And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God….For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. (2 Corinthians 4:3-4, 6)
Although the gospel centers on the salvation of sinners by Jesus Christ, it includes and presupposes all the doctrines that make up the Christian faith, so that “the gospel” and “the Christian faith” do not mean very different things. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians, “For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified” (2:2). This has been taken as a repudiation of theology, but the internal evidence would require us to see this as a misinterpretation. In 1 Corinthians 15 the apostle indicates that the gospel that he preached included the resurrection of Christ, but he makes no mention of it in 2:2. This means that the expression “Jesus Christ and him crucified” is not intended to be inclusive of all that he preached, but rather representative of what he preached.
In 1 Corinthians 1 and 2, Paul contrasts the wisdom of man and the wisdom of God, and also human eloquence and divine power. He asserts that he did not bring a mixture of human wisdom and divine wisdom to the Corinthians, but he kept his message pure, and free from human science and philosophy. His preaching was not a display of his academic training and rhetorical prowess; instead, he waited on God’s sovereign power, so that the outcome became a matter of the demonstration of the Spirit. Thus when he writes that he resolved to know nothing except “Jesus Christ and him crucified,” he means that he preached only what was in the Christian faith, and included nothing from human learning and speculation.
This serves as a rebuke to those who incorporate science and philosophy in their preaching, especially not as something incidental and trivial. It is not uncommon for Christian leaders to borrow heavily from psychology, sociology, the natural sciences, and other foreign disciplines in their attempts to apply the gospel to men and women. The apostolic principle is that extra-biblical principles are unnecessary for the Christian ministry and in the preaching of the gospel. Those who say otherwise betray a sinful reliance on human wisdom and a lack of confidence in divine revelation.
This consideration of 1 Corinthians 2 also serves as a rebuke to the minimalist approach to gospel preaching. Paul resolved to preach nothing other than “Jesus Christ and him crucified,” or only what is in the Christian faith, but there is much that is in the Christian faith. At least it includes the resurrection of Christ, and in the same context, he also mentions the resurrection of believers, the second coming, and judgment. To those unfamiliar with the theological background, all the presupposed and related doctrines must be made explicit. Paul does this in his speech to the Athenians (Acts 17:22-31). There he alludes to the divine attributes, creation, providence, resurrection, judgment, and so on. The doctrines of the incarnation and the atonement are essential to the gospel, and without insisting on justification by faith, the message would not be the gospel at all (Galatians 1:6-9).
Therefore, to preach only “Jesus Christ and him crucified,” does not encourage ignorance, since the expression excludes only human wisdom, but includes all that makes up the Christian faith. This means that anyone who preaches the gospel must know the biblical doctrines. This understanding of the gospel is important to our passage because Paul says that the gospel – this gospel that entails so many biblical doctrines, including the divine attributes, creation, providence, the incarnation (thus also the Trinity), the atonement, the resurrection, the second coming, the judgment, and a number of others – is “veiled” to those who perish. The apostle thinks that the biblical doctrines are plainly set forth. Sometimes preachers and theologians suggest that these things are shrouded in a cloud of impenetrable mystery, but according to Paul this places them in the position of unbelievers. For those who have received the Holy Spirit, the biblical doctrines are straightforward, obviously true, and not too difficult to understand.
Non-Christians wish to think that believers run on blind faith. They imagine that, if there is a God at all, he must be hiding in a cave somewhere, waiting for us to discover him. And why is he hiding if he wishes to be known? Christians too often accept this representation and respond with this as their starting point. They agree that God is hiding, that he makes himself obscure, and then they attempt to explain why he does it. But Christians, do you not see him? Is he really hiding from you, and from the rest of the world?
The Bible teaches something else. It says, “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge. There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard. Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world” (Psalm 19:1-4). And Paul writes, “The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities – his eternal power and divine nature – have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse” (Romans 1:18-20).
The Bible always explains unbelief by saying that there is something defective in the non-Christians. There is something wrong with them. There is nothing wrong with the Christian faith, and there is nothing wrong with Christians. The problem is in the unbelievers. The truth is that we see clearly – not with eyes of flesh, but with the eyes of our intelligence. The non-Christians are the ones who are blind, that is, blind in their minds. They run on blind unbelief. The sun shines everywhere; it is not hiding from anybody. But the blind man cannot see it, because there is a defect in him.
Never be embarrassed when non-Christians refuse to believe the gospel and when they ridicule our faith, but realize that there is something wrong with them and proceed on that basis. Paul writes, “The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers” (4:4). In other words, non-Christians are supernaturally stupid. No man can make himself or someone else this stupid, so fantastically stupid that he cannot perceive the truth of the Christian faith.
It follows that no mere man can repair someone like this. Such a stupid person needs a supernatural cure, even a miracle from God. Paul likens this to the act of creation, when God commands light to shine in darkness. The non-Christian mind is completely dark – there is no trace of wisdom there, and thus it is impossible for him to generate even a spark of insight by his own ability. But as we preach the gospel of Jesus Christ, God shows mercy to some of our hearers and fills their minds with light. Now they see the Christian faith as obviously and undeniably true, and they perceive Jesus Christ as the only way to salvation. This is true conversion, and the beginning of wisdom.