2 Corinthians 4:4

αὐγάσαι (אBFGKLP) rather than καταυγάσαι (CDH) or διαυγάσαι (A). The compounds are probably interpretations of the true reading. Omit αὐτοῖς with אABCDFGH against D2D3KLP. With τοῦ θεοῦ a few authorities add τοῦ� from Colossians 1:15.

4. ὁ θεὸς τοῦ αἰῶνος τούτου. The god of this age (Ephesians 2:7; Colossians 1:26). It is world regarded as time, seculum, and not world regarded as ordered space, κόσμος, mundus, that is mentioned. Comp. 1 Corinthians 1:20; 1 Corinthians 2:6; Luke 16:8; Luke 20:34. For κόσμος see 2 Corinthians 1:12; 2 Corinthians 5:19; 2 Corinthians 7:10. Trench, Synonyms § lix; Lightfoot on 1 Corinthians 1:20. But ὁ θεὸς τοῦ αἰῶνος τούτου occurs nowhere else. Comp. ὁ ἄρχων τοῦ κόσμου τούτου (John 12:31; John 14:30; John 16:11), and ὁ ἄρχων τῆς ἐξουσίας τοῦ� (Ephesians 2:2). In all these places Satan is meant. Yet Irenaeus (Haer, IV. xxix. 1) interprets this passage of God; and some ancient commentators take τοῦ αἰῶνος τούτου after τῶν�: ‘in whom God hath blinded the minds of the unbelievers of this world.’ So Origen, Chrysostom, and Theodoret, Tertullian, Hilary, and Augustine. This improbable interpretation was adopted to avoid giving countenance to the Manichaean doctrine of two Gods, one good and the other evil; magis de illis propulsandis, quam de inquirenda Pauli mente solliciti fuerunt (Calvin). Atto of Vercelli says of the true interpretation sed quia iste sensus vicinus est errori, ipsum Deum intelligere debemus. On the whole expression see Chase, The Lord’s Prayer in the Early Church, pp. 88, 89. Comp. Origen on Mt. Bk 2 Corinthians 4:14.

τὰ νοήματα τῶν�. See on 2 Corinthians 3:14 and comp. 2 Corinthians 10:5; 2 Corinthians 11:3. Some would reject τῶν� as a superfluous gloss. But there is no authority for its omission; and it may be understood as explaining how the evil one was able to do this and to put them on the road to perdition. It was through their refusal to believe what was offered to them for their salvation. They would not use their eyes, and so they lost the power of seeing. A veil of darkness hindered them from perceiving the truth which the Apostle brought them; and this was partly the cause and partly the effect of their being in the path to destruction. Winer, p. 779. By οἱ ἄπιστοι he means those who do not believe the Gospel, and he frequently uses it of the heathen (2 Corinthians 6:14; 1 Corinthians 6:6; 1 Corinthians 7:12 ff; 1 Corinthians 10:27; 1 Corinthians 14:22 ff.).

εἰς τὸ μὴ αὐγάσαι κ.τ.λ. See critical note. Words are piled up to express the intense brilliancy of that which Satan prevented them from being able to see. That the illumination of the gospel of the glory of the Christ, who is the image of God, should not shed its brightness on them. The addition ὅς ἐστιν εἰκὼν τοῦ θεοῦ (see Lightfoot on Colossians 1:15) not only augments the idea of glory, but explains the devil’s action. Of course he would oppose the Gospel of Him who is the image of God (Hebrews 1:3); and this was evidence for the truth of the Gospel, for if it did not bring saving truth, he would not wish to blind men’s thoughts to it. Here only in the N.T. is αὐγάζειν used: in the LXX. it occurs only of the bright spot which was a sign of leprosy (Leviticus 13:24-39; Leviticus 14:56). And φωτισμός is found only here and 2 Corinthians 4:6; in the LXX. Job 3:9; Psalms 26:1; Psalms 43:3; Psalms 77:14; Psalms 89:8; Ps. 138:11. With τὸ εὐαγγ. τῆς δόξης τοῦ χριστοῦ comp. τὸ εὐαγγ. τῆς δόξης τοῦ μακαρίου θεοῦ (1 Timothy 1:11), which means the Gospel that contains and makes known His glory. The Gospel is thus traced to the absolutely supreme Source. It is the revelation of the Messiah, and the revelation of the Messiah is the revelation of the Father (John 14:7 ff.). For δόξα comp. John 1:14.