II. CORINTHIANS 4, 4. 85

In this verse the apostle assigns the reason why those who are lost do not see the truth and excellence of the gospel. It is that the god of this world hath blinded their minds. In ichoni (iv oh). The relative is used here as implying a cause or reason. ' Our gospel is hid to them who are lost, because in them,' &g. See 3, 6. • The god of this worlds i. e. Satan, who is called the god of this world because of the power which he exercises over the men of the world, and because of the servile obedience which they render to him. They are taken captive by him at his will. 2 Tim. 2, 26. It is not necessary in order that men should serve Satan, and even worship him, that they should intend to do so, or even that they should know that such a being exists. 1 Cor. 10, 20. It is enough that he actually controls them, and that they fulfil his purposes as implicitly as the good fulfil the will of God. Not to serve God, is to serve Satan. There is no help for it. If Jehovah be not our God, Satan is. He is therefore called the prince of this world. , John 12, 31. 14, 30. Comp. Matt. 4,8.9. Eph. 2, 2. 6,12. ^ This was one of the designations which the Rabbins applied to Satan. The true God, they said, is Deus primus, Satan, Deus secundus. Or as old Calovius said, Dlabolus est simia Dei. As the Arians argued from the fact that Satan is called god of this world, that Christ's being called God is no proof of his true divinity ; and as the Manicheans quoted the passage in favour of their doctrine of two eternal principles, the one good and the other evil, many of the fathers, including even Chrysostom and Augus- tine, in violation of its obvious construction, make it to mean, " God hath bUnded the minds of this world, i. e. of unbeliev- ers." On which Calvin remarks, We see how far the spirit of controversy can lead men in perverting Scripture. The word god may be used figuratively as well as literally. That we say mammon is the god of the world, or that Paul said of cer- tain men, " their belly is their god," does not prove that call- ing Jehovah God is no assertion of his divinity. And as to the Manichean argument, unless it can be shown that when Baal is called god of the Syrians, eternity and self-existence are ascribed to him, it cannot be inferred that these attributes belong to Satan because he is called the god of this world. Satan is said to blind the riiinds of those that believe not / that is, he exerts such an influence over them as prevents their ap- prehending the glory of the gospel. This control of Satan over the human mind, although so effectual, is analogous to