2 Corinthians, 4:1-4
Jim Pool · Aug 29, 2004
2 Corinthians (2004-05), No. 09
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://www.hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/4826231251845

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

Alright, we're going to continue on 2 Corinthians, and we're going to start in chapter 4 this morning, and we're going to, I think, get through verses 1 through 4. That's kind of our objective, and the next week I'll finish up 5, 6, and 7, and then we'll... I forget who's next, whether it's Bob or whether it's Hal. So let's start off just by reading. I want to read verses 1 down through verse So it says this in chapter 4, 2 Corinthians 1-6 from the New American Standard.

It says, Therefore, since we have this ministry, as we received mercy, we did not lose heart, but we have renounced the things hidden because of shame, not walking in craftiness or adulterating the word of God, but by the manifestation of truth, commending ourselves to every man's conscience and side of God. And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, in whose case the God of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving, so that they might not see the light of the gospel, of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God." Those are the verses that we're going to be looking at this morning, and particularly verse 1, as we start off, says, He's speaking in a lot of the previous verses that we've taken several weeks to look at.

So therefore, since we have this ministry, so the opening question is, what is the ministry that Paul says they have? What do you guys, what do you all think? Since we have this ministry, okay. If he's saying, since we have this ministry, or you all have this ministry, what's the ministry? Exactly, that's right. Yeah, exactly right.

If we were to go back, and we talked about it several weeks ago, back in chapter 3, verse 6, it says this, "...who also made us adequate as servants, or ministers, as the KJV reads, made us adequate as ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter, but of the Spirit, for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life." So that is what he's talking about when he says that we have made, since we have this ministry, he's talking about the ministry, of the New Covenant.

Now, it's also interesting to notice that the ministry is of the Holy Spirit, as we see in verse 8 there of chapter 3. This ministry that he's talking about, it's the New Covenant, and it's the ministry of the Spirit. Verse 8 there of chapter 3 says, How will the ministry of the Spirit fail to be even more with glory? It's important to notice that since we have this ministry, the ministry that he's talking about, it's the ministry of the Spirit. It's the ministry of the New Covenant, and it's of the Holy Spirit.

And continue on there, it's also the ministry of righteousness, of life, which is more glorious than that of the law. And we discussed that in length several weeks ago. If we were to read down there describing the ministry that they have, Verse 9, chapter 3, For if the ministry of condemnation has glory, much more does the ministry of righteousness abound in glory. For indeed, what had glory in this case has no glory, because of the glory that surpasses it. For if that which fades away was with glory, much more that which remains is in glory. So that's describing the ministry that he's talking about here in chapter 4 and verse 1.

Now I want to talk about as well here, the next point that you see there on your handout, that the new covenant also includes the gospel, the redemptive plan of God for the church, which includes creation, the cross being our very life source, etc. Because remember when we talked about what is the new covenant, to define that as best as we possibly could.

And we talked about it in the context of the believer's identification with Christ and his death, burial, resurrection, and ascension. So the covenant idea there is a binding agreement between two parties. And we talked about it was between Christ and believers is who this binding agreement was between. And we talked about the identification with Christ and their death, burial, resurrection, and ascension with him. As I thought about it a little bit more, since we covered that several weeks ago, I also have seen and thought that it includes the simplicity of the gospel, because just the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ dying for the sins of the human race. I think we need to include that.

It's what we said a couple weeks ago when we defined the New Covenant, but I also think it just includes the simplicity So there's the initial stage of the Gospel, but then there's the full implication and ramification of the Gospel, which is the believer's identification with Christ. When we talk about the Gospel, it's a big thing. There's the saving work of the Gospel, but there's also the saving work from the penalty of sin of the Gospel, but there's also the saving work from the power of sin on a daily basis, the sanctification work of the Gospel. So when we think about the New Covenant, I think we need to think about it in a larger scope than maybe what we looked at a couple of weeks ago when we talked about that.

So when we look at verse 1 of chapter 4, since we have this ministry, Paul's saying to the folks here, since you have this ministry, and I would say that we have this ministry as well, it's the sharing of the gospel and the abundant life that believers have with Christ.

And we have that. Would you guys agree with that? We have this ministry. I mean, whether we are ministering in the context of people who have already trusted Christ as your Savior, we're going to be sharing the abundant Christian life with them, the identification truths, the deeper truths of our identification, union, being with Christ, or we have this ministry of sharing of the new covenant, the gospel truths, someone who doesn't yet know Christ as their Savior, people we might know in the workplace, or neighbors that are in our neighborhood. So we have this ministry.

I believe that's what Paul's talking about there in chapter 1, chapter 4, verse 1 there. And notice that it's all past tense. We as believers already have it. I left thinking about that. That it's not something that we need to wait to get. It's not something that we'll get this ministry once we're believers for 15 years. Or we'll have this ministry once we're over 45. That's not true. We already have it. It's a past tense deal that we as believers already have this ministry. So therefore, since we have this ministry, As we receive the mercy, we do not lose heart.

So let's ask this question, what is the subject and the verb of this sentence? What is simply the subject and what is simply the verb of this sentence? You'll see it there in your notes, kind of towards the bottom of page one. The subject is we, and the verb is, are fainting, as KJV has it, or lose heart as the NAS has it.

So that's what we see as a subject order in the verb, but notice the modifier which I am thankful is there. If it weren't there, it would say we are losing heart or we are fainting, but it does not say that. There's a modifier there that says we are not fainting and we are not losing heart. And the verb there is in the present active indicative, it's a continuously a reality in one's life. So that's very encouraging that we are not fainting and that we are not losing heart is what this verse is communicating to us.

So I think it's important for us to look at and ask a couple questions. Why would we faint or why would we lose heart or be discouraged? is what it's talking about, kind of asking there. Let's go to page 2 of your notes. I think it's very easy for us to lose heart or very easy for us to be discouraged or to faint if our focus is on ourselves and not on Christ. Very easy for that to happen. When we're depending on ourselves to live the Krishna life, then we're guaranteed to lose heart. know if ands or buts about it. If we're looking at ourselves, depending on ourselves, relying upon ourselves, then we will lose heart.

This past week was a very busy week for me at work. And maybe some of you all here had just as busy weeks of work, I don't know. But Thursday came, and I just, Hal and I got together and we were studying on Wednesday night, and so I went to work on Thursday and I had two jobs, They were big jobs, and some days I had one job, some days I had two jobs, and it happened that the following day, Friday, I had three jobs, which was, I'd never had that much work before. So anyways, just got done studying with Hal, and I got back to my house about 11.30, so these troops were very fresh in my mind, and I have one job in Stapleton on Thursday, and one job in Highlands Ranch on Thursday, and I like it. when they give me two jobs when they're close together.

Doesn't that just make sense? They would be in the same neighborhood kind of thing? No, it wasn't the case. And there's no good way to get home from Stapleton back to Highlands Ranch where we live when it's 4 o'clock in the afternoon. I've tried. I'm new to the area. I've tried to find an alternate route. It just doesn't exist. If you know about it, please let me know. But I haven't found it yet.

But anyways, I got there. I knew that time was crucial. Because the faster I get the work done with my job, the sooner I get home. The sooner I get home, the more time I have with Henry and Rachel, the more time I have to study. That's just what I want to do. So I got to the first job, and immediately it did not go well. I installed doorknobs and hardware on houses. And the front door, lots of doors have handles. They call it a handle set. Some have knobs, but lots of them have handles. So at first, the handle set was just going bad.

And so immediately here, first thing in the morning, it's early, I've got to jump on the day, and it's not going well. And so you know what began to happen? I began to lose heart. I mean like, if in any way I wanted to start out the day, it's not like this. I wanted it to go smooth, fast, efficient, so I could get home quickly. So I found myself, right here, beginning to lose heart. Oh no, it's going bad from the beginning. This isn't looking good for getting home at a reasonable hour to be with my family.

But as that happened, at the same time, I began to say, wait a minute, you know, I don't have to lose heart. I don't have to be discouraged because of what God's Word says. That doesn't have to be the case. And I found myself there losing heart or being discouraged. I know that we all do as well, and it doesn't have to be the case.

Look at chapter 3, verse 5, and it says this. We looked at this a couple of weeks ago. Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves. But our adequacy is from God. See? So there was a truth that God began to remind me of. Our adequacy comes from Him, not from ourselves. And when I was trying to find my adequacy within myself, I lost heart. I became discouraged and things just began to not look good for the day.

Let's look at the next question there. Why are we not fainting? And this verse lays it out very clearly for us. Why are we not fainting? Because we have received this ministry. Because we have received God's mercy. So in the middle of this inner conflict of the flesh and the spirit warring for control of my soul was really what was happening as I was there in this moment of tension inwardly I said, wait a minute, I have already received God's mercy. I've already received all that I need for life and godliness. There's no need for me to lose heart. And so there was trusting God to take His word and to apply it to my circumstance and to apply it to my experience.

That's what it's all about, isn't it? We go through life. It's going to have those times. We can trust God to apply His written word in His life, which is our life, to our circumstances. and it changes things for me, and it changes things for everybody. That's the way that God works. So what we see here is that we have already received the ministry, and that we have received the mercy, and so because we have received these things, we do not have to lose heart. Now, notice there that as we receive the mercy, it's all one word in the Greek, and it's a verb, and it's passive indicative, past action, where the subject receives the action, and it's a reality.

Well, who's the subject? We are. So, who is receiving this action? We are. That's extremely encouraging. That we are receiving this action that's coming from God, and it's a reality. We have received this mercy, and therefore, as a result of this, we do not have to be discouraged. We do not have to lose heart, and we do not have to seem like we're just fainting in the face of life's circumstances.

Notice here that God is the Father of all mercy. Let's go to chapter 1 here, and I think Hal covered this in the opening class or two of this quarter of 2 Corinthians. Chapter 1, verse 3. It says, and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of all mercies and what? The God of all comfort. So, He's the Father of all mercies and He is the God of all comfort. So, He's the source. His mercy is God's compassion and concern for us and His mercy is our source of reliance so that we do not have to lose heart. Talk about the idea there of Him being the source.

It's something that I think is extremely key and extremely important for us to understand that He is the Father of all mercies and He is the God of all comfort. Yeah? Right. Sure. Positionally, we have already received God's mercy. It's a past action with continuous results into the future. Absolutely.

Now, if I'm not walking by faith, I'm walking in the flesh, am I conditionally receiving God's mercy at that given point in my experience, in my condition? No. I'm going to be, what, anxious? I'm going to be on edge? I'm going to be a mess. I'm going to be a wreck. Right? Right? How do we receive it? By faith, right? Sure. That's right. That's right. Exactly right.

It's a positional truth, which is already true of us, but in order for us to enter into it, We need to walk by faith, and that's our responsibility. That's our part, is to walk by faith. We have that before God. God is desiring of us and is requiring of us to walk by faith. In order for our condition to be in line with our position, we have to walk by faith.

Exactly right. That's right. That's right. When we're operating out of the old man, or when we're walking in the flesh, there's no way that we're going to be experiencing that in our condition here on the earth. It's impossible. That's right. Exactly right. Yeah.

So sure, our part, we do have a part in it. No doubt about that. And our part is to appropriate, is to take possession of what is already ours. It's not something that we can just be complacent about and expect God to do without our faith. We have to be actively involved by faith in it. I was thinking of an analogy for Scotty, Scotty's question.

Like, we are being saved, right, from the power of sin and passive voice, God is doing it. However, if we're, as you say, if we're abiding in the old man, are we being saved from the power of sin, conditionally, as you were saying. Yeah. That's right. That's right.

See, there came a point, and we don't want to base God's Word on our experience. God's Word is what needs to dictate our circumstances and our experience. So what happened was, was I began to lose hope, I began to become discouraged because things weren't going the way that I desired them to go for my work day on Thursday. So there I was, that was my mindset. But then came knowledge and a remembering of God's Word.

Wait, this doesn't have to be the case in your life right now. So I was remembering God's word, truth, I was being reminded by the Holy Spirit, that wait a minute, you've already received mercy, you don't have to lose heart. Okay, now I'm going to believe that. I'm going to depend on that, I'm going to rely, I'm going to appropriate, reckon on that to be true.

And then, when that happened, things changed. So there was a... Your experience didn't change? No, my experience didn't change. my mindset changed, I was able to rest. So instead of losing heart and being faint-hearted, I was able to rest and abide in the circumstance which really wasn't the best.

So there was walking in the flesh, there was remembering of God's truth, the Holy Spirit brought the truth to mind, then there was depending, relying, appropriating, reckoning on that to be true, and then there was rest. So see, our part in there is to grab hold of that thing and say, yeah, okay, I know God's Word is true, I'm going to depend on it, and then that will bring the inward rest, not necessarily the outward change of circumstance, but the inward peace and life of Christ that we have in Him.

Application, how does it all shake out? That's key stuff, isn't it? talk position on truth till they're blue in the face. But we don't ever get down to brass tacks and how does it flush out, how does it play out when we leave here and we're at home with our families or we're at work and things aren't going well.

That's where it really, but we want the Bible to be dictating all that for us. It was about, well after the drive, you know, it was about 6 o'clock. So I started at 6 and I ended at 6, a 12 hour day. I had almost 5 12 hour days this past week. That's the nature of the way it works.

You know the quicker way home from Stapleton than the way I went. I went all the way up to Monaco from Stapleton and got on the 25 at Hamden in the Highlands Ranch and it was clogged. Anyways, let's go to page 3. Don't get on 25? I don't know of a good way through the tech center. OK. Well, they break out the math later after class and work all this out so that I can have an easier conditional day at work next week. Right. OK. Let's just read, kind of catch the flow here again, verse one.

Therefore, since we have this ministry, as we receive the mercy, we do not lose heart. But we have renounced the things hidden because of shame, not walking in craftiness or adulterating the word of God, but by the manifestation of truth, commending ourselves of every man's conscience in the sight of God. Okay, so we see verse two here starting off with the word but. A huge strong contrast is what he's talking about. We have received the mercy, we do not lose heart, but we have done things that are listed here in verse 2. First he starts off by saying that we have renounced the things hidden because of shame or things of dishonesty as I think that the The KJV speaks up here.

Now it's interesting that some other teachers or people going about in the area during this time sharing things about Christ at that time or sharing their own philosophies or different things, they were speaking very dishonest stuff. They were speaking very false, untrue things and they were using craftiness and they were adulterating the Word of God. So, when we look at the cultural and the historical context, this, in a sense, was going on by other people other than Paul. People who were using God's Word for their own benefit. A lot of what happens today, people are using God's Word and they're adulterating it, they're putting their own spin on it for their own benefit. So, in a sense, that's why Paul is speaking verse 2, the way that he is, because there were people who were going about in the area and they were being dishonest, and they were being crafty, and they were adulterating the Word of God.

So just keep that in mind as we go through it. This is the only place that the word renounced is used, and it means to disown or to speak out against. and it's in the Aorist Middle Indicative, and what it means, it's a fact, and the subject is intensely involved, and it's a reality. So, when he says that we have renounced the things hidden because of shame, or renounced the things, the hidden things of dishonesty, they were being very passionate about this. It's not something that they were, that they were hearing some of these, some things that needed to be spoken out against, and they were just kind of back in the corner quietly, quietly speaking out against it. No, they were actively involved in this. They were speaking out strongly against it, not letting false teachings, false things go by that really needed to be dealt with, in a sense. They were involved speaking out against this, things that were going on there.

Secondly, he says that they were not walking in craftiness. So, they were renouncing the things the hidden things of dishonesty, or hidden things of shame, not walking in craftiness, nor were they adulterating the Word of God. So the idea here is not walking in craftiness.

Walking is talking about one's conduct in life. So here he's saying, look, this is the way that our lives are. This is the way that we're walking through life. This is practically how we're living our life. We're renouncing We're speaking strongly against things of shame or of dishonesty. And we're not walking in craftiness, as some people are. And we're not adulterating the Word of God, as some people are. Scott? Is that metal voice too? Not walking in craftiness? Ah, you know what? I don't... I didn't look that up. Yeah. What exactly...

How does that exactly play out, metal voice? How can you help us out there? How's that exactly the middle work out? It's just that... You're intensely involved with the action. But that's not active, which is all you, right? It's very active. So you have active voice, middle voice, and passive voice, right? I think I understand active and passive. Active is the subject that's producing the action. Middle voice is the subject that's producing more intensely, really intensely, So if you put it on a scale, it would be passive, and then passive would be active, and then middle is more.

Clear? Okay. Clear as mud, huh? Hopefully not. Okay. Let's look over at chapter 11. of 2nd Corinthians and let's read verse 3 and we see this word here used the same thing as craftiness as we have in verse 2 here for us. But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led away from the simplicity and the purity of devotion to Christ. craftiness being deceitful, trickery, is the idea here that we have with this word craftiness in chapter 4 and verse 2. So, nor are they adulterating the Word of God, corrupting or handling deceitfully God's Word. And this word is also only used here in 2 Corinthians. So it's just an interesting, simple observation that the words that he uses here, renounce, craftiness, adulterating, they're words that are not used very often anywhere else.

And so it's kind of a key choice of words that the Holy Spirit inspired through Paul to put down here. So let's look at 2 Peter chapter 3 and verse 16, kind of get an idea here of what he means by this adulterating of the Word of God. 2 Peter chapter 3 and verse 16 and let me just start in verse 14 and then we'll end up in 16 with making our point. Therefore, beloved, since you look for these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, spotless and blameless, In regard to patience of our Lord as salvation, just as also our beloved Paul, according to the wisdom given him, wrote to you.

As also in all his letters, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which the untaught and unstable distort, as they do also the rest of the scriptures, to their own destruction. So there's the idea there that The end there of 16, which the untaught and the unstable distort. Or a similar idea there of adulterate the scriptures to their own destruction. And if they're adulterating the scriptures to their own destruction, then it's probably going to be causing the destruction of others as well. Kind of the idea there of adulterating the Word of God there.

So, as I thought about this, these things here, he says, we have received the mercy, we do not lose heart. It's kind of the opposite. They're standing for what is true. They're not losing heart. So here it is, we're not losing heart, and we're standing strong.

If someone was going to be losing heart, being faint hearted, being discouraged, they could fall prey to these things that he's listed here. Does that make sense? Someone's losing heart, you're being discouraged or you would fall prey to not speaking up against things that are dishonest. It takes some strength to speak up against things that are being said that are dishonest. Someone who's losing heart probably is not going to be able to strongly renounce things that are of shame. And it would be easy to fall prey to walking in craftiness if you're losing heart. To compromise certain things and adulterate the Word of God. So they're just the contrast between not losing heart and standing strong for these things that are there in verse 2.

Let's continue on. But by the manifestation of truth, commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God. Now here again we have the word but. You see here again with a strong contrast. By making known the truth is what manifestation means, but by the manifestation of truth, by making known the truth, or manifesting the truth. Now that's interesting, it's the opposite of adulterating. So you're making clear what is true, as opposed to what he mentioned earlier, adulterating the Word of God. See? One is, is just messing it up, screwing it up, and one is making it clearly known. And that's what he says that they're doing. We're not doing this, but we are clearly making known the truth.

Commending ourselves or presenting ourselves before God and to every man's conscious. Interesting, he spoke similarly about that in chapter 1 verse 12. We covered this in detail, so flip back to chapter 1 and verse 12. And our proud confidence is this, that the testimony of our conscience, that in holiness and godly sincerity, not in fleshly wisdom, but in the grace of God, we have conducted ourselves in the world and especially towards you.

Because remember, people were accusing Paul and his team of teachers of things that weren't true. So he says, whoa, whoa, wait a minute. We're walking by faith in the Lord. Remember when we talked about that? He went to God as his authority. We're walking by faith in the Lord. Our conscience is pure. We don't have anything to be ashamed of. We're not trying to hide any deceitfulness from you all. We're walking by faith in the Lord and we're open. We're honest with everybody, and that's the same idea that we see here on the end of verse 2. Clearly making known the truth, commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God.

That's a powerful statement for one to say. That we are presenting ourselves to every man's conscience. How about if we were to... Could we do that to each other here? That's an interesting question. Could we present ourselves to each other's conscience in the sight of God? There's certain things about me that I wouldn't necessarily want everybody in this classroom to know. See?

But Paul, I'm sure Paul had a flesh, no doubt about it. The guy made mistakes, no doubt about it. But what he's saying is that, listen, we are not walking in craftiness, we're not adulterating the Word of God, but we are renouncing the things of deceitfulness. And we're not trying to hide anything. We're not trying to trick you guys. We're being honest and let God be the judge. Let God be the witness. We're being honest before God in these areas.

So if we were to tie all this together, therefore, since we have this ministry, he says in verse 1, so if we were to ask the question, what does this ministry in one's life look like? I think we need to say, wait a minute, we're not just talking about Paul in the context of the people of him, and the people who he was writing to, but we also are talking about it in our own lives, because we have this ministry, it's what it says. Therefore, since we have this ministry, it will look like this.

Renouncing the things of shame or dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, not adulterating the word of God, so we're putting these things off, these things are not, you know, are not true of our lives, we're putting these things off, and we're putting these things on, showing the truth and being pure and conscious before God.

Now we'll go to the last line, and this happens in one's life, as this happens in one's life, this is showing forth the glory of God. Isn't this whole context of this passage here, the glory of God, how the new covenant, the new agreement, see back in verse 7, the ministry, but the ministry of death, the old, and letters and graves and stones came with glory, But the new came with so much more glory. It was all about the glory of God. So when we see these truths, this ministry that he's talking about in Paul's life, and in his team of people who he was in the context with directly right there, and then in our own lives, as these things are true, it's going to bring great glory to God.

That's exactly the context that he's talking about here. Interesting how it all how it all ties together. Ephesians talks about it and Colossians talks about it. Put off the old man. Put on the new man. Put these things off. Because those things would be true of us if we were walking in the flesh. We wouldn't be renouncing. We would be adulterating. We'd be walking in crackings. Put those things off. Put this on. Show forth the truth.

And be pure and conscious before God and others. Any thoughts? there alright let's continue on verses just read through verse 3 and 4 here okay And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, in whose case the God of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving, so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. So, let's just ask three simple questions here as we start off. Who is the gospel veiled to? The lost. Why are they lost? They don't believe. Satan has blinded their minds. And then why is it that Satan has blinded their minds? Because they don't believe.

It's interesting to kind of track that through in these four verses, kind of work through there, posing those questions. So even if our gospel is veiled, the gospel there is modified by the glory of Christ down in verse four. See the word gospel there again in the end of verse 4. So that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ.

So the gospel here is talking about the totality of the gospel, not just the death, burial and resurrection of the gospel. And that kind of ties back in to what we were talking about with the totality of explaining the New Covenant. It includes the death, burial and resurrection of Christ, sure, but it also includes all the life that we have with Christ because of our identification with Him. See, it's a totality there, not just a certain section of the gospel.

It's the gospel in its completeness. So even if our gospel, that's the gospel that is being talked about there, is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. So there we see the word veil, and Bynes describes it as this, so that no trace of it can be seen. That's what he's talking about by veiled or hid. I think does the KJV use the word hid, I think. Is that correct? Yes, hid, okay.

So it's a verb and it's a perfect passive, meaning a continuing action with ongoing results and the subject is receiving the action. Now when I look that up, that created a bit of a dilemma in my mind. Can you guys think about what dilemma that might have presented to me? That the veiled, their being veiled, is a continuous action. That's right. I was like, whoa, wait a minute. Does that mean that this person is forever continuously lost with no hope? I presented a little bit of a dilemma, so I was stumped and Hal and I I discussed it thoroughly at his house that night. I said, wait a minute, is that really what it's saying? What's the deal here? So that's the question that you see.

Does this continuing action with ongoing results mean that this person is never going to have a chance to believe? The answer is no. The perfect tense can be changed in the case of the unbeliever by an intervening act of God. To say that it's a continuing action with ongoing results and it can't be changed, that would be saying, well, God can't intervene. God can't change it. You know what? That's an awesome thought, isn't it?

That God can intervene and change that in the life, and He has in ours. See, we were in that state. We were veiled at a point in time in our lives when we weren't believing God yet, see? But God intervened and He changed that. And I'm very thankful for that. Now, when we see this perfect passive word usage in the life of a believer, it can't be changed. I think that the Bible and the Scriptures speak to both. You know, God's part in the life of an individual and then man's part in to respond to what it is that God's showing to him. When we see this, it's interesting that the change can be made.

Even though it might be perfect passive in the life of an unbeliever, but when we see this grammar here used, the perfect passive in the life of a believer, it cannot be changed. It can't go back the other way. It's not like, okay, it's perfect passive in the life of a believer, and Satan can intervene to change it. No. That's an impossibility. But if it's this way in the life of a believer, God can intervene and change it by His power and by His grace in their lives.

I found it to be very encouraging and very interesting and helpful. Alright, so, even if the gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, and it's a verb in the present middle, continuous action with the subject intensely involved, so the gospel is simply being hidden from the believers. We kind of established a lot of this already.

The God of this world is simply, in whose case, the God of this world has been blinded, has blinded, that's simply referring to Satan, blinded the minds of the unbelieving. This simply means that those who have not believed have had their minds blinded, and this is in the Aorist's Active Indicative, to envelop with smoke or to obscure. So really, when you boil all this down, the issue is the person's unbelief.

The gospel is being veiled, their mind is blinded by Satan, it's all a result of their unbelief. When you initially read through this passage, it's like, oh man, they're veiled. This poor person, their mind is veiled. And then you read again, man, Satan's blinded their eyes. So, you kind of begin to get a little bit sympathetic for this person, but then it closes out by saying, because of their unbelief. So, that's really the key issue, is their unbelief. That's why Satan, their mind is blinded by Satan, and that's why they're veiled, is because of their unbelief. He's blinded the minds of those unbelieving. blinded their minds from seeing. So you kind of talk through the rest of this verse here.

He's blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel, the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. So he's blinded, they're blinded from seeing the light of the gospel. What is the light of the gospel? According to this verse, it's the glory of Christ is the light of the gospel. And as we saw that explained and contrasted from the glory of the law, clearly in verses 7 through 11. Satan has power, there's no doubt about that. But Satan's power is secondary to God's power. So... How can he blind the minds of all unbelievers? When we're all born into Adam? In whose case the God of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving.

But we have to remember though that that's a possibility and that's happening. I think that Satan often times is given far too much credit than he really should be. He's given too much power in the minds of people than what he really has. acknowledges the fact that he does have influence, and he does have some power, but God's power is far stronger than Satan's power. So sure, is there an influence in the minds of unbelievers by Satan? Yeah. I think that's clear. But God's power is far stronger than Satan's power, and can make a change there in their lives. I'm just kind of shooting off my hip here, but maybe, Is there the possibility and potential for Satan to use the demons in the sphere of influencing so many people? The universal condemnation of all mankind at the fall. Good question though.

So that they might not see the light of the gospel, of the glory of Christ who is the image. This is what they're being blinded from seeing. The light of the gospel, the glory of Christ, and Christ who is the image of God. So they're being blinded from seeing that image of God, and they see that image of God through Christ.

Let's just close with a couple of verses here. John chapter 12, John 12, 45. talking about how Christ is the image of God. We'll start in verse 44. Jesus cried out and said, He who believes in me does not believe in me but in him who sent me. He who sees me sees the one who sent me. Continue on. I have come as light into the world so that everyone who believes in me will not remain in darkness. See? They're blinded. from seeing the light of the gospel. And what is the light of the gospel? The glory of Christ. Who is the image of God?

It clearly explains that here in John chapter 12. Let's look at one more verse, Colossians 1 verse 15. Colossians chapter 1 and verse 15. Talking about Christ here, He, the opening word there is He is referring to Christ. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. So there it is, Christ, very clearly. Christ is the image of the invisible God, which they're being blinded from seeing. But, God can intervene.

Never forget that. That's the hope of a very powerful and loving Heavenly Father as we have. Let's pray. Let's close and pray. Father, thank you for our time. Through Your Holy Spirit, give us clarity of Your Word as we talk through some things here this morning. May we trust You and depend on You, rely on You, and appropriate things that You have given to us because of our position in You so that we do not have to lose heart or become discouraged in our circumstances and situations of life. God, just continue to strengthen our faith Continue to have us relying and abiding in you. In your name we pray. Amen.