2 Corinthians 4:4

in whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of the unbelieving, that the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should not dawn upon them. [These words are called out by the word in "every" found in 2 Corinthians 4:2. The apostle anticipates that some Jew would challenge his statement, asserting that the gospel was as much veiled to him and his brethren, as Paul had above asserted the law to be (2 Corinthians 3:7-18). Paul replies that their failure to acknowledge the truth may indeed form an exception, but does not weaken his general assertion, since the obscurity lies in their own bigotry-closed eyes and not in the truth presented to them. The fault lay, not in the nature of the gospel, but in their own nature. By unbelief they had fallen into Satan's power, and he had blinded them (just as, conversely, those who believe are enlightened by the Spirit). The completeness and hopelessness of their blindness is made most apparent by the glorious luminosity of the divine gospel which they failed to perceive. Some have been needlessly puzzled by this passage, because Paul called Satan a "god." The apostle does not mean to attribute divinity to the devil. Satan is not a god properly, but is merely one in reference to those who have sinfully made him such. Paul calls him a god as he would call an idol a god; it being only such in the eyes of its worshipers. (Comp. Philippians 3:19) The phrase is equivalent to "prince of this world," found at John 12:31; John 14:30; John 16:11; though in John the word kosmos, or space-world, is used, while here it is the word aioon, or time-world. He is prince over this world of space, and prince also over that time-world which began with the fall of Adam and closes at the second advent. One of the methods by which Satan blinds the eyes will be found at John 5:44. South pithily remarks, "When the malefactor's eyes are covered, he is not far from execution" (Est. 7:8).