in whom the god of this world has blinded the thoughts of the unbelieving, so that the radiancy of the glad tidings of the glory of the Christ, who is [the] image of God, should not shine forth [for them].
Paul has just said that his preaching hides nothing. Verse 4 explains why so many still stay unmoved: the fault is not in the message or the messenger, but in a real enemy who works on minds that will not believe.
The Title "God of This World"
The verse gives Satan a title. One commentator traces how he came by it — men chose him over Christ:
The title given to Satan here is the boldest and fullest admission of his present power over man that the Scriptures contain. The Just One had called him the "prince of this world" (John 14:30)… By rejecting the Man approved of God, the world showed itself ready to receive His rival… For the one to whom men yield their wills has the right to be called their god.
Some early Christian writers refused to let "god" here mean the devil at all. They read it as God blinding unbelievers. William Kelly answers them:
Hilary … would not allow Satan to be called god of this age, in case it might count against the deity of Christ; nor would Chrysostom. They failed to see the difference between "God" used on its own, and "god" used with a limiting phrase attached.
Age, Not World
Here "world" translates a word that means a period of time. That changes where we look for the blinding:
Notice carefully that the word is not "world" but "age"… He does it by bringing in thoughts that oppose the truth of the gospel, either through this world's teachers or through their books. Take a popular book that claims to deal with spiritual things, yet ignores sin and so ignores the atonement. It would be one of his most successful tools for darkening minds…
How the Blinding Works — and Who Consents
Satan does not blind a passive victim. He needs the person's consent, and he has bait ready:
It is Satan, the god of this world, who blinds them. He cannot do it, though, unless they are willing. He uses bait such as the attractions of this world, with its present gain and pleasure. The glitter of these passing vanities blinds men's minds to the infinitely greater gain and pleasure in Christ.
So the order matters. Unbelief is not just the result of the blinding. It is the door:
Satan, the god of this world, used the unbelief of man to blind their minds against the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ… As one has said, "It is not simply that Satan obscures it to them, but it is their own unbelief which brings them under the power of Satan."
What Is Being Blocked
Older Bibles read "the glorious gospel." Kelly says that wording misses the point: the glory belongs to Christ Himself, now in heaven:
"The glorious gospel," as in the King James Version, is not only inadequate, but incorrect. The glory is the glory of Christ exalted to God's right hand — not because of His person only, but because of redemption too — so that we who now believe might see Him there, and have our place in Him… The gospel, as Paul preached it, was not about His coming down and His life here only, nor about His death and resurrection, but about His glory in heaven as well.
"Who Is the Image of God"
The verse ends by calling Christ "the image of God." One writer compares Him with the first man:
The Gospel of God's grace tells of the divine resources to meet the need of the sinner, but the Gospel of the glory of Christ sets before us the last Adam, Who is the image of God. The first man was made in God's image to represent Him on earth; but Christ is the perfect representation of God in heavenly glory.
The Line That Was Broken
The verse is not the last word. The believer is living proof that the blindness can be lifted:
As the god of this world he has "blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ." But the apostle at once adds, "God… has shone in our hearts"… So the believer is no longer kept under the blinding influence of Satan. God has, in his case, broken through the devil's line of dark defence and let the light in.
Summary
- Title. Satan holds the name "god of this world" because men handed him their wills — they obey him, and so he is called their god.
- Age. The word is "age," not "world": he blinds through the books and teachers around us, above all any that drop sin from the account.
- Consent. He cannot blind the unwilling; it is unbelief that puts a person under his power, and the bait is the glitter of present gain.
- Light. What he is shutting out is not a vague brightness but the glory of a Man in heaven — the last Adam, the full representation of God.
- Breach. God shines into hearts and breaks through the enemy's dark defence line — and every believer is the evidence.