Who is
Paul referring to?
Those
who have come to know the law and therefore experienced the ministry of death
(vs 3:7, 3:14-15). Those who have tried to live up to the demands of
the law and have failed. In short, Paul is referring to
everyone who has ever lived for we know that he says in Romans 3:19, “Now we
know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that
every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.”
What
caused their blindness?
Their
own unbelief, as is stated in the subject verse – those "who do not
believe” (2 Cor 4:4). We already know that Paul is talking to those
who know the Word, including those who have lived in both OT
and NT times. This eliminates the category of people who do
not believe because they are yet unaware of the Word or who the Lord
is. It is instead referring to those who do know of
the Lord and yet, do not believe in Him.
What
has caused their blindness? The same thing that has caused all of
man’s blindness for all time, the desire to be good, to be like
God. Man (true for Adam also), in the hearing of the law, becomes
focused on the law instead of the Law Giver. Upon experiencing the
very death warned of by the Law Giver, (when the boundaries of the law are
transgressed) man becomes enslaved, looking inward to try and find the means to
cover shame and work his own good apart from the Lord. A cycle
of pride and shame ensues trying to meet a standard that only our Creator is
capable of. Pride in temporarily meeting the demands of the law and
shame in failing to do so. A “try harder” or “look at me” inwardly
focused blindness develops. In summary, the knowledge of the law
triggered their blindness.
When
did their blindness occur?
After
coming to know the law, “in the reading of the Old Testament” vs 3:14 and also
implied in vs 3:7 when Moses presented the law at Mount Sinai. Note
that this was not a condition of spiritual blindness from birth but rather a
condition that all of humanity experiences when they encounter the ministry of
death – the law. Paul says in Romans 7:9, I was alive once
without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I
died.
How is their blindness
overcome?
Simply
stated, “when one turns to the Lord”. We see this in the prior
chapter when Paul says "But their minds were blinded. For until this day
the same veil remains unlifted in the reading of the Old Testament, because the
veil is taken away in Christ. But even to this day, when Moses is read, a veil
lies on their heart. Nevertheless when one turns to the Lord, the
veil is taken away." 2 Cor 3:14-16.
A turning that will only occur when His Goodness
has been demonstrated against a broad backdrop of our own failed attempts at
trying to meet the demands of the law. When we know by experience
His goodness and trust alone in it. Blindness is overcome when a man
has come to the end of self (or pride) and humbly submits himself to the
Lord. When as Paul says, “when one turns to the
Lord.
As a side note, are we instead to trust by
complete blind faith? No, or we might trust in something that is
inherently evil. Instead, we come to know the Father’s goodness by
our own experience of transgressing His law, thereby giving us a known Goodness
to place our faith in.
Conclusion
The laws purpose is to reveal self apart from God, to
give by experience, the knowledge of good and evil, to contrast His loving
goodness with our failed attempts of the same. It is not until we
have wrestled with the law and come to the end of ourselves that we are truly
humbled and place our hopes and faith in the One who gave the law.
We see this relationship between law and
faith taught also in the third chapter of Galatians. "But before faith
came, we were kept under guard by the law, kept for the faith which
would afterward be revealed. Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to
Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after faith has come, we are
no longer under a tutor." vs 23-25
I think
this is best illustrated in a parent’s giving of a “law” to their
child. Say for example that a father is cooking in the kitchen and his
two-year-old daughter is in there with him. The father, aware of
dangers that the child is not, says, “do not touch the stove or it will burn
you”. The child, unaware of this particular goodness and love of the
father, becomes focused on what was previously unknown to her (a blindness of
the father so to speak and instead an inward self-focus on the command and
object of the command – the stove). Out of curiosity, she wants
personal understanding as to what the father is talking about and eventually touches
the stove. It is in the experience of getting burned – feeling the
pain, that for the first time, brings about an understanding of the fathers
loving goodness. A loving goodness that perhaps could not have been
understood apart from being burned. In this way, the child learns
over time, command after command, consequence after consequence of the father’s
goodness. Eventually the child has a decision to make; either to
trust in the demonstrated life and goodness that is found when she lives within
the commands of the father (ministry of the Spirit) or she can continue to test
the father’s law and commands and live in the death of those consequences
(ministry of death). In summary, the child’s own blindness of the
father’s goodness will be removed, when she, by her own experience, turns from
her own ways and rests instead by faith in the father.
In this
sense, man brings about his own blindness when he comes into the presence of
the law. By experiencing the death that it promises, he, by his own faculties,
will need to turn to the Lord, the very source of his life and goodness.
Once we’ve tasted and KNOWN His goodness, may
we trust in the Lord with all our heart, leaning not on our own understanding
but in all our ways, acknowledging Him, that He shall direct our
paths. In this is life! Oh Lord, may I rest in and trust
as the Psalmist has declared. Amen!
