2 Corinthians 4:1-6

2 Corinthians 4:1–6

Notes

The Second Epistle to the Corinthians (7. This Ministry (4:1-6))

This passage continues Paul’s defensive excursus (2:14–7:4) on his new covenant ministry (cf. “this ministry”—v. 1). It is especially linked with the opening paragraph (2:14–17) by means of “ring composition,” a literary device that “complete[s] the circle of ideas.”3

At the same time, it provides a recapitulation and summary of material in 3:7–184 and serves to intensify the contrast between the apostolic office of Paul and the corrupt ministry of the “peddlers.” Of particular interest is the apostolic boldness/openness (“we are very bold”—3:12) that Paul now expresses as determination (“we do not lose heart”—4:1). In so doing he reaffirms that God leads him in the “triumphal procession” of spreading everywhere the knowledge of Christ (2:14; cf. 2:12).

In the present paragraph Paul’s own story can be traced. He had been an unbeliever, blinded to the light of the gospel (v. 4). On the road to Damascus, however, Paul had seen the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, who is the image of God (vv. 4, 6). Having given him the ministry of the new covenant, God showed him mercy, illuminating his heart that he might give the light of the knowledge of God to others (vv. 1, 6). In proclaiming the word of God, the gospel that “Jesus Christ is Lord,” Paul “sets forth the truth” (vv. 2, 4, and 5), and he does so as their “slave” for Jesus’ sake.

Here Paul appears to be answering those who criticize him on a number of counts—of fading in his ministry (v. 1), of chicanery in financial matters, of corrupting the message of God, of being self-commended (v. 2), and of obscuring the gospel (v. 3—from Jews?). Against those who oppose and criticize him Paul declares that God’s act of mercy toward him has been matched by his apostolic renunciation of secretive shameful behavior. Moreover, he contends that his lifestyle is marked by determined perseverance (v. 1), and the avoidance of craftiness and of corrupting the word of God (v. 2). In setting forth the truth he commends himself—as it were indirectly—to the conscience of all in the sight of God (v. 2). But Paul’s defense may be, at the same time, an oblique polemic against the “peddlers” who, in insincerity and guile, hawk the word of God, corrupting its message (2:17; 4:2).

He concedes the possibility that his gospel is “veiled” (v. 4), perhaps from those Jews who find it unacceptable. Those from whom the gospel is veiled are “perishing” (i.e., not being “saved”—2:15). The god of this age, Satan, has blinded their eyes. But by proclaiming Jesus Christ as Lord Paul is deflecting the light God shone in his heart into the lives of others.

V.1

Quite possibly he is obliquely answering criticism that, since his ministry is characterized by such difficulty and reversal, his legitimacy as a minister is, to say the least, problematic. Paul will argue that, on the contrary, his endurance12 in the sufferings of ministry (hinted at here but made explicit elsewhere in the letter13) mark the apostle out as a genuine servant of Christ, whose own sufferings are now reproduced in the ministry of the one who represents him (5:20; 12:10; see on 6:3–10).

V.2

Paul continues to spell out the consequences of “having this ministry” (v. 1a). God’s call to the new covenant ministry has meant the acceptance of patterns of behavior14 consistent with that ministry: (1) determined perseverance (v. 1b), (2) renunciation of (a) secretive disgraceful behavior, (b) craftiness, and (c) corrupting the word of God, in contrast with which (3) he sets forth its truth, thus commending himself to others, in the sight of God.

Paul adopts an apologetic stance in regard to accusations that (1) he engages in secretive disgraceful behavior,16 that is, practicing guile17 (that, while rejecting payment for ministry, he has received the Corinthians’ money indirectly, through his delegates?18), (2) tampering with the word of God, the gospel (in not requiring Gentiles to submit to the Mosaic covenant?19), and (3) commending himself20 (because he lacks dominical and apostolic accreditation for his ministry?21).

Because of echoes of 2:17, it is possible that this verse is obliquely polemical as well as more directly apologetic. Both texts (1) refer to an inappropriate ministry of the word of God22 (“peddling the word of God”—2:17; “corrupting the word of God”—4:2), and (2) speak of ministry “in the sight of God.” It would appear that Paul is here contrasting his ministry with that of the “peddlers” so that his words are also an indirect criticism of them. Whereas Paul does not turn aside from his apostolic calling (v. 1), it is these men—he may be implying—who are guilty of (1) secretive disgraceful behavior and crafty practices (cf. “these men are … deceitful workmen masquerading as apostles of Christ”—11:13), and (2) corrupting the word of God (cf. they “preach another Jesus … a different gospel”—11:4).

Having defended his own ministry, as well perhaps as having criticized the “peddlers” in the first three parts of the verse, Paul speaks positively in the fourth about his own ministry, which he introduces with “but.” The apostle makes the astonishing claim that he is an instrument of the revelation (“a setting forth”23) of “the truth.” Here it is not primarily the truth in some abstract sense, as if incarnated by Paul (see on 2:14). Rather, the emphasis is on the truth of “the word of God” mentioned in the previous clause, “our gospel” in the next verse, and the proclamation of “Jesus Christ as Lord” in v. 5.24 This “manifestation of the truth” (RV) (of the word of God) is in line with Paul’s assertion of the openness and determination of his apostolic office (3:12; 4:1). The light God shone in Paul’s heart on the Damascus Road is, by means of Paul’s preaching of Jesus Christ as Lord, deflected toward the hearts of others, glorifying “the face of Jesus Christ.”

Thus the gospel that Paul preaches, as uttered by its messenger, “commends” Paul—not as in his opponents’ “letters of recommendation” to the Corinthian church (3:1)—to “each and every26 conscience.”

V.3

Apparently, Paul is responding to criticism that, to some, his gospel is no revelation at all; in other words, it is “veiled.” From whom would such criticism come? According to the context, a likely source would be the newly arrived Jewish “peddlers” in Corinth, whose ministry Paul is contrasting with his own (vv. 1–2; cf. 2:17–3:3).33 From whom, according to them, would his gospel be “veiled”? Their reply would be, “It is veiled from fellow Jews34 because Paul’s message is unacceptable to them.”35

According to Paul’s exposition in the previous chapter, the “veil” over the glory on Moses’ face turned out to be a veil over “the end” or goal of that glory, namely, Christ (see on 3:13). Thus Moses had, as it were, veiled the gospel ahead of its time on account of the Israelites’ hardness of mind (3:14). Thus, whenever Paul preached to Jewish audiences, his message came to a people already “veiled,” blinded to the glory of God anticipated in the old covenant, something he knew to his cost. Thus the concessive part of the sentence (“even if our gospel is veiled”) should probably be understood to mean something like “… veiled among the Israelites.”

In the apodosis (the “then” part of the conditional sentence) Paul goes on to indicate to whom his gospel is veiled. “It is veiled,” he says, “among38 those who are perishing,” who in v. 4 are designated as “unbelievers,” including even God’s historic people, the Israelites (cf. 3:7, 13). Implicit here, perhaps, is a warning to Paul’s Gentile readers in Corinth not to follow the pro-Moses teaching of the “peddlers.” If God’s historic covenant people can be veiled and, in consequence, lost, so, too, can they.

Here he touches another aspect of this dreadful reality, the great care that needs to be taken that the gospel is not by any means veiled, whether by its bearer corrupting the message itself or by ethical and moral failures on his own part undermining it. Only the gospel can “save”; only the gospel can bring the light of God to the blind. Let it not be veiled by those who bring it.

V.4

PAUL IS EMPATHIZING WITH THE FAILURE OF THE JUDAIZERS

The Exodus narrative forms the background to this passage. In response to Moses’ request God revealed his glory to him, but he was not permitted to see the face of God (Exod 32:18–23; cf. v. 6). On the Damascus Road, Paul, too, saw the glory of God. But there was a shape to it. Paul beheld “the image (eikōn) of God,” the glorified Christ. In the heavenly Christ the invisible God, who cannot be seen, has perfectly and fully revealed himself (cf. Col 1:15). The glorified Christ is the ultimate and eschatological revelation of God. There is nothing more that can or will be seen of God.

What Paul saw with his eyes in that unique moment he now “sets forth” by means of “the truth” of the gospel (v. 2) addressed to the ears of his hearers (cf. Gal 3:2, 5), by means of which the light of God comes into darkened hearts (v. 6). Light from the glorified Christ streams into the heart through hearing the gospel. God’s revelatory “image,” the heavenly Christ, shown to the apostle, becomes the revelation of God for those who hear and receive the gospel.47

In broadening his reference of blindness from the “veiled” Israelites (3:15) to “unbelievers” generally, Paul is declaring what is the eschatological reality of “this age.”48 On the one hand, people generally, Jews and Gentiles alike, if they are “unbelievers,”49 are and remain “veiled” (v. 3), having been “blinded” by “the god of this age.” Such blindness is not merely the historic incapacity of the people of Israel under the old covenant (3:13–15). The darkness is universal, demonic and cosmic. Yet into the darkness of these blinded minds,50 light—God’s own glory now manifested in Christ—shines forth from the gospel Paul proclaims (cf. v. 6). Here, once again, is the apostolic openness/boldness (3:12), the eschatological disclosure of the truth of the word of God (v. 2), by means of which these are enabled to see whose blindness has been overcome by God’s light.

Such “seeing” of “the light … of the glory” is, of course, metaphorical for hearing. The gospel of Christ comes first not as an optical but as an aural reality (see, e.g., Rom 10:17; Gal 3:2, 5; cf. 3:1). Nonetheless, his words are not merely figurative. The intensity of Paul’s language suggests that he is appealing to shared spiritual experience, his own and his readers’. When the gospel is heard and the hearer turns to the Lord, the veil is removed so that he now “sees” the glory of the Lord (see on 3:16, 18). Light does shine in darkness (cf. v. 6).

V.5

The content of Paul’s kērygma, as stated here (“Jesus Christ as Lord”56), is echoed on a number of occasions elsewhere in Paul’s writings as a summary of Christian belief (e.g., 1 Cor 12:3; Rom 10:9; Phil 2:10–11). Implicit in this brief statement is the conviction that the crucified Christ has been exalted through resurrection as the heavenly Lord; God’s suffering servant, the agent of atonement, is now the ruler of the world. Personal conviction as expressed by open confession that “Jesus is Lord”57 issues in the salvation of God (Rom 10:9). The implication here is that lordship equates with deity. “LORD” regularly translates “Yahweh” in the LXX, and there are numerous NT references to Jesus as “Lord” that echo OT (LXX) passages that refer to Yahweh.58

As to manner, as a “slave for Jesus’ sake,”59 the apostle models himself on the ministry of Christ, to whose “meekness and gentleness” he will refer later (10:1). If Paul, a “good minister of Christ”—as he exhorts Timothy to be (1 Tim 4:6)—is a “slave,”60 it is “on account of Jesus”61 whom he serves and whom he proclaims, because Jesus was the “slave” who, by his death, came “to minister” (Mark 10:4462; Rom 15:8). Unstated, but perhaps understood, is the inference that the One who is now “Lord” had first been the “slave.”63 A more antitriumphalist statement is difficult to conceive.

Paul’s is a proverblike statement, based on a “Lord” and “slave” antithesis

V.6

There is an outward as well as an inward aspect here.72 Outwardly, on the way to Damascus, Paul saw “the glory of God in the face of Christ”; inwardly, and as a consequence, “God has shone in our hearts” (cf. “God revealed his Son in me”—Gal 1:16). Whereas God’s outward revelation of his glory to Paul was unique, his inner enlightenment of the heart also describes the illumination of all73 who receive the gospel message (cf. “see the light of the gospel”—v. 4). “The gospel is now ‘the fundamental re-presentative agency for the splendor of God’; God’s glory is present in the proclamation.”74

The statement of purpose “to give” (C) explains how Paul is a “slave” (v. 5), as demanded by the connective “for” with which v. 6 begins. Paul’s apostolic role as “slave” is to beam forth to others the light that God has shone in his heart. This he does by preaching “Jesus Christ as Lord” (v. 5), so that his hearers may “see” the “glory of God” in “the face of Christ, who is the image of God.” (The “face”75 that his hearers see figuratively Paul had seen literally on the Damascus Road.) Under the old covenant the glory on the face of Moses was veiled from the people (see on 3:7, 13). But by the ministry of the new covenant those who hear the gospel “see” the “glory of God” in “the face of Christ” (see on 3:18). This giving forth of the light of God by preaching Jesus Christ is the “boldness/openness” (3:12), the “setting forth” of the truth (v. 2), that is the very essence of the apostolic office, from which he will not recoil (v. 1).76

SUMMARY

Clearly, too, Paul’s words in v. 5 stand as a rebuke to any minister of the gospel, then or since, who aspires to worldly greatness or recognition. Whoever fails either (1) to preach “Jesus Christ as Lord” or (2) to be “slave for Jesus’ sake” fails at the most fundamental point of ministry that has any claim to be apostolic.

Paul presents the gospel of Christ clearly

(The Lutheran Study Bible, page 1985)

Look

Verse 4 “The god of this world”—Satan is called a god not because he actually is a god but because people worship him as such. Anything that people put in the place of the true God becomes their own personal god.

Verse 6 “The glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ”—If you want to see God, then look at Jesus, his Son. God’s glory—his love, mercy, and faithfulness to his covenant— is reflected in the face of Christ. And we who know Christ reflect that glory (3:18).

Discuss

1. Where did Paul receive the strength to carry out his ministry?

He received it from God. God graciously gave it to him.

2. Why did Paul not lose heart, even when he faced lack of success and persecution?

Paul’s ministry was God’s ministry, not his. Paul knew he was only a servant sent to preach about God, not about himself (verse 5). Paul received his ministry by God’s grace. He also experienced the continually increasing glory that shined forth from him as God chastened him and refined his faith. This came only through the Spirit, working through the gospel.

3. What did Paul refuse to do to make his ministry a “success”? What did he do?

Paul did not use secret and shameful ways of presenting the gospel. He did not deceive people, nor did he distort God’s Word to make it easier for people to accept. Rather, he presented the truth clearly.

4. Why do some people not believe the gospel?

They do not believe because the god of this age, Satan, has blinded them. Their eyes are shut to the glory of God in Christ, who is God’s image. However, don’t think that Satan is keeping them blinded against their will. Their sinful flesh freely goes along with Satan. Yet until God’s message breaks through their blindness, Satan is actively working in their hearts to keep them in the dark.

Apply

5. What might be some “disgraceful” and “underhanded” ways of doing the work of the ministry?

Some preachers are clearly in it only for the money. Many have a degree of sincerity, but they don’t think the gospel is attractive enough in itself. So they attract people to their churches by offering something that is more palatable to human nature. Their argument is that they are only trying to gain an audience. But no matter how noble their motives, they are not confident enough in the gospel, and they risk giving the impression of a “bait and switch” routine that cannot but cause confusion in the hearts of their hearers.

6. In what respect is evangelism a simple task?

It is simple because the message is simple. For sinners whose consciences trouble them, the message that God has forgiven them in Christ is clear, simple, and most welcome.

Paul presented the gospel clearly, without distorting it. He did so because he knew God would use the gospel to shine into people’s hearts and give them faith in Jesus.