The Light of the Gospel
2 Corinthians 4:1–6
If you have your bibles this morning let’s begin by reading the scripture that we’ll look at…. 2 Corinthians 4:1-6…. 2 Corinthians 4:1-6. Follow along in your bible as I read…
4Therefore, having this ministry by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart. 2But 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. 3And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. 4In 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. 5For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. 6For 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.
Paul begins in verse 1, Therefore, having this ministry….and we have to go back to the previous chapter, 2 Corinthians 3, to remind ourselves what kind of ministry Paul is talking about.
In 2 Corinthians 3, Paul described a New Covenant ministry, a ministry centered around the Spirit of God (2 Corinthians 3:6, 8, 17, 18), a ministry where the Spirit of God writes on tablets of fleshly hearts (2 Corinthians 3:3), a ministry of life and righteousness (2 Corinthians 3:9), a ministry of stunning glory (2 Corinthians 3:10-11), and a ministry where believers are transformed into the image of Jesus Christ, from one degree of glory to another (2 Corinthians 3:17-18).
With 2 Corinthians 3 in mind, one author writes this : “The very beholding of Christ is a transforming sight. The Spirit that makes us new creatures, and stirs us up to behold (Jesus), it is a transforming beholding… A man cannot look upon the love of God and of Christ in the gospel, but it will change him to be like God and Christ. For how can we see Christ, and God in Christ, but we shall see how God hates sin, and this will transform us to hate sin as God doth, who hated it so that it could be (forgiven) but with the blood of Christ, the god-man. So seeing the holiness of God in it, it will transform us to be holy. When we see the love of God in the gospel, and the love of Christ giving himself for us, this will transform us to love God.”[1]
The very beholding of Christ is a transforming beholding!
Old Covenant ministry transformed no one; new covenant ministry transforms us into the image of our savior, Jesus Christ.
So the Spirit of God opens our hearts to see Christ.
The Spirit wins our hearts to Christ.
The Spirit cultivates in us a deep taste for Christ.
The Spirit kindles in each of us an ever deeper and more sincere love for Christ.
And he stirs us to think ever more on Christ.[2]
New Covenant ministry, ministry superintended by the Spirit of God far surpasses old covenant ministry. And that’s the ministry that Paul was called to. And that’s the ministry that we have been called to. So we don’t lose heart.
I think there’s benefit if we continue to remind ourselves of the background that we believe led the apostle Paul to write 2 Corinthians. As we’ve said, almost every time we’ve opened the book, it’s believed that rival apostles had arrived in Corinth soon after Paul founded the church. And these rival apostles had different ideas about what makes a true apostle. They had different ideas about what the apostolic ministry was all about. So much of 2 Corinthians is written to give definition, to put flesh on the bones, of a new covenant ministry of the Spirit.
So again Paul begins in chapter 4 verse 1, ‘Therefore we have this ministry, a New Covenant ministry directed by the very Spirit of God…
And continuing…we have this ministry by the mercy of God. Paul could never forget his entrance into the New Covenant and his call to ministry in Acts 9. It was all about God’s mercy! He received his entrance into the new covenant and his call to ministry “while he was on a murderous rampage against the church persecuting those who would become his brothers and sisters in Christ.”[3]
Therefore having this ministry by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart.
So Paul has pondered the very mercy of God in his life—he was a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an insolent opponent but he received mercy--and he has pondered the very nature of New Covenant ministry—how it’s Spirit-initiated, how it’s Spirit-superintended, how it’s Spirit-driven, and how it’s a ministry of surpassing glory—and he says ‘We don’t lose heart.” ‘We’re not giving up!”[4]
Given such incredible mercy and given such an incredible ministry we don’t lose heart.
Paul had many reasons to give up and lose heart. Ministry was difficult. Ministry with the Corinthians was especially difficult.
But the nature of New Covenant ministry fueled his perseverance!
And a moment reflecting on God’s mercy added octane to his perseverance too!
We don’t lose heart! We’re not giving up!
When you and I are tempted to throw in the towel, let’s remember the surpassing glory of the New Covenant ministry and the mercy of God in our lives.
God’s mercy to us is supposed to fuel our lives of service. I was reminded that Paul argues as much in Romans 12:1? I appeal to you therefore brothers, by the mercies of God…in other words in view of God’s great mercies to you…to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God which is your spiritual worship.
Well look at the sharp contrast in verse 2 But we have renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways….
Rather than giving up, Paul says, he and his co-workers were committed to plow through difficult ministry with integrity.
They’ve renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways—actions done in secret or dishonest ways.
Disgraceful, underhanded ways is literally “the hidden things of shame.” The words “of shame” characterize those things that are hidden; they are “secret and shameful deeds.”[5]
Paul has in mind the practices of ‘hucksters’ who live by deceit. They got ahead in the world by sneaky actions, actions which a normal person would be ashamed of.
Secondly, Paul says, we refuse to practice cunning. Cunning is the unscrupulous or crafty manner of getting what one wants by deceiving people.[6] The noun “cunning” (the NIV has the word ‘deception’ ) translates a Greek word that literally means the readiness to do anything (panourgia). When used in a bad sense, it applies to someone who is sly, crafty, deceitful, and tricky. Such persons will stoop to any ruse to accomplish their dishonorable purposes, and they usually resort to secret plots and intrigues. In 2 Corinthians 11:3 Paul connects such cunning to Satan, who beguiled Eve.[7] Paul and his associates refused to live by cunning or deception, craftiness or trickery.
Thirdly, Paul says we refuse to tamper with God’s word. The verb tamper translates a Greek word that means “to water down,” as of the watering down or dilution of wine.[8] We don’t “falsify” the Word![9] We don’t “distort” the Word![10] We don’t “change” the Word![11] We don’t “twist” the Word![12]
No! By the open statement of the truth we would commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God.
When you and I think of the word conscience in the New Testament we normally think of one’s ability to know that he or she has done something wrong. When we do something wrong our conscience sounds an alarm. But here in verse 2, conscience is probably used of one’s ability to decide on the rightness or wrongness of someone else’s behavior.[13] So when Paul says we commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience, Paul is saying, we live our lives in full view of God and others, and “(everyone) will know in their hearts because of their conscience what kind of people we are before God”[14]
We just preach the truth in full view, Paul says, and leave it for others to know what kind of people we are before God.
So in verses 1-2 Paul has opened the window on why and how he perseveres and he’s defended his ministry as authentic. “I’m staying in it. I’m not giving up. We don’t use tricks. We don’t tamper with God’s word. We just openly proclaim the truth and leave the results to God.”
An African proverb says something to this effect: “I want to live in a house with no walls,” meaning a life of complete openness to others, having nothing to hide. Authentic ministry embraces such a life. No walls of deception, of hidden motives or shifty actions, no walls that stand between the minister and his own conscience, or between the minister and the people inside or outside the reach of ministry[15]
Don’t we seek to be a welcoming, caring, authentic, knowing community? What if we all sought to live ‘in houses with no walls’? Maybe ‘houses with no walls’ is the ticket to becoming the community we long to be.
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So Paul’s ministry is authentic. He rejects underhanded ministry where God’s word is twisted and tampered with. He proclaims the gospel publicly and openly. In fact his ministry is like a triumphal procession where the fragrance of the knowledge of Jesus is spread everywhere. Why then is his gospel not received and heard by everyone everywhere? It’s to that question that Paul turns in verses 3-4.
Follow along as I read verses 3-4 again
3And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. 4In 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.
Note the ‘if’ in verse 3…even if our gospel is veiled. It might seem that Paul is painting a hypothetical situation. But he’s not. He assumes a real situation, “Now even if our gospel is veiled (or hidden) and it is… it is veiled to those who are perishing.
The gospel is “hidden” or “not known” because of the spiritual condition of those who are perishing. The gospel is concealed, hidden, or kept secret.
Now let me suggest a point and I can’t really be dogmatic about it. What Paul is talking about in verse 3 would seem to be different from what Paul is going to talk about in verse 4 where Satan blinds the minds of unbelievers. And I have to admit that that’s a new thought for me. What I’m suggesting is that there are really two issues that keep someone from hearing the gospel and turning to Christ: the first issue is the spiritual condition of their own heart (vs. 3) and the second issue is the fact that Satan blinds their minds (vs. 4)[16] Again I can’t be dogmatic about it but it fits what we believe about our hearts—as unbelievers we have a darkened heart problem that only regeneration can address. Isn’t that a different issue from being blinded by Satan from seeing the gospel?
So if verse 3 is telling us the gospel is concealed, hidden or kept secret to those who are perishing, how could that be?
One of the reasons has to do with just the nature of the gospel—the idea that all is made well by the sacrificial death of the Messiah, Jesus Christ. Greeks hear that and they call it foolishness. It’s hidden from them. Jews hear that and they call it scandalous. It’s hidden from them. So the scandal of the cross veils the gospel for some; they want a more “tasteful” salvation plan. [17]
Another reason that the gospel is veiled or hidden from some is because they trip over the nature of the messengers bringing the gospel. One writer argues it this way: “Paul’s own sufferings (would seem to ) veil (the) gospel (for many) because people don’t want a suffering apostle who looks like a prisoner of war led in chains any more than they want a suffering Messiah who invites them to take up their cross and follow him”.[18]
So it seems that Paul is arguing in verse 3 that the gospel is veiled, it’s hidden from those who are marching to destruction. Well verse 4 introduces us to another issue, what one writer calls an “insidious spiritual force working among those who are perishing.”[19]
4In 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.
Who is the god of this world, there in verse 4? Satan. And Paul is speaking ironically. Satan is really no God at all. “But he rules over this age in that he blinds human beings and binds them in unbelief under his rule.”[20]
What is it that Satan does? He blinds the minds of unbelievers to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ.
Said differently and interpreting some of the words, Satan blinds the minds—and the word for minds here generally signifies the mind in action—the thoughts, the plans, the conceptions, the judgments[21]. So Satan blinds the thoughts, the plans, the conceptions, the judgments of unbelievers to keep them from beholding[22] the illumination radiating[23] from the glorious[24] gospel about[25] Christ.
So we’re sharing the gospel with an unbeliever. We describe how Jesus God’s son was crucified to pay for our sins. There is an illumination that radiates from that message, the glorious gospel about Christ. But unbelievers are blinded to that light, that illumination.
It is Satan who prevents unbelievers from grasping the stunning brightness of the Gospel that is there for all to see.[26]