In 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, for what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants, for Jesus’ sake, for God who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness.’ Has shown in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
– 2 Corinthians 4:4–6
Okay, so there’s a lot of words there in these three verses. You might get lost in some of it. But here’s the picture I want to paint based on these three verses together. Because it is powerful and perspective-shifting when you see this.
2 Corinthians 4:4–6 Speaks of An Unseen Spiritual Battle
So verse four talks about the little g god of this world. They are spiritual beings blind the minds of unbelievers. They keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, the image of God. Right now, for every unbeliever, for everyone who doesn’t know Jesus, there’s a little g god in this world. There is an adversary, the devil, and demons who are working nonstop to blind their minds. Keeping them from seeing the love, the grace, and the glory of Jesus.
Just think about the people you know, your family, your workplace, and your school, people around you in your city. Think about the unreached people in the world that we pray for all the time on this podcast. The little g god of this world is working nonstop to blind their minds from seeing Jesus. So that’s verse four.
Then verse six says, “For God,” capital G God, “who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness.’ Has shown in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus.” And so where you’ve got the little g god of this world, blinding minds, and you have the capital G God shining light into hearts. That’s what happened for every one of us who’s put our faith in Jesus. It’s because God shined in our hearts, gave us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God.
2 Corinthians 4:4–6 Shows Us God Overcomes the Darkness in People’s Hearts
In the face of Jesus, he helped us to see. He opened our eyes to see. We’re not blind anymore. We can see the goodness and the love of Jesus. So that’s verse four and verse six. This spiritual battle that’s going on for the souls of every single person in the world. We have little g god blinding minds. We have capital G God shining light. Then right in the middle, verse five, “For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord.”
Do you see the picture? You and I live in the middle of this spiritual battle that’s going on in the hearts of every single person who doesn’t know Jesus right now. What are we doing? We are proclaiming Jesus as Lord. Make the connection. How will their minds be opened? Make the connection. How will the minds, the eyes of unbelievers be unblinded? Be open to see the light that God is shining in their hearts.
This Verse Encourages To Proclaim the Gospel’s Radiant Message
They will see when they hear the gospel of Jesus shared with them. So see your life today in the middle of this spiritual battle between the capital G God over this world and little g god in this world. You and I are on the front lines today with opportunities to proclaim Jesus is Lord, to point to Jesus as Lord, to share with our family members, with our friends, with our neighbors, with our coworkers, with our classmates who Jesus is, and as we do, to trust in the power of the gospel and the power of our God to shine light through what we proclaim and open eyes to see who Jesus is.
God, we pray that you would help us not to sit on the sidelines in this spiritual battle in our lives, in others’ lives, for others’ lives sake. God, for the sake of people whose minds are blinded right now by the god of this world, please, God, shine your light in their hearts. Friends of ours, family members of ours, we long to see, come to know you, and unreached people around the world who we long to see reached with the good news of the gospel.
Prayer for the Mahishya People
God, we pray today for the Mahishya people of India and Bangladesh, over 12 million of them blinded, worshiping Hindu false gods, millions of them being worshiped as false gods when you, the one true God, have light and you have sent your son Jesus for their salvation.
So for people close to us and far from us, God, we pray that you would shine light in their hearts today through our proclamation of the gospel. He would give us boldness to share the gospel with somebody today, and you would send out laborers to share the gospel with the Mahishya people of India and Bangladesh so that their eyes might be open, so their minds and their hearts might be transformed to see the light of the knowledge of your glory in the face of Jesus.
Oh God, help us as long as we have breath in this world where billions of people’s minds are blinded. Help us to faithfully proclaim not ourselves but Jesus Christ as Lord and ourselves as their servants, for Jesus’ sake. Let me pray all this according to your Word in 2 Corinthians 4:5–6, amen.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
