Theophylact of Ohrid, on 2Cor 4:4

“In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of unbelievers, that the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should not shine unto them.”

“Among those who are perishing, he says, who are many and various, are also the unbelievers. It is they whose "the god of this age has blinded the minds." The Marcionites assert that this is said about the demiurge, whom they call just (see St. John Chrysostom, Homily 8), but not good, while the Manichaeans refer this to the devil, whom they also call the creator of the world. But neither the one nor the other is correct; rather, this is said about our God. And if He is called the God of this age, there is nothing new in that, for He is also called the God of heaven, although He is not God of it alone; He is also called the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, although He is God not of them alone, but of all. What is strange, then, if Paul also fittingly called Him here the God of this age, in order to better show the unbelievers that He created even this visible world, while enjoying which they reject the Creator? This passage can also be explained thus: that God blinded the minds of the unbelievers of this age, for in the age to come there are no unbelievers. What then does "blinded" mean? It means that He permitted them to be blind, just as He also "gave them over to a debased mind" (Rom. 1:28). For after they fell away from Him, He left them to themselves, abandoned them, because He does not compel anyone to salvation. Note, however, that he did not say He blinded them so that they would not believe, but so that unworthy eyes would not see the radiance of Christ's glory. And the radiance consists in believing that He was crucified, ascended, and will grant us future blessings. Just as one with diseased eyes is not allowed to see the rays of the sun lest they be harmed, so too they became unbelievers of their own accord. And when they became such, God hid from them the rays of the glory of the Gospel, as from the Israelites the face of Moses. So He also commanded us "not to cast pearls before swine" (Matt. 7:6). He beautifully said "to shine," for now we have a moderate light, and not full illumination, which above he called a fragrance and a pledge, showing that there is something greater. Here he shows that they do not know not only the glory of Christ, but also the glory of the Father. For if Christ is the image of the Father, then he who does not see Christ does not know the Father either.”

Imported from an open dataset — not yet checked against the printed edition.