9 Looking at the Face of Jesus
(2 Corinthians 3:18–4:6)
But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit. Therefore, since we have this ministry, as we received mercy, 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. 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. For we do not preach ourselves but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your bond-servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who said, “Light shall shine out of darkness,” is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. (3:18–4:6)
Life in this fallen, evil world is a struggle. In the picturesque language of the book of Job, “Man is born for trouble, as sparks fly upward” (Job 5:7). The Christian life is no exception; in fact, the more devoted a believer is to Jesus Christ, the more difficult life seems to get. The Lord Jesus Christ warned His own, “In the world you have tribulation” (John 16:33). Paul and Barnabas preached the sobering truth that “through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God” (Acts 14:22). Paul reminded Timothy that “all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” (2 Tim. 3:12).
But in the same verse in which He warned them of the trials they would endure, the Lord comforted His disciples by telling them, “Take courage; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). He also promised to send the Holy Spirit to be their Helper (John 14:16, 26; 15:26; 16:7). The writer of Hebrews records God’s promise, “I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you” (Heb. 13:5). Through the psalmist God declared to His people, “Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I shall rescue you, and you will honor Me” (Ps. 50:15). He promises His children that in their deepest weakness they will find His greatest strength (2 Cor. 12:9–10).
How do believers experience triumph in the midst of trouble? How do they appropriate God’s promised help in tribulation? The answer lies in the truth that brackets this passage: by gazing at the glory of God revealed in the face of Jesus Christ in the mirror of Scripture (3:18; 4:6). Nowhere is God’s glory more clearly manifest than in the person of His Son. Therefore, the only way to successfully live the Christian life is by “beholding … the glory of the Lord” (v. 18) or by “fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Heb. 12:2).
For Paul, focusing on Christ was not only a vital theological truth but also a vital practical principle. As he penned 2 Corinthians, Paul faced the most difficult circumstances of his ministerial experience. It is helpful to read these extended passages together to see the depth of his struggle reflected throughout the epistle: “just as the sufferings of Christ are ours in abundance” (2 Cor. 1:5); “but if we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation” (1:6);
For we do not want you to be unaware, brethren, of our affliction which came to us in Asia, that we were burdened excessively, beyond our strength, so that we despaired even of life; indeed, we had the sentence of death within ourselves so that we would not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead; who delivered us from so great a peril of death, and will deliver us, He on whom we have set our hope. And He will yet deliver us. (1:8–10)
“For out of much affliction and anguish of heart I wrote to you with many tears” (2:4); “I had no rest for my spirit” (2:13);
We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. For we who live are constantly being delivered over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So death works in us, but life in you. (4:8–12)
“Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison” (4:16–17);
But in everything commending ourselves as servants of God, in much endurance, in afflictions, in hardships, in distresses, in beatings, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labors, in sleeplessness, in hunger, in purity, in knowledge, in patience, in kindness, in the Holy Spirit, in genuine love, in the word of truth, in the power of God; by the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and the left, by glory and dishonor, by evil report and good report; regarded as deceivers and yet true; as un -known yet well-known, as dying yet behold, we live; as punished yet not put to death, as sorrowful yet always rejoicing, as poor yet making many rich, as having nothing yet possessing all things. (6:4–10)
“For even when we came into Macedonia our flesh had no rest, but we were afflicted on every side: conflicts without, fears within. But God, who comforts the depressed, comforted us by the coming of Titus” (7:5–6);
Are they servants of Christ?—I speak as if insane—I more so; in far more labors, in far more imprisonments, beaten times without number, often in danger of death. Five times I received from the Jews thirty-nine lashes. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, a night and a day I have spent in the deep. I have been on frequent journeys, in dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my countrymen, dangers from the Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers on the sea, dangers among false brethren; I have been in labor and hardship, through many sleepless nights, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. Apart from such external things, there is the daily pressure on me of concern for all the churches. (11:23–28)
Because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself, there was given me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me—to keep me from exalting myself! Concerning this I implored the Lord three times that it might leave me. And He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong. (12:7–10)
As the last reference indicates, Paul’s suffering had overwhelmed even his formidable human strength. Not the least of his trials was the assassination of his character at Corinth and the defection of many in the church there to follow false apostles. But Paul’s trials did not destroy his faith or cause him to leave the ministry. He expressed his grave concern over the situation at Corinth in 2 Corinthians 11:3: “But I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ.” Yet that expression of concern and sorrow also contains the essence of living the Christian life. Christianity is nothing more or less than devotion to Jesus Christ. Paul was able to cope with the trials he faced in life because he kept his mind on his Lord.
In fact, Paul’s Christian life began with a vision of God’s glory revealed in Jesus Christ. That dramatic encounter on the road to Damascus forever shattered his proud, legalistic, pharisaical self-confidence (cf. Phil. 3:4–6). When he saw God’s blazing glory revealed in the face of Jesus, he transferred all the legalism that had been in his spiritual gain column to the loss column (Phil. 3:7–8).
The remarkable reality of the new covenant is that every believer can see God’s glory revealed in Jesus Christ. That was a privilege not granted to even the most noble of the Old Testament saints, “because God had provided something better for us, so that apart from us they would not be made perfect” (Heb. 11:40). The veil that partially obscured God’s glory in the old covenant was not removed until “God [who] spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days [spoke] to us in His Son … [who] is the radiance of His glory” (Heb. 1:1–3).
It is important to establish that when Scripture speaks of looking into the face of Jesus it is not speaking of a subjective, mystical experience. Donald S. Whitney writes,
The essence of mysticism is the attempt to experience God unmediated, that is, without means. This is the belief that apart from any external assistance, you enter directly into an experience of the presence of God. … The problem is, as spiritual as this may sound, the Bible never commands us to do this or ever describes such an experience. (Ten Questions to Diagnose Your Spiritual Health [Colorado Springs, Colo.: NavPress, 2001], 60. Italics in original.)
Thus, when Paul speaks of looking into the face of Jesus, he has in mind an objective, historical look at the person of Christ revealed in the Bible. The apostle Peter confirms the superiority of Scripture over experiences in 2 Peter 1:19. Though he had a remarkable vision of Christ’s glory at the Transfiguration, Peter regarded Scripture as a more reliable source of knowledge, describing it as “the prophetic word made more sure” (lit., “the more sure prophetic word”).
Looking at the face of Jesus as revealed in Scripture provides new covenant believers with strength, joy, and hope to face all of life’s trials. Those come from an understanding of God, who is most clearly revealed in Jesus Christ. In this passage Paul gives an eightfold description of looking into the face of Jesus. It is a clarifying look, a transforming look, a strengthening look, a purifying look, a truth-loving look, a privileged look, a humbling look, and a sovereignly granted look.
A CLARIFYING LOOK
But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, (3:18a)
While the creation reveals certain truths about God (Rom. 1:20), those truths are insufficient to save. A saving knowledge of God comes only through Jesus Christ (cf. John 14:6; Acts 4:12; Rom. 1:16). Unlike old covenant believers, every new covenant believer can gaze into the face of Christ with an unveiled face. We all, writes Paul, have the privilege of beholding in His face as in a mirror the glory of the Lord. Since in Christ “all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form” (Col. 2:9), believers see in His person and works what God is like. He manifested the mercy (Matt. 9:36; 14:14; 15:32; 20:34; Mark 1:41; 5:19; Luke 7:13), wisdom (John 7:46; cf. Matt. 7:29; Luke 4:22), power (Matt. 13:54; 14:2; Luke 4:36), and sovereign authority (Matt. 9:6; John 17:2) of God. Never is God more clearly revealed than in the face of Jesus Christ; “God … in these last days has spoken to us in His Son. … And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature” (Heb. 1:1–3).
All three aspects of salvation—justification, sanctification, and glorification—involve looking to Jesus. Believers’ new life in Christ begins when they look into His face and embrace Him as Lord and Savior. But just as they look to Him for justification, so also must they look to Him for sanctification, which involves “fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith” (Heb. 12:2) and discerning the mind of Christ from Scripture (1 Cor. 2:16), because “the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked” (1 John 2:6). Ultimately, at glorification Christ “will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself” (Phil. 3:21).
There is no reason for believers to be defeated by the difficulties of life if they have a proper understanding of God. And those who fail to understand God are not looking into the face of Christ. The better believers know Christ, the better they know God since seeing Him is seeing the Father (John 14:9); the better they know God the better equipped they are to handle life’s trials and difficulties. Suffering merely weakens dependence on self so that the power of God can be manifest in them (cf. 2 Cor. 12:9).
A TRANSFORMING LOOK
are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit. (3:18b)
As believers look at the glory of God in the face of Christ, they are constantly being transformed into the same image from glory to glory. They progress to ever-higher levels of glory; in other words, they move ever closer to the likeness of Jesus Christ. As noted in the previous chapter of this volume, Paul taught in Philippians 3:12–14 that the goal of the Christian life is to become like Christ:
Not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus. Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
To the Galatians he wrote, “My children, with whom I am again in labor until Christ is formed in you” (Gal. 4:19). The early believers were called “Christians” (lit., “of the party of Christ”) at Antioch because of their Christlikeness (Acts 11:26). The measure of spiritual maturity is “the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ” (Eph. 4:13), because God’s ultimate goal in salvation is that believers “become conformed to the image of His Son” (Rom. 8:29).
That goal is accomplished in believers’ lives as they gaze steadily into the face of Jesus Christ revealed in Scripture. When they do so, the Lord, the Spirit changes them into Christ’s image.
A STRENGTHENING LOOK
Therefore, since we have this ministry, as we received mercy, we do not lose heart, (4:1)
Therefore points back to Paul’s discussion of the new covenant in 3:6–18. Strength to endure trials comes from the unveiled look into the face of Christ made possible under the new covenant. That look was also the source of strength for Paul’s new covenant ministry. The apostle used the plural we as a humbler way of referring to himself. By so doing, he softened the personal nature of his defense of himself and his ministry (cf. the discussion of 3:1 in chapter 6 of this volume). The phrase we have this ministry emphasizes Paul’s humble acknowledgment that God had graciously granted him the privilege of being a new covenant minister (cf. 5:18; Acts 20:24; 26:16; Rom. 15:15–16; 1 Cor. 4:1–3; Eph. 3:7–8; Col. 1:23, 25; 1 Tim. 1:12; 2:7; 2 Tim. 1:11). Paul’s call to the ministry was based solely on God’s mercy. God’s mercy is His withholding of the judgment that sinners deserve, temporarily in the case of the unsaved to give opportunity for repentance and faith, and permanently in the case of the redeemed. In this context God’s mercy means that instead of condemning Paul because he was a “blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent aggressor” (1 Tim. 1:13), God showed him mercy by “putting [him] into service” (v. 12).
As he kept his eyes on Jesus Paul was strengthened and did not lose heart. Engkake? (lose heart) means to give in to fear, lose courage, or behave like a coward. Despite his suffering and the savage attacks on him by the false apostles, Paul had not surrendered. His courage came from confident knowledge of the God of glory, whom he had perceived in the face of Jesus Christ. God’s sovereign mercy saved him, made him a minister, and strengthened him to do the work of the ministry.
A PURIFYING LOOK
but we have renounced the things hidden because of shame, not walking in craftiness (4:2a)
From the moment he first saw the glory of Christ at his dramatic conversion, Paul certainly renounced his former hidden life of shame. He despised his sin and cried out for deliverance from it: “Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?” (Rom. 7:24). His Christian life was from the outset a life of purity, as he pursued holiness.
When people see the glory of God revealed in the face of Jesus Christ and are born again, when they understand who God is, what His holy law demands, and the provision of salvation in Jesus Christ, they renounce and turn from their sin and devote themselves to the pursuit of godliness. A repentance that does not involve turning from sin is foreign to Scripture. (For a discussion of the biblical view of repentance, see John MacArthur, The Gospel According to Jesus, rev. ed. [Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1994], and The Gospel According to the Apostles [Nashville: Word, 2000].)
The adversative conjunction alla (but) could be translated “on the contrary,” or “on the other hand.” It indicates a contrast between Paul and the false apostles at Corinth. The things hidden because of shame could be the very things they were accusing him of. But in reality it was the false apostles, not Paul, who were guilty of them. It was they who had a secret life of shame and who brought a hidden agenda to Corinth. Paul once had a hidden, secret life of shame before his conversion (cf. Phil. 3:4–6). He was like his fellow Pharisees, whom Jesus scathingly denounced in Matthew 23:27: “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness.” Like them, Paul could not help but be filthy on the inside, because legalism cannot restrain the flesh, and a false salvation transforms no one.
Aischunē (shame) describes disgraceful, dishonorable deeds that produce embarrassment and humiliation. Such a dark, hidden, hypocritical lifestyle had characterized Paul before his conversion. But that secret life of sin died when he met Jesus Christ. He became “a new creature; the old things [in his life] passed away; behold, new things [came]” (2 Cor. 5:17). That does not mean, of course, that Paul never again sinned, but that when he did sin he confessed it and turned away from it. Though he felt the plague of indwelling sin (Rom. 7:14–23), he no longer had a sinful, secret life that he willfully clung to. Like Paul, believers must shun the shameful deeds that once characterized them. When they attempt to creep back into their lives, they must defeat them through prayer and the Word.
There is, however, another way to interpret this statement. The context being new covenant ministry and the fruitful proclamation of the Word, Paul may be saying that he rejected any and all personal feelings of shame about the offensive gospel (cf. 1 Cor. 1:18, 23–25). It was foolishness to Greeks and a stumbling block to Jews, and therefore universally rejected. Though it thus brought shame upon anyone who proclaimed it, Paul refused to hide its truth (Rom. 1:16–17).
Further contrasting himself with the false apostles, Paul declared that he was not guilty of walking in craftiness. Panourgia (craftiness) refers to trickery (Luke 20:23) and deceit (2 Cor. 11:3; Eph. 4:14). Someone who practiced panourgia was unscrupulous, willing to do anything to achieve his goals. In a plain testimony to their own corruption, the false apostles had accused Paul of being (like they were secretly) a manipulator, of seeking money, power, and influence. None of that, however, was true. Paul was no deceiver; he had no hidden agenda. He was nothing more than what he appeared to be: a bold, fearless preacher of the new covenant gospel message. His approach was simple, plain, and straightforward, as he stated in 1 Corinthians 2:1–2: “And when I came to you, brethren, I did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God. For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.” The apostle rejected the idea, prevalent in the pagan religions of his day, of a deep, hidden, secret knowledge available only to the initiated. He also rejected efforts to remove the perceived shameful features of the gospel and thus deceive people (cf. 2 Cor. 2:17).
It was in part because of his plain, clear approach to the ministry that the false teachers attacked Paul. They preferred a subtler, more veiled approach, one more appealing, palatable, and less offensive to unbelievers. Plain preachers like Paul are offensive because they preach the straightforward, unvarnished truth, whether or not it brings shame on them. This was Paul’s attitude when he wrote, “For even if I boast somewhat further about our authority, which the Lord gave for building you up and not for destroying you, I will not be put to shame, for I do not wish to seem as if I would terrify you by my letters” (2 Cor. 10:8–9). He was never ashamed of the gospel; he never hid its truth or used trickery that adulterated it. The false teachers did not want to offend people; they wanted to make money from them. They also wanted an element of mystery in their message. As the ones initiated to the mysteries, that would boost both their own prestige and impress their followers.
The false apostles were, in effect, first-century marketing experts. They viewed the gospel as a product and themselves as salesmen. Part of selling the product (the gospel) was veiling its truth and sprucing it up by adding some mystery and magic. By tweaking the message, repackaging it to make it more popular and trendy, they hoped to better appeal to first-century consumers. They would then succeed in making converts (and money). Paul’s straightforward, powerful presentation of the pure unadulterated gospel (cf. Rom. 1:16) frustrated and threatened them. It also exposed their secret lives of shame. It is no wonder, then, that they bitterly opposed Paul.
The difference between Paul and the false apostles was that he had looked to Christ for salvation and they had not. No one can truly look into the face of Jesus and be a deceiver. No one can truly look into the face of Jesus and continue to cultivate a shameful, secret life of sin, because “everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure” (1 John 3:3).
A TRUTH-LOVING LOOK
or adulterating the word of God, but by the manifestation of truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God. (4:2b)
Jesus Christ is truth incarnate; He Himself declared: “I am … the truth” (John 14:6; cf. John 1:14, 17; Rev. 19:11). When people look to Him for salvation, they fall in love with the truth; the lost will perish eternally “because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved” (2 Thess. 2:10). Therefore being saved means loving the truth.
From his conversion, along with his hidden life of sin and shame, Paul also renounced any feeling of shame because of the offense of the gospel that might make him guilty of adulterating the word of God (cf. Phil. 1:20). Adulterating is from dolo?, a word used in extrabiblical Greek to speak of corrupting gold or wine with inferior ingredients (Richard C. Trench, Synonyms of the New Testament [Reprint; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1983], 230). Paul’s message was the plain, pure, un mixed truth of the gospel.
The same could not be said, however, for the false apostles. They were busy adulterating the Word of God for their own purposes. In 2 Co rinthians 2:17 Paul denounced them as being guilty of “peddling the word of God.” They were con men, cheats, charlatans, and frauds, guilty of the same deception of which they falsely accused Paul. No doubt they accused him of tampering with the truth by not preaching the Mosaic Law. They probably also insisted that Paul’s simplistic message denied the hidden, secret things of God, that therefore he was guilty of failing to preach the whole counsel of God. Sadly, many today level the same charges at those who proclaim the sufficiency of Scripture. The idea that the Bible alone—apart from psychology, mysticism, or supposed supernatural experiences—contains everything needed to live a joyous, fulfilled, God-honoring life is derided as quaintly naïve and overly simplistic. Even sadder is the reality that many Christians “will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they … accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and … turn away their ears from the truth and … turn aside to myths” (2 Tim. 4:3–4). The siren song of sophisticated false teaching lures many to make shipwreck of their faith.
A sure mark of a growing Christian is love for biblical truth. When there is an open, clear manifestation of the truth of Scripture, no matter what public scorn it brings, there is the source for spiritual power and impact. But when preachers, ashamed of the gospel, proclaim human wisdom deceitfully in the name of divine truth, their work is impotent. Thus, the faithful preacher’s world is the realm of biblical truth. His task is to proclaim the clear, pure doctrine that is the foundation of the faith. All believers should love the truth; they should “like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it [they] may grow in respect to salvation” (1 Peter 2:2; cf. 1 Tim. 4:6).
Paul’s plain, straightforward preaching of the gospel had the effect of commending him to every man’s conscience. All people, even those who have not heard the gospel, have an innate (though limited) knowledge of God’s law. The preaching of the gospel activates the conscience, which bears witness to the truth of the message even in those who reject it. That is true because “the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart” (Heb. 4:12).
As with everything else in his life, Paul preached the truth in the sight of God. In 1 Corinthians 4:3–4 he wrote, “But to me it is a very small thing that I may be examined by you, or by any human court; in fact, I do not even examine myself. For I am conscious of nothing against myself, yet I am not by this acquitted; but the one who examines me is the Lord.” He sought God’s approval, not man’s, knowing that He is the One to whom every preacher (and every believer) is ultimately accountable.
The measure of a believer’s spiritual maturity is his or her loyalty to the truth (cf. Ps. 119:97–106; 113, 119, 127, 161–162, 174). Throughout its history, those who have had the greatest impact in the life of the church have been those most committed to the truth. And those who love it will find it in Jesus (Eph. 4:21).
A PRIVILEGED LOOK
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. (4:3–4)
Not everyone has the privilege of looking into the face of Jesus, “for the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it” (Matt. 7:14). Only those who have had the veil of spiritual blindness removed in Christ (cf. 2 Cor. 3:14) can look into His face.
As noted above, one of the criticisms the false apostles leveled against Paul was that his evangelistic methodology was defective. His approach, which he defined in 1 Corinthians 2:2, was simple and straightforward: “For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.” He frankly admitted, “My message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power” (1 Cor. 2:4). His preaching was a plain, bold, direct presentation of sin, repentance, and faith. Because of that, the false apostles accused him of being offensive and ineffective. His preaching was alienating people; it was “to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness” (1 Cor. 1:23). He needed a better marketing plan to overcome consumer resistance.
That kind of thinking is prevalent in today’s church. Contemporary critics argue for a subtler and less offensive approach to presenting the gospel. Preaching sin, repentance, judgment, and hell is out; “user-friendly” churches are in. Worship services give way to entertainment designed to make nonbelievers feel comfortable and not threatened. The thinking is that they will then be open to considering Christ.
Underlying much of modern evangelism is the heretical idea that anyone can and will respond to the gospel if it is presented in an ingenious enough way. That view sees unbelievers as consumers, for whom the gospel must be cleverly packaged in order to make the sale. Roy Clements writes perceptively of this trend:
A preacher … is a herald, and a herald is precisely a one-way communicator; he does not dialogue, he announces a message he has received. But if our communication experts are correct, announcements do not change anybody. Where is the flaw in their reasoning? … It lies in the theology. For people who argue like this are assuming that Christian preaching is analogous to a marketing exercise. You have your product: the gospel. You have your consumers: the congregation. And the preacher is the salesman. It is his job to overcome consumer resistance and persuade people to buy.
According to Paul, there is one very simple but overwhelming reason why that analogy is not a good one. The preacher does not overcome consumer resistance. He cannot. Consumer resistance is far too large for any preacher to overcome. All the preacher does, Paul says, is to expose that resistance in its formidable impenetrability. If our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. The god of this age has blinded their minds and “they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ.” … The preacher does not save anybody. He is an instrument whereby people who are being saved become aware of the fact.
Evangelism has to be proclamation because preaching is a sacrament of the divine sovereignty. (The Strength of Weakness [Grand Rapids: Baker, 1995], 75–76)
Salvation is never the result of human persuasion; it is a sovereign act of God. In John 6:44 Jesus declared, “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him.” Acts 11:18 affirms that “God has granted to the Gentiles also the repentance that leads to life.” Lydia was saved when “the Lord opened her heart to respond to the things spoken by Paul” (Acts 16:14). Paul counseled Timothy,
The Lord’s bond-servant must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all, able to teach, patient when wronged, with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will. (2 Tim. 2:24–26)
The apostle reminded Titus that “[God] saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit” (Titus 3:5).
The issue is not the skill of the one proclaiming the message, the packaging of the message, or the technique used in proclaiming it. The issue is the condition of the hearer. Jesus illustrated that principle in the parable of the sower. The same message (the seed) is proclaimed by the same individual (the sower); the only variable is the condition of the four soils. What is essential for messengers of the gospel is not cleverness but clarity. Only God can open the sin-blinded eyes of those who are “dead in [their] trespasses and sins” (Eph. 2:1; cf. v. 5; Matt. 8:22; Eph. 4:18).
To those who criticized his preaching as irrelevant, offensive, and ineffective Paul replied, Even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. Fallen, dead in their sins, and spiritually blind, those who reject the gospel message are headed for eternal doom (cf. 2 Cor. 2:15; 3:14; Luke 13:3, 5; Rom. 2:12; 1 Cor. 1:18; 2 Thess. 2:9–11). Therefore “a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised” (1 Cor. 2:14). The issue is not contriving nonthreatening church services or developing better marketing skill in pitching the gospel. The issue is that those who reject the gospel message do so because “[they love] the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds [are] evil” (John 3:19).
In addition to their own love of sin, unbelievers reject the gospel because the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving. The unbelieving are the same ones described in verse 3 as those who are perishing; the two terms are synonyms. Despite the claims of some, there can be no such thing as an “unbelieving Christian,” since the unbelieving are the perishing. Aiōn (world) is better translated “age” (as it is in Matt. 12:32; 13:39, 40, 49; 24:3; 28:20; Luke 16:8; 18:30; 20:34; 1 Cor. 1:20; 2:6, 7, 8; 3:18; Gal. 1:4; Eph. 1:21; Col. 1:26; Titus 2:12; Heb. 6:5, etc.). The god of this world or age is Satan, (John 12:31; 14:30; 16:11; Eph. 2:2; 2 Tim. 2:26; 1 John 5:19), who controls the ideologies, opinions, hopes, aims, goals, and viewpoints current in the world (cf. 2 Cor. 10:3–5). He is behind the world’s systems of philosophy, psychology, education, sociology, ethics, and economics. But perhaps his greatest influence is in the realm of false religion. Satan, of course, is not a god but a created being. He is called a god because his deluded followers serve him as if he were one. Satan is the archetype of all the false gods in all the false religions he has spawned.
It is that massive and pervasive influence over society by which Satan deludes the unregenerate so that they might not see the light of the gospel. Except in rare cases, Satan and his demons do not directly indwell individuals. They do not need to. Satan has created a system that panders to the depravity of unbelievers and drives them deeper into darkness. In addition to being dead in their trespasses and sins (Eph. 2:1), veiled from the truth (2 Cor. 3:15), haters of light and lovers of darkness (John 3:19–20), unbelievers walk “according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience … [living] in the lusts of [the] flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and [are] by nature children of wrath” (Eph. 2:2–3). They are “of [their] father the devil, and [they] want to do the desires of [their] father” (John 8:44). All the evil of the human heart—crime, hatred, bitterness, anger, injustice, immorality, and conflict between nations and individuals—is pandered to by Satan’s agenda. The world system he has created inflames the evil desires of fallen people, causing them to be willfully blind and love their darkness.
Minds translates noēma, which refers to the ability to reason or think. Unregenerate people cannot think properly about spiritual truth (1 Cor. 2:14) because they have a “depraved mind” (Rom. 1:28; 1 Tim. 6:5; 2 Tim. 3:8). No matter how slick the presentation is, it will not persuade a depraved mind to respond favorably to the gospel. Only God can turn on the light in the human heart (cf. 2 Cor. 4:6; Luke 24:45; Acts 26:18) so that it can respond in saving faith to the gospel of the glory of Christ. God’s glory is revealed in Jesus Christ, because He is the image of God (John 1:14; Col. 1:19; 2:9; Heb. 1:3). The privilege of seeing God’s glory revealed in Christ is granted only to those to whom God in His mercy grants spiritual sight.
A HUMBLING LOOK
For we do not preach ourselves but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your bond-servants for Jesus’ sake. (4:5)
The immeasurable privilege of proclaiming the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ might lead some to become proud and boastful. In fact, one of the slanderous accusations the false apostles made against Paul was that he preached with selfish motives. He was in the ministry, they claimed, for his own self-exaltation, self-promotion, self-aggrandizement, power, prestige, and prominence. Nothing could have been further from the truth. By declaring, We do not preach ourselves, Paul distinguished himself from the false apostles, who did, in fact, preach themselves. Later in this epistle he wrote, “For we are not bold to class or compare ourselves with some of those who commend themselves”—the false apostles, who foolishly “measure[d] themselves by themselves and compare[d] themselves with themselves,” demonstrating that “they [were] without understanding” (10:12). Thus Paul’s disclaimer was both a denial of the false apostles’ charge and an indictment of them.
Far from being arrogant, proud, and self-assured, Paul ministered in Corinth “in weakness and in fear and in much trembling” (1 Cor. 2:3). Instead of boasting of his own abilities and successes, he wrote, “On my own behalf I will not boast, except in regard to my weaknesses. … I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me” (2 Cor. 12:5, 9). Paul’s vision of the glory of Christ dominated his life, and his love for Him consumed the apostle.
Instead of promoting his own agenda, Paul proclaimed Christ Jesus as Lord. He preached Him as the humble (Phil. 2:8) crucified Savior (1 Cor. 2:2), who died to save His people from their sins (Matt. 1:21; John 1:29; Acts 5:31; 13:38; 1 John 2:2; 3:5; Rev. 1:5). But he also preached Him as the sovereign Lord, who demands submission, allegiance, and obedience (Rom. 10:9; 1 Cor. 12:3; Phil. 2:10–11). (I discuss the vital lordship of Christ in my books The Gospel According to Jesus and The Gospel According to the Apostles referred to earlier in this chapter.)
The heart of new covenant preaching is communicating the truth about Jesus Christ, since “faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of [lit., “about,” or “concerning”] Christ” (Rom. 10:17). True preaching about Christ includes the truth that He is both Savior and Lord. Its goal is to get people to understand who Jesus is, why He came, and what He accomplished. God, in His sovereign grace, then uses that truth to bring salvation to the human heart.
Unlike the proud, boastful false apostles, Paul mentioned himself only to express his humility. The apostle frequently declared himself to be a bond-servant of Jesus Christ (e.g., Rom. 1:1; Gal. 1:10; Phil. 1:1; Titus 1:1) who served the church for Jesus’ sake. A true look into the face of Jesus is the most humbling experience possible. Those who love Christ and are devoted to serving Him will be self-effacing, not self-exalting. They will also humbly serve God’s people. Conversely, those who are proud are not looking into the face of Jesus. Their primary concern is with themselves, not the welfare of God’s people.
A SOVEREIGNLY GRANTED LOOK
For God, who said, “Light shall shine out of darkness,” is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. (4:6)
Redemption is as much a sovereign work of God as creation; in fact, Paul used the analogy of creation to describe salvation when he wrote, “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come” (2 Cor. 5:17). Here he also uses an analogy for salvation drawn from the creation of the physical world, noting that the same God, who said, “Light shall shine out of darkness” (cf. Gen. 1:3) is the One who has shone in our hearts. The same God who turned on the light physically turns on the light spiritually—and does both without using any evolutionary process.
Spiritual darkness envelopes the unredeemed until God shines the light of the gospel in their hearts; He alone can dispel the darkness of sin and ignorance. But at salvation God “qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in Light. For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son” (Col. 1:12–13). Jesus declared in John 8:12, “I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life” (cf. John 9:5; 12:46). At salvation sinners receive the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. When God sovereignly shines that Light into sin-darkened hearts through the preaching of the gospel (Rom. 10:13–15), it brings true knowledge of who Christ is; that He is God incarnate, and that the glory of God shines perfectly in His face.
In this rich passage Paul has revealed that the essence of the Christian life involves “fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith” (Heb. 12:2). Looking to Him begins the Christian life (justification), is the basis for living the Christian life (sanctification), and will be believers’ occupation throughout eternity (glorification).