Who is the god of this age (2 Corinthians 4:4)?

Alas! there is a subtle and energetic adversary of God and man; there are men who have not faith but passions and lusts, which expose them to his influence in blinding them to the truth. And such are all by nature since sin ruined mankind, till grace work repentance to acknowledgment of the truth. But men who are feeble in owning the power of the Spirit are apt to be slow to perceive Satan's workings; and controversial zeal increases this unscriptural bias. Hence we see that the fathers in general, early and late, Greek and Latin, misapplied this simple and weighty statement of scripture, and denied the devil to be meant here, construing it as God blinding the minds of the unbelievers of this age! (See Cranmer's Cat. Patr. Gr. v., 373, 374, Oxon. 1844; Iren. Haer. iv. 392; Tert. advers. Marc. 11; Aug. c. adv. Leg. iii., vii. 29.) Hilary, in his zeal against the Arians, and among the Greeks, Chrysostom, would not allow Satan to be called god of this age, lest it might tell against the deity of Christ; and so OEcumenius and Theodoret, etc., down to Theophylact; as others, like Origen, against other early heretics, Marcionites, Manicheans, etc. It is instructive as a plain proof of patristic shallowness, where they agreed, as they rarely did, on an interpretation. They failed to distinguish between "God" used absolutely, and "god" with a distinct and restricted qualification. And as the Lord, in view of His own rejection unto death, spoke of the devil as the prince of this world (John 12; 14), so the apostle here designates him, with striking propriety, as "god of this age." During the new age, when the Lord takes the sovereignty of the world (Rev. 11), it will not be so; he will be bound, and thereby kept from his old deceits. Now he takes advantage of all truth to dishonour God and destroy men, his wretched slaves, who, in doing their own will, serve him effectually. Thus are they blinded, that the illumination of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should not shine forth.

Here also it is well to notice that "the glorious gospel," as in the Authorised Version, is not only inadequate, but incorrect. For "the glory" is definitely of Christ exalted to God's right hand, in virtue of not His person only but redemption, that we who now believe might see Him, and have our place in Him, there. What enlightenment can compare with this? It is part of what the apostle calls "my" and "our gospel." Christ was, and is, God's image, alone fully representing Him; but the gospel, as Paul preached it, was not of His descent and life here only, nor of His death and resurrection, but of His glory in heaven also. Hence the appropriateness of the language, with which the reader may contrast the vague platitudes of the Cat. Patr. v. 374, 375.

There is no defect, then, in "our gospel." There is not only the firmest foundation of righteousness, but the brightest heavenly glory in the display of that righteousness. In Christ exalted is love with us made perfect. How could it, indeed, go farther? because as He is, so are we in this world. It is the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is God's image. We are not yet ourselves in possession of the glory as an actual fact, but we have it in Him in whom it shines most fully, and through whom it shines into our hearts. No greater proof, then, of the blinding power of Satan, than that men should be insensible to such glory. But an evil conscience cannot endure the light of God, whatever the love from which the light of that glory springs. For they cannot endure the discovery and judgment of their sins, even though the rejection of His testimony exposes them to everlasting ruin. They believe themselves, or really Satan, the god of this age, rather than the only true God; they are lost. This is what the gospel supposes, though it fully provides for it. But the blessing is inseparable from faith; for God is not saying only, but making the saved vessels on earth to reflect the glory of Christ in heaven.

Verse 4. "In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not," etc. The title here given to Satan is the boldest and fullest admission of his existing power over man that the Scriptures contain. By the Just One he had been styled the "prince of this world" (John 14:30), when He prepared to yield Himself into his hands, that the Scriptures might be fulfilled Having first proved Himself the alone effective denier of the devil's right and power over men, by fulfilling His course as the gracious Healer of them that were oppressed by him, He thus — because Israel would none of Him — transfers judicially His own just title to the stranger, whose lying voice they followed rather than His own. And now that the full gospel of saving grace is proclaimed among men by the commandment of the everlasting God, the invisible opposer of the truth is recognized by the Spirit as the god also of this world. The point of distinction is as clear as it is solemn. By rejecting the Man approved of God, the world showed itself ready to receive His rival. (John 5:43; 2 Thess. 2:9). By refusing Him who now speaks to men from heaven by His Son, the "crooked and perverse generation" of the present age of grace give evidence, by their aversion from the way of life, that their minds are governed by another god. For he to whom men yield their wills is entitled to be called their god. The only true God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, calls now on all men to repent and turn to Him. The father of lies, on the other hand, dissuades men from welcoming the glad tidings of salvation, by flattering them in their own imaginations. Like Israel, the Gentiles also have a blinded mind, and although in them the spirit of unbelief is fostered by other means, it is in both essentially the same natural hatred of the light of God. (John 3:20; Rom. 1:30).

Satan is fitly called the god of the present age, because what began with rejected mercy will end in the temporary enthronement of iniquity in the place ordained eternally for Christ. From the first men mocked the Holy Ghost (Acts 2:13), and the close of God's patience with their hard thoughts and speeches against His truth will be the consenting homage of the nations to the beast, to whom the dragon gives his power and his seat — a seat offered in vain to Jesus by the tempter, and conferred on his willing dupe by the destroyer (Luke 4:5, sq.; Rev. 13:2, sq.). As to the methods of this blinding, they are as various as the lusts of men on which he practises, but self-trust, in some form, is universally the source of that unbelief which disallows the glory of the Saviour. And this is made very manifest by the apostle's language in this verse, in which the aim of the god of this world is said to be the intercepting and diverting from the hearts of men "the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God."

And the gospel is here called "the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God." And this gospel shines in all its radiancy. In the first epistle we had a blessed definition of what the Gospel is (1 Corinthians 15:1-4). There we read of His death for our sins, His burial and His resurrection. But here we are lifted higher; the Christ who died and rose again is in heaven crowned with glory and honor. He is there at the right hand of God as our representative, and all the love, the grace and power which are for His people shine out in His blessed face. A glorified Christ in all His fulness and glory, is the gospel in its highest meaning. But if this gospel, which Paul calls "my gospel" is hid, that is, veiled, it is in those that are perishing. They are unbelieving, and unbelief puts them under Satan's power. He is called here the god of this age (the word world means age), that is our age. The age rejected Christ, and that has made Satan the god of the age, a title which he did not possess in the previous age. And he blinds the eyes of them that believe not. As they refuse to see the light which now shines in the gospel of the glory of Christ, they become blinded by the father of lies by various methods and means. He blinds the eyes by the age itself over which he domineers. He makes it appear as if this age is fast making for better things. Righteousness and peace are impossible during the present evil age; this age is one of darkness, ending in a complete manifestation of the mystery of iniquity in the person of Satan's man, the Antichrist. Righteousness and peace can only come through the Return of the Lord Jesus Christ and by His enthronement as King over this world. Satan hides the real character of this age and this is one of the ways by which he blinds the eyes of them that believe not. He leads man to exalt himself, and nourishes self-trust and self-exaltation.

When Paul was converted, he was sent by the Lord Jesus to the Gentiles, "to open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me" (Acts 26:18). The truth is this, you and I are no match for the devil. He has overcome every man save One — the Lord Jesus, the Saviour of men, — and he holds every man in his hand who has not been brought by grace to know the Lord Jesus Christ. And if a man does not believe the Gospel, what is the reason? God tells us. "If our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost; in whom the god of this world (the devil) has blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine to them" (2 Cor. 4:3-4). That witness is very solemn, and should awaken every careless, unsaved man to bethink him of his awful condition.

Their gospel did not involve secretive mysteries: it was clearly, plainly declared. If hidden at all, it was so only to those who are lost, whose minds are blinded to clearly published facts. It is Satan, the god of this world, who so blinds them, not that he is able to do it without their being willing: he uses such bait as the attractions of this world, with its present gain and pleasure, and the glitter of such passing vanities blinds men's minds to the infinitely greater gain and pleasure in Christ. Men will easily reject facts in favour of fantasy that attracts their feelings for the time. "The gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God" has no radiance for them: they simply "believe not."

Observe here that the gospel is not designated as that "of the grace of God," but "of the glory of Christ." It is the same gospel, but it is not here its gracious benefits toward man emphasized, but its revelation of God's glory in the face of Christ. This is good news indeed. His glory is supreme, and far more important than our blessing. It is not so much here the question of Christ being in glory, but of the glory that is in Christ. He is "the image (the full representation) of God."

In verse 3 we have the general statement, that if the gospel be hid (veiled) it is veiled in them that are lost; verse 4 gives the action by which the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, is intercepted, hindered from reaching the hearts of the unsaved: "the god of this world" (age) steps in and blinds the minds (the thoughts) of them that believe not. It should be especially noticed that the word is not "world" but "age." Two scriptures will aid in its interpretation. In Rom. 12 we read, "Be not conformed to this age;" and in 1 Cor. 2:8 we have "the princes of this age." The first of these would mean that we are not to be moulded by the influences of the moment through which we are passing, whether literary, scientific, philosophic, political, or social — the sum, in fact, of all the influences that go to form, at any time, the life of men as men; and the princes of the age are the world's, or the nation's, leaders, who, wise, as men speak, in their own generation, are utterly blind as to the things of God. When therefore we read that the god of this age blinds men's minds, we understand that he effects this by bringing in thoughts, whether through this world's teachers, or through their books, which are opposed to the truth of the gospel. A popular book, for example, which ignores sin, and consequently the atonement, while professedly dealing with spiritual things, would be one of his most successful instrumentalities for darkening the minds of unbelievers

226 But it is said we do not see that yet. Do you think that all the oppression and wars and wickedness and horrors, which now mark the history of the earth, would go on if everything were put under Him? It is Satan, and not Christ, who is now the prince and god of this world. It is strange how many people fancy that the cross put an end to that; it was exactly the contrary. The cross was the one grand demonstration - and there never was such a demonstration before - that Satan is the prince and god of this world. "The prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me," said our Saviour. Until Christ had been rejected, Satan was never called the prince of this world. Before that, Jehovah was on the earth, and in the temple was the Shekinah of glory. But when at last He came into this world in the Person of Christ, and the world rejected Him, then from that time Satan is the prince of this world. And it is after this that the apostle says, "In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not." When the Lord comes again, He will be the Prince of the world; but till He comes again, Satan is that prince.

But there is another aspect in which Scripture presents the world. Besides being the place which has rejected its rightful Ruler, it is set before us in the Word of God as an organised system of things, with Satan at its head. When the devil took Jesus into a high mountain, and "showed unto Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time," his offer was — "All this power will I give Thee, and the glory of them; for that is delivered unto me, and to whomsoever I will I give it" (Luke 4:6). Of course the Son of God does not acknowledge his right to this dominion, but at the same time He does not deny the fact. On the contrary, He more than once acknowledges it. Thus, when speaking of His death, He says — "Now is the judgment of this world, now shall the prince of this world be cast out" (John 12:31). Here He is looking to the results of His death, which are regarded as immediately following, though in reality they have not yet been accomplished. Who, then, is "the prince of this world"? It cannot be Himself, for He says soon afterwards — "The prince of this world comes and has nothing in Me" (John 14:30). He also speaks of the Holy Ghost as convicting the world "of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged" (John 16:11). The prince of this world, then, here spoken of is not Christ but one who has nothing in Christ, one who is judged and cast out by Him. It can be none other than Satan, who had before made this claim without contradiction in Christ's presence.

Nor did the work of the cross immediately dispossess Satan of this usurped dominion, any more than it immediately brought judgment on the world or drew all men to Christ. After His death, Satan's power is still recognised. Thus we are told, by the Apostle Paul, that "the god of this world has blinded the minds of them which believe not" (2 Cor. 4:4). Writing to the Ephesians, he says — "In time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now works in the children of disobedience" (Eph. 2:2). Later in the epistle he writes — "We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against wicked spirits in heavenly places" (Eph. 6:12). What is the darkness of this world? Christ is the light, and that which rejects Christ is blinded by "the god of this world," and is in darkness. The world, then, as distinguished from believers, who "are not of this world," has a ruler, and that ruler is Satan. In writing to the Colossians (1:13), the apostle says that God "has delivered us from the power of darkness, and has translated us into the kingdom of the Son of His love." Who "the power of darkness" is, we see from the text last quoted. It is from his dominion that grace has delivered us, and the world, those who are not delivered, are still under him. John, too, in like manner, declares that "we are of God, and the whole world lies in the wicked one" (1 John 5:19). This is very solemn, for it shows not only that Satan has great power of evil in the world, but that the world is looked at in Scripture as an organised system of which Satan is the head, the prince, and the god.

The name of the king means "double-wickedness," and in this it is a true type of the world, for we know that the one who controls the world is the devil (1 John 5:19). Behind the scenes he holds sway: he offered all the glory of its kingdoms to the Lord: he still offers these things to the children of men, and by the glitter of them bewitches and destroys their souls. His wickedness in this respect has a double character, for he is both the god and the prince of the world which he controls (John 12:31; 2 Cor. 4:4).

His palace is this world — "His own palace," as the Revised Version puts it. The world was made for Christ, and it will yet be His; but for the time being, Satan is in possession. The Lord Himself twice spoke of him as the "prince of this world." Many blunder as to this. Even some true Christians imagine that because Christianity has come in, Satan's hold upon the world is not what it was in pagan times. Instead of this being true, the Spirit calls him "the GOD of this age" (2 Cor. 4:4), i.e., of the present Gospel era. God having come to earth in human flesh and been rejected, Satan has usurped His place in the minds of men.