³And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, ⁴in 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. ⁵For we do not preach ourselves but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your bond-servants for Jesus’ sake.

Catching the theme of veiling from chapter one, Paul expounds on the spiritual sight Christians have that sets them apart from non-believers. Even the Corinthians are included, for as he wrote earlier, “For who has known the mind of the Lord …? But we have the mind of Christ” (1 Cor. 2:16). Because of this, we have spiritual insight that non-believers do not have. That is because our minds are not “veiled” as are those of unbelievers.

This veiling or blinding is rooted in the non-believer’s own stubbornness to hear, but there is another source of blinding at play: “the god of this world” (2 Cor. 3:14). This is none other than Satan, “the ruler of this world” (John 12:31), “the prince of the power of the air … the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience” (Eph. 2:2, see also 1 John 5:19), and his minions, “the rulers … powers … world forces of this darkness…” (Eph. 6:12).

Non-believers remain under the blinding influence of Satan, and no amount of logic, philosophizing, or clever rhetoric will convince them to see the light. Our modern-day apologetics will not “cause” people to believe. Such efforts are helpful in removing barriers, but the turning of hearts is impossible, for the blind simply cannot see! What then is the hope for successful evangelism?

Paul’s response to the blindness is to turn on the light, so to speak. At the core, his message is simply and completely about “Christ Jesus as Lord.” He is a servant of that message, plain and simple. He wrote that in 1 Corinthians 2:2, “For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.” And he affirms that here. There is only one thing we can do that can turn a blind heart to the message of grace, and that is to preach Christ and Him crucified. Our motivation in doing this comes out of the experience of mercy we have come to know, and the desire to share that with others. We and they are unworthy, but God is a merciful and gracious God who gave His beloved Son to die in our place on the cross. He desires to remove the veil, for we believe, “[G]reater is He who is in you than he who is in the world” (1 John 4:4). So we believe, and so we must spread the word of Christ and Him crucified, and in so doing, give light to the world.

Lord, help me be a light to the world by sharing the good news of Christ.