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Note —

I. SATAN'S FORMIDABLE TITLE. "The god of this world."

1. Elsewhere he is called "the prince of this world." He and his allies are denominated "the rulers of the darkness of this world." This designation belongs to a personal being. The devil is no mere power or principle of evil. When he is named here "god," it is not in the strict sense of the term, but because he possesses a god-like authority, and receives a god-like submission. The sphere of his dominion is "this world." There it is that he reigns and ravages.

2. But remember —

(1) His power is not supreme. There is a Lord above Satan. The Maker of this world is its real Monarch.

(2) His power is not legitimate. It has its origin in usurpation. It is founded on fraud, conspiracy, rebellion. Jesus had not to satisfy but to vanquish the devil, and this He did pre-eminently upon the Cross.

II. HIS FATAL WORK. "Hath blinded the minds of them that believe not."

1. He has blinded the minds of all natural men by the sin into which he seduced the race at first. But not satisfied with that old and far-reaching achievement of his, he carries on a constant, present process of blinding in the case of all thus brought under his terrible power, By error, sin, and ten thousand devices suited to the characters and circumstances of his victims, he withdraws them ever farther from the perception and appreciation of spiritual truths and objects. He rears up vast systems of darkness and delusion, under the influence of which the minds and hearts of millions are brought into a state of the most absolute and abject bondage. And his efforts are very specially directed against those who are surrounded by the light and plied with the overtures of the gospel. There is reason to fear that the light may break in, revealing their real condition, and leading on to their deliverance. Hence he blinds them by every method he can devise, and often in ways the direct opposite of each other.

(1) Thus he does it alternately by ignorance and knowledge.

(a) By ignorance. He shuts men out, if he possibly can, from all acquaintance with the gospel. He keeps from as many as he can the benefits of a Christian education — all religious teaching; and what he cannot prevent he labours to weaken and neutralise. He leaves no lights burning which he can extinguish; and when he is unable to put them out, he is an adept at dimming their brightness.

(b) But when he cannot exclude knowledge, he skilfully turns it into an instrument of his own purposes. How many does he bewilder, blind, and destroy by means of a boasted science and philosophy! Frequently, the higher persons rise in mere mental gifts, the lower do they sink in spiritual capacities and tastes.

(2) He does it alternately by worldliness and godliness.

(a) How does worldliness often put out any eyes the poor soul ever had! The eager pursuit of business or pleasure has a strongly carnalising, corrupting influence.

(b) And, stranger far, he does the same by godliness — that is, godliness in its profession and forms, not, of course, in its power. The shadow is put for the substance, the appearance for the reality; and by such means the devil's purpose is effectually served.

2. This blinding is here attributed to Satan, the god of this world, but the subjects of it are not mere helpless victims, they are active co-operators. They are to be pitied, but they are also to be blamed. The devil has a terrific power, but, in a sense, he has none except what we ourselves give him. He cannot blind us against our wills.

III. HIS MALIGNANT PURPOSE. "Lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ," etc.

1. Light here denotes light shining out with radiant lustre. There is not only light latent in the gospel, but light streaming out, and falling on all who hear it preached, or are otherwise brought into contact with the truth — light pouring around them as from a spiritual orb, and ready to pour into them, but for the internal barriers which are placed in its way — the blindness of mind and heart which shuts out all its brightness from the darkened bosom. The gospel is well entitled to be thus characterised. It is glorious, because it contains and reveals the glory of Christ, its great author and subject. It is full of His excellence; it is radiant with His brightness. It all treats of Him — His person, His offices, His work; and in every part of it we meet with His Divine lustre. Take Him out of it — His deity, His atonement, His righteousness, His Spirit, His distinctive features and actings — and you leave it a hollow, dark, worthless thing, a casket from which the jewels have been stolen, a sun from which the light has departed, turning it into a black, charred, unsightly mass of dead matter.

2. Now, Satan's object is to prevent this light from shining into men, into their darkened minds and hearts; for this is what saves, overthrows his kingdom, deprives him of his subjects. It is the light of life quickening the soul, in the moment of its entrance with the power of the Spirit. And in how many is the dark design of this world's god realised. It is so in the case of all the unbelieving, and who can tell their number? Alas! the blind are walking around us, sitting among us in our houses and churches. Are we blind also?

3. Mark here that, to be effectual, the gospel must shine into us. It is a great blessing to have it pouring its light around us — making known to us the way of salvation, and inviting us to enter on that way. But it can benefit us really and eternally, only by breaking through the barriers of ignorance, pride, and worldliness, and penetrating the hidden chambers, the deepest and darkest recesses of our being.

(J. Adam, D. D.)

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KJV: But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost:

WEB: Even if our Good News is veiled, it is veiled in those who perish;