It is common among Calvinistic teachers and authors to say that the reason unbelievers cannot believe the gospel is because their minds have been darkened by the god of this age.
The primary proof text for this idea is 2 Corinthians 4:3-4.
But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, 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 Corinthians 4:3-4).
Calvinists focus in the statement about the minds of the perishing being blinded by the god of this age, and from this, teach that unregenerate people need the divine gift of regeneration before they can believe the gospel. Here is one such explanation from John Piper:
Since men are blind to the worth of Christ, a miracle is needed in order for them to come to see and believe. Paul compares this miracle with the first day of creation when God said, “Let there be light” (Piper, Five Points, 34).
But if this is not what Paul is teaching in 2 Corinthians 4:4, what is he saying?
The Veil on the Gospel
First, as with all the other passages which Calvinists quote, it is critical to understand the surrounding context. In the immediately preceding passage, Paul is explaining that the new covenant in the Spirit has replaced the old covenant of the law (2 Corinthians 3:6). He goes on to say that even though the new covenant is exceedingly more glorious than the old covenant, the Jewish people do not accept it because their minds have been veiled (2 Corinthians 3:14-15).
In fact, Paul even says that their minds are veiled regarding the proper way to read the Old Testament as well (2 Corinthians 3:14). The only way to read the Old Testament, he says, is through Jesus Christ. If someone does not believe that Jesus is the Christ, the veil remains.
The Gospel is Veiled to those who are Perishing (2 Corinthians 4:3-4)
This helps us understand what Paul is referring to when he says in 2 Corinthians 4:3-4 that the gospel is veiled to those who are perishing, and their minds are blinded. While Paul could be referring primarily to the Jewish people who are still unable to properly read and understand the Old Testament because they do not read it through the lens of Jesus Christ, it seems more natural to read Paul’s statement in light of his ministry to the Gentiles. “The ‘veil’ doesn’t just apply to Jewish people … it applies to people of all sorts” (Wright, 2 Corinthians, 42).
Paul, as the apostle to the Gentiles, undoubtedly ran up against this blindness on numerous occasions, and he is providing a brief explanation here for why some people do not respond to the gospel when it is proclaimed to them.
How to Remove the Veil on the Gospel
Paul, however, does not say that these people can never believe and will never believe. Quite to the contrary, Paul has clearly stated how the veil is removed, thereby implying that it can be removed. How is this? Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 3:16 that “when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.” While initially it might seem that Paul is referring to the initial act of faith in Jesus Christ by which people receive eternal life, the following verse shows that this is not at all what Paul is referring to.
In 2 Corinthians 3:17, Paul clarifies that “the Lord” he has just mentioned in 2 Corinthians 3:16 is not Jesus, but the Holy Spirit. He says, “Now the Lord is the Spirit” (N. T. Wright argues that the Spirit of the Lord is active in the fellowship of the saints, and this is where and how the veil is removed. See Wright, Paul and the Faithfulness of God, II:726).
What this means is that when Paul talks about blindness and the veil in 2 Corinthians 3–4, he is not talking primarily about how a person receives eternal life by faith in Jesus Christ, but about all the other truths of the gospel which are contained in the rest of Scripture, and which are centered on the person and work of Jesus Christ.
The “gospel,” remember, is not simply the message that eternal life is given to those who believe in Jesus for it. This truth is central to the gospel, but it is not the entirety of the gospel. The biblical gospel contains everything related to the person and work of Jesus Christ and the ramifications of these truths for our lives as His followers.
With all of this in mind, what Paul is saying is that nobody can understand the gospel unless they turn to the Holy Spirit for illumination and guidance. Once we do this, He not only removes the veil from our minds, but also helps us live out the truths of the gospel so that we are transformed “from glory to glory” (2 Corinthians 3:18).
In 2 Corinthians 4:4, Paul is saying that people who do not want to see the glorious truth of the gospel will remain darkened in their mind because the god of this age is certainly not going to reveal it to them. If they want to understand the gospel, all they need to do is turn to the Spirit of God for understanding, and he will remove the veil from their hearts and the blindness from their eyes so that they might be understand and obey the gospel of God. “Paul knew that … the gospel could and did pierce the veil” (Wright, 2 Corinthians, 42).
2 Corinthians 4:4 and the Light of the Gospel
That this is the proper way to read 2 Corinthians 4:4 is supported by the verse itself. Paul writes that those who are perishing “do not believe, lest the light of the gospel … should shine upon them.” Paul does not write that they do not believe because they cannot believe, or because the god of this age is preventing them from doing so.
No, Paul says they do not believe, because they do not want the light of the gospel to shine into their lives, thereby calling them to submit to Jesus Christ and Lord and follow Him with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength.
Paul is not the only one to make this sort of statement in Scripture. The Apostle John writes similarly in his Gospel, where he explains that although Jesus came unto His own people, they did not accept Him (John 1:1-8). And why did they not accept Him.
John explains why later. He says that they did not accept Him because their deeds were evil and they loved darkness rather than light (John 3:18-21). They did not want the light to shine in their lives, because they knew that if it did, they would have to change their beliefs and their behaviors, and so they chose to remain in darkness. Nevertheless, such a condition is not permanent. Jesus himself says that veil of darkness can be removed when the gospel is preached (John 6:45).
All of this is exactly what Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 3–4.
So does 2 Corinthians 4:3-4 teach the total inability of humanity? No, it teaches the necessity of the Holy Spirit to understand and live the Gospel.
If you want to read more about Calvinism, check out other posts in this blog series: Words of Calvinism and the Word of God.
Jeremy,
I have been reading some of your Calvinist posts and have held back until now. I just can’t take it any longer.
It has become clear to me from posts like this one, that the only reason you believe what you do is because you are a reprobate and a heretic and the eyes of your mind have been darkened by Satan. You seek to bring disunity and false teaching into the church by spreading lies and satanic teachings about the goodness of humanity and God’s love for every person. These are humanistic ideas, and therefore, satanic in origin.
Unless you publically repent and recant these ideas, you will discvoer the truth when you burn in hell with everybody else whom you have led astray. Calvinism is the gospel and the gospel is Calvinism. It was not “invented” by Calvin, but was rediscovered after centuries of being hidden and corrupted by the Babylonian whore, the Catholic church.
Go read your Bible and maybe you will come to learn the truth before it is too late.
Oh my.
Are you the same “Paul” that is disagreeing with a lot of my other posts on Calvinism?
Either way, I don’t think your comment is worth trying to refute. I am sorry you feel the way you do, and I doubt anything I can say will make you change your mind.
You may, however, want to read this post: https://redeeminggod.com/3-tactics-calvinists/
How utterly typical of a Calvinist to be so full of bile.
Calvinisim is not the Gospel. The Scriptures are the Gospel and they are all about Jesus Christ and Him crucified:
God promised this Good News long ago through his prophets (not Calvin) in the holy Scriptures. The Good News is about his Son.
Romans 1:2-3.
I would like to say, you stated that the New covenant did away with the Old if this was the case then why Did Jesus follow all the old covenant laws to the Tee? why did Jesus go to the Feast? and why would he make the statement “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. I tell you the truth until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished” (Matthew 5:17-18). This statement is pretty clear don’t you think? and if you think about it if the Old was done away with then the prophecies won’t be fulfilled from it and if that’s the case, why would Jesus do that?, I could give you many examples of how he followed the Mosiac Laws if you wish, so you can look into this deeper.
Why would the god of this age need to blind the minds of those that are spiritually dead, if they as Calvinists say, have total inability anyway. Does a corpse need to be handcuffed during embalming procedures?
“Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 2:16 that “when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.” ‘
It is actually 2 Corinthians 3:16.
I want to learn more about Christianity
Here is your first lesson then, sir. Christianity is not a religion, nor is it a philosophy; it’s a relationship with the living God, Lord Jesus the Christ. Therefore, God will be your Teacher (JOHN 6:44-45)(JEREMIAH 33:3).
Trust in Him, and Him alone.
Your translation of 2 Cor 4:4, “do not believe, lest the light of the gospel …” is a terrible disregard of Greek grammar. The verse says nothing of the sort. The subject is ὁ θεὸς τοῦ αἰῶνος τούτου (“the god of this age”, nominative case) and the verb is ἐτύφλωσεν τὰ νοήματα τῶν ἀπίστων εἰς τὸ μὴ αὐγάσαι (“blinded the minds of the unbelievers IN ORDER TO not see” or “lest they see”). Your translation just made the genitive noun τῶν ἀπίστων (“of unbelievers”) into the subject of the sentence, which is grammatical impossible, since it needs to be in the nominative case. Then you turned a noun, i.e. “unbelievers” into a verb i.e. “do not believe”. Your conclusions are relying heavily on this (I hope ignorant) distortion.
This is not MY translation, but that of the New King James Version. I am not saying that the NKJV translators are without criticism, but they are certainly better than the KJV or the NIV in most regards.
Regardless, my conclusions are not dependent at all upon these supposed distortions in the text. I would make exactly the same conclusions from the NIV or KJV or RSV or even from the Greek itself (which I just looked up).
Speaking of which … the word ἀπίστων is not a noun, but is an adjective. As such, it could either be a predicate adjective or a substantive. Either way, it could serve as the subject of the clause, as this is a (typical) long, run-on sentence from Paul, and the word order can be moved around in English to help make sense of what Paul seems to be emphasizing.
Bottom line: I don’t really care which translation is used in this verse, as long as it is somewhat close to the original meaning of Paul (as all major translations I checked do), it still supports the point I am making in the post.
No matter what translation, RSV, NIV, NKJV OR KJV, neither of them allow for you to change the subject of the phrase. It still is “the god of this age (blinded the mind of the unbelievers)”. Nor will the Greek allow such a distortion.
PS: I do know τῶν ἀπίστων is technically an adjective, but in Greek as olso in English, it can function as a noun when it has an article preceding it. At any rate, it can never function as a subject of the phrase as long as it is in the genitive (unless it is in a genitive absolute construction, which is not the case here). The subject in this case is clearly in the nominative: “the god of this age.”
It sounds like you know enough Greek to recognize that Genitives are notoriously tricky. It is possible, after all, that Paul is using a subjective genitive here, in which case the genitive can serve as the subject …. Here are some examples from Wallace: Matt 24:27 ‘coming of the Son of Man’ = ‘Son of Man comes’ Acts 12:11 ‘expectation of the Jewish people’ = ‘Jewish people expected’
But regardless, my bottom line point stands: Who cares? These are nitpicky points to argue about. Regardless of how it’s translated, Paul’s point is quite clear, and my post accurately presents that point.
Oh my goodness. Thank you for that illumination of the scripture.
So your agenda is to disprove Reformed theology and promote Arminianism. Got it.
Can you correct the references to 2Cor. 2:16, 17? Should be chapter 3.
No. I am not an Arminian, nor do I agree with Arminian theology.
“Reductio ad absurdum,” with just a hint of smugness. “Got it.”
I was studying this passage and came across your commentary. Thanks for this, it is helpful.
I’m not surprised that in scrolling down to the comments, the first thing I see is a Calvinist maliciously gnashing their teeth; accusing you of not reading the Bible, accusing you of being reprobate, accusing you of wanting to divide the body of Christ, accusing you of being a heretic, taking it upon himself to pass the ultimate judgment over you by (literally) condemning you to hellfire; and so forth, and so on.
Refresh my memory; what was the name that angel? You know, the one who accuses the brethren, day and night? The one who hates everyone and loves the idea of having as much company in hell as possible, because misery loves company? I’m being facetious. I apologize.
In any event; again, I’m not surprised (JOHN 15:18)(JOHN 15:20).
I am so happy to have read about the removing of the vail what it truly means. This is important to me. I’m happy that I research what the understanding of the removing of the vail from your eyes and heart . Glory to God 🙏🏿🙏🏿🙏🏿
I am so now thankful to be walking within the gospel of Lord Jesus Christ the veil has been lifted from my home my mind and my eyes I am excited within my days every time I awake because I know that I am now spiritually awakened and I am looking forward to what the Lord has prepared for me within my life