SHADOWY SONLIGHT

The devil does his dreadful work of blinding the minds (νοήματα) of the unbelieving. We see with our minds. The spiritual battle rages in our minds. Satan is the god of this age who blinds unbelieving minds so they cannot see the light of Christ's glory in the gospel.  And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God  (2 Cor. 4:3-4).

Paul knew well what it meant to be blinded so that he could not see the light of the gospel despite his exceptional education and brilliant mind. The expression, "so that they might not see," is somewhat difficult to interpret. It is an infinitive attached to a preposition (εἰς τὸ μὴ αὐγάσαι). The construction is ambiguous since it can indicate either purpose or result. The Hebrew way of thinking did not distinguish sharply between purpose or result/consequence (Moule, Idiom Book, p.142-143, see fn2). Satan's purpose is to incapacitate the mind in order to keep the mind from seeing spiritual truth and his purpose, because of his power, leads to the consequence that blinded minds don't see truth.

The verb translated "see" (αὐγάσαι) has two different meanings. This verse is the only place in the New Testament where the word is used.  1) The verb means to shine upon or illuminate an object as the sun shines upon the earth. The sense would be that Satan blinds the minds of unbelievers so that the light of the gospel does not shine upon them.  2) The verb means to see clearly or to gaze upon something or someone. In this case, Satan blinds the minds of unbelievers so that they cannot see the light of the gospel (Hughes, 2 Corinthians, p.129 fn35). The latter meaning is the better one in this context. The devil incapacitates the minds of unbelievers so that they cannot gaze intently upon the light (τὸν φωτισμὸν). This meaning fits with Paul's argument in the previous chapter about the veiling that hinders people from seeing the glory (2 Cor. 3:13).

A string of genitives follows the word light. It is the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ (τοῦ εὐαγγελίου τῆς δόξης τοῦ Χριστοῦ). When genitives are joined together like this, the first genitive governs the following genitive so the governing genitive would be the word "gospel" (τοῦ εὐαγγελίου). Gospel is likely a genitive of origin indicating that the light emanated from the gospel (Moulton, Howard, Turner, Grammar, 3:218). The next genitive, "glory" (τῆς δόξης) would describe the content of the gospel (Martin, 2 Corinthians, p.79). The final genitive, "of Christ" (τοῦ Χριστοῦ), would be possessive. Christ possesses the glory because He is the image (είκων) of God. The piling on of genitives emphasizes that Christ possesses the glory which is the content of the gospel from which the light emanates which can save our souls. We find here a summary of Paul's argument in chapter three.

The act of witnessing engages us in spiritual warfare. We cannot pull the blinders off from the minds of unbelievers no matter how brilliant our explanations or persuasive our arguments. The devil has incapacitated their minds, and only the persuasive power of God can remove the spiritual blinding. We wonder that unbelievers don't see the glory of Christ in the gospel as we see it, but the reality is that they cannot see it because they live in a world where the Son has been eclipsed by the devil! The shadows obscure the "Sonlight" until God rips away the veil of the devil on the mind of man.

MINISTRY SUCCESS THROUGH HIDDEN METHODS

Pragmatism makes a poor foundation for success in ministry. Doing whatever works may produce impressive results in the short term but leads to disillusionment in the end. Ministries built on the latest marketing methods and persuasive techniques - style without substance - produce temporal, not eternal results. Paul wrote: "We do not lose heart, but we have renounced the things hidden because of shame, not walking in craftiness or adulterating the word of God, but by the manifestation of truth commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God" (2 Corinthians 4:2).

Paul is defending himself against his critics in the church who were impressed with the self-promotion of what he calls the "super-apostles" (2 Cor. 11:5; 12:11). These marketing wizards of the first century church used sophistry to grow their ministries by manipulating people and boasting about their success. Paul will defend himself later in 2 Corinthians with what was known as "inoffensive self-praise," an ethical response to sophistic self-promotion. Paul will boast about his weaknesses to give glory to God, not man while defending his integrity against his critics (Witherington, Conflict & Community, p. 385).

Paul has renounced (ἀπειπάμεθα) the pragmatism of the super apostles. The verb is best understood as an indirect middle indicating that true Christian leaders renounced these methods for themselves (Hanna, Grammatical Aid, p.319); Robertson, Grammar, p.810). It is a timeless Aorist tense, so Paul was not saying that they had practiced these methods in the past (Rienecker & Rogers, Linguistic Key, p.462). True Christian leaders disown such methods as the means to grow a church in any age.

We must renounce "the hidden things" (τὰ κρυπτὰ) "of shame" (τῆς αἰσχύνης). Paul refers to secret things or places (BAGD, p.454). The word translated "shame" (αἰσχύνης) can mean either something shameful or disgraceful (BAGD, p.25). The genitive can be used with either an objective or subjective sense. Used in the objective sense, Paul would be saying "the hidden things that bring disgrace" upon someone. Used in the subjective sense, Paul would be saying "the shame that causes honorable people to hide things." It is best to take it as a subjective genitive (Meyer, 2 Corinthians, p.487, fn 1). True Christian leaders renounce the things that honest people hide because they would be ashamed if others knew about those things.

What are the hidden things that embarrass honorable Christian leaders? The hidden things are the secret plans, deceptive methods and dishonest motives that others use to accomplish their goals. Hidden things include any disguising of the truth to make it more palatable to the audience. Just because it works does not mean we should use it. The verse goes on to describe some of these hidden methods as "walking in craftiness" (πανουργία) and "adulterating or distorting (δολοῦντες) the Word of God." The word translated craftiness comes from two Greek words (πᾶν and ἔργον) which literally means "every work." The word refers to cunning pragmatism - a willingness to do whatever it takes to accomplish success (Rienecker & Roger, Linguistic Key, p.462).

We must be unwilling to do whatever it takes to achieve success in the ministry. There are moral limits on our methods even if our goals are laudable. We must renounce the use of persuasive techniques that trick and manipulate people into making professions of faith. We must avoid distorting the truth to gain a hearing with people. We must never compromise the Word of God to grow successful churches.

THE FOG OF DESPAIR

We can easily become discouraged in ministry. Our initiatives fail. Success appears illusory. The hearts of people grow cold. Broken promises strand us without resources. Conflicts erupt over petty differences. Harsh words corrode our spirits. Losses pile up. The way ahead becomes shrouded in the fog of despair. Paul understood all too well these realities when he wrote, "Therefore, since we have this ministry, as we received mercy, we do not lose heart" (2 Cor. 4:1).

The verb translated "we do not lose heart" (ἐγκακοῦμεν also spelled ἐνκακοῦμεν) is a present tense verb indicating a persevering refusal to lose heart. It means to become weary, tired or to despair (BAGD, p.215). The word can mean "cowardice" (Moulton & Milligan, Vocabulary, p.215). The sense of the word is less about physical exhaustion and more about something being distasteful or revolting (Martin, 2 Corinthians, p.77). Paul does not face people in ministry with a sense of revulsion. When ministry becomes distasteful, we pull away from people. We pull back from the work. Paul says that we do not develop a distaste for the ministry. We persevere in our determination not to pull away from the work.

How do we avoid developing a distaste for ministry? Distaste for ministry grows whenever we lose sight of the glory of His grace and mercy at work in our own lives as the foundation for ministry to others. Paul says, "For this reason (Διὰ τοῦτο) we do not lose heart." The introductory clause looks forward to the next two clauses in the verse (Rienecker and Rogers, Linguistic Key, p. 462). We do not lose heart "since we have this ministry, as we have received mercy." The participial clause "having this ministry" (ἔχοντες τὴν διακονίαν ταύτην) is best understood as causal (Dana & Mantey, Grammar, p.275). The possession of this (ταύτην) ministry (διακονίαν) causes us to avoid finding God's work distasteful and so pull away from His call to serve others.

The ministry Paul is talking about looks back to the ministry of the new covenant in chapter 3. We are not adequate in ourselves, but God makes us adequate as ministers of the new covenant of life, not the old covenant of death (2 Cor. 3:4-6). Our confidence comes from knowing that the "ministry of the Spirit" (ἡ διακονία τῆς πνεύματος) is glorious (2 Cor. 3:8). The source of the new covenant ministry is God. The content of the new covenant ministry is grace. The end of the new covenant ministry is glorious, so we do not despair no matter how bleak the winds might be blowing in life.

Mercy is the foundation for persevering ministry. Paul writes "just as we have received mercy" (καθὼς ἠλεηθημεν) we do not despair. The verb is passive meaning that God shows us mercy. Grace and mercy go hand in hand. Grace refers to the sins forgiven. Mercy refers to the misery we feel because of the sins. God's removal of our misery over sin is the mercy we experience from Him (Trench, Synonyms, p.169). God forgives our sins, and God removes the misery of those sins. God's mercy removes our misery so we can offer His mercy to others in their misery. For this reason, we do not despair as long as we focus on the mercy we have been shown by God.

We do not become discouraged because His ministry energizes us as His mercy humbles us. The ministry is not dependent on us but on Him so to despair in the ministry is to despair in God. A sense of dependency grounds our ministry in His grace. We are what we are and do what we do not by our abilities but by the power of His Spirit which culminates in unfailing glory (2 Cor. 3:6-8). Humbled by His mercy toward us we persevere in ministering mercy to others. Mercy removed our misery. How can we fail to offer that same mercy to others?