Useful Bible Studies > 2 Corinthians Commentary > chapter 4
God caused his law to be great and wonderful. However, many people still refused to believe him and they would not obey his commands. It was as if something covered their eyes. They were unable to see (understand) the message that God had given to them*.
The gospel is the message that, because of Christ’s death, God can forgive our evil deeds*. It is even more great and wonderful than God’s law*. Christ himself, God’s Son, brought that message to us; Christ himself died to save us*.
We might expect that everyone would gladly receive such a wonderful message of God’s love to us. There seems no proper reason to refuse God’s offer to forgive our evil deeds. However, very many people not merely refuse it; they actually hate the gospel.
Clearly, we cannot blame God for that. He has made his gospel so easy to understand that even a child can accept it*. Paul too was careful to explain God’s message in the simplest possible manner*.
Paul said that ‘the god of this world’ was responsible for this problem. He means the devil; the devil is the god whom most people serve in the present age. In other words, people believe the devil’s messages and they refuse to believe God’s message. So, they are acting as if the devil is their god.
They have given the devil control over their lives. The devil uses that power to hide God’s wonderful message, the gospel, from them. However, their situation is not yet hopeless. At the present time, God still urges them to turn to him*. If they do that, he will help them*. He will change their lives completely*. Then they will see, and know, how wonderful the gospel really is.
Next part: Church leaders should behave in a humble manner (4:5)
* See complete article for these Bible references.
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© 2016, Keith Simons.