Topical Studies
What the Bible says about
Spiritual Blindness: the God of this World
(From Forerunner Commentary)
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Genesis 19:10-11
In this instance, the violent Sodomites, determined to assault Lot and his angelic guests sexually, were physically blinded. God used the two angels He had sent to deliver Lot as instruments to take the men's sight. Angels are not the only servants of God used to blind those who oppose Him. On occasion, His human servants have prayed for Him to restrain the sight of enemies, and He has answered. For example, Elisha asked for God to blind the Syrian army, and He did so temporarily (II Kings 6:18-20). In Acts 13:11, Paul called on God to blind Elymas the sorcerer for a time, which He did. Famously, Christ Himself struck Paul blind on the road to Damascus, and the apostle's temporary blindness potently portrayed the spiritual blindness in which he walked to that point (Acts 9:3-9).
David C. Grabbe
Spiritual Blindness (Part One): The God of This World
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Exodus 4:11
Exodus 4:11 underscores God's sovereignty over human physical and spiritual abilities. In responding to Moses' resistance to His summons to service, God declares that He is responsible for the organs that work and those that do not. Whatever speech difficulties Moses had were entirely in God's hands. Moses had claimed he was “slow of speech,” and if so, God counterclaims to be the source of that impediment and also the potential solution to it. Such a minor problem could not impede God's ability to work through him. Likewise, whether one sees or is blind is in God's hands. Although God refers directly to physical capabilities here, His sovereignty certainly extends into spiritual ones as well. He governs humanity's ability to see (and hear) spiritually. As Solomon observes in Proverbs 25:2, “It is the glory of God to conceal a matter.”
David C. Grabbe
Spiritual Blindness (Part One): The God of This World
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Deuteronomy 28:28-29
As part of God's warning to the Israelites against sin, He promises to hobble their ability to understand, reason, and think things through. God promises madness, blindness, and confusion of heart for disobeying His voice and failing to observe His commandments and statutes carefully (Deuteronomy 28:15). This curse shows the other side of the principle, that understanding comes with following His commandments (Psalm 111:10). Conversely, breaking the commandments destroys understanding. The physical curses in Deuteronomy 28 are painful enough, but the mental blindness in verse 28 creates a dreadful situation. Amid the other curses, a person can at least analyze what is happening and perhaps find a way to deal with it. But this blindness—an inability to discern rationally—makes the person's plight far worse! He cannot even understand what is occurring, let alone identify a real solution like repentance and returning to God. The nations of Israel are suffering under quite a few curses right now, yet because they are blind to the cause-and-effect relationship, there is little—if any—thought that national immorality is the cause of their problems. Those God curses with “madness and blindness and confusion of heart” can only grope aimlessly for solutions, and those they choose cannot work because they exclude God. God's willingness to take away understanding and wisdom makes many uncomfortable. They do not believe He would actually do such a thing. They do not believe He means what He says. Some people have a similar and related disbelief regarding scattering, another curse of God (Leviticus 26:33; Deuteronomy 4:27; 28:64). God scattered the post-Flood people at the Tower of Babel because of their rebellion against Him (Genesis 11:8-9). He likewise scattered the children of Israel for the same reason, just as He had promised (Deuteronomy 30:3; I Kings 14:15; Psalm 44:11; 92:9; Jeremiah 9:16; etc.). The modern church of God has also suffered scattering, yet many have concluded that Satan scattered it because of their discomfort with God acting this way. Assigning blame to Satan may provide a measure of comfort, for if Satan were the prime mover, members would all just be victims of Satan. However, an unstated implication of this notion is that Satan somehow outsmarted or outmaneuvered God. Yet, it is God who promises and claims scattering. Because of His sovereignty, He is the only One who can bring about what happened to Babel, to Israel, and to His church. On the other hand, Satan can only do what He allows him to do (see, for instance, Job 1:6-12; 2:1-7). Do we believe that God will respond today to immorality, presumption, and spiritual neglect as He did in the past? True, God's chastening of His saints is of a different quality than His punishment of Israel, but the principle of cause-and-effect has not disappeared. God's scattering of the church differs from Israel's in that it has been organizational rather than geographical and catastrophic. Yet, we are still scattered because God is faithful to His Word. Rather than being immune to God's chastening, the church is even more accountable because of its privileged position (see Luke 12:48; also the principle in Amos 3:2). Scattering relates to blinding in that it illustrates why it is so critical to have a correct concept of God so that we can recognize the respective actions of God and Satan. God's actions do not always match our assumptions. He says that He will cause madness, blindness, and confusion of heart when His people walk contrary to His way. We might think Satan would be the source of these works, yet God claims responsibility for them!
David C. Grabbe
Spiritual Blindness (Part One): The God of This World
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Isaiah 45:7
To worship God “in spirit and truth” (John 4:24) requires us to refine our concept of Him continually based on what Scripture teaches, which at times necessitates challenging our preconceptions. Due to this reality, God's actions at times make us uncomfortable. When a recorded deed or attribute of God does not fit our ideas, we tend to hurry past such disconcerting passages rather than allow the holy and pure Word of God to mold our minds. One act of God that may seem ungodlike is that He blinds. More precisely, God exercises sovereignty over both physical sight and spiritual vision—that is, understanding. At times, He removes literal or metaphorical sight as He works out His purpose.
David C. Grabbe
Spiritual Blindness (Part One): The God of This World
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Romans 11:7-10
Paul explains the fundamental reason for God's current blinding of Israel: God is working with the elect in a way He is not working with Israel yet. Thus, He has blinded Israel until He calls those Gentiles that He has determined to convert. Israel was disobedient, so He scattered and blinded her, intending to regather her and restore her understanding in the future. Then she will recognize her Savior and learn what a relationship with Him truly entails.
David C. Grabbe
Spiritual Blindness (Part One): The God of This World
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2 Corinthians 2:14-15
Here begins a thought that finishes in chapter 4. Paul writes about the true knowledge God has dispersed through His servants. Verse 15 presents two general classifications of people, those who are being saved and those who are perishing. The word “perishing” (apollymi) is central to the overall thought, and it deals with being destroyed or lost. Jesus used this word when He referred to the “lost sheep of the house of Israel”—the “lost sheep” were perishing sheep. In Luke 13, He tells His audience twice that unless they repent, they will perish (verses 3, 5). John 3:15-16 informs us that those who believe will not perish but have everlasting life. Thus, God gave true and precious knowledge in the gospel of the Kingdom of God. Some people responded positively through belief and repentance, but most did not. Hence, the Jews comprised a major contingent of those who were perishing. Jesus describes the Pharisees as “blind leaders of the blind” (Matthew 15:14). When we understand why the Jews (with few exceptions) rejected the gospel, we will understand the blinding of II Corinthians 4:4.
David C. Grabbe
Spiritual Blindness (Part Two): The God of This Age
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2 Corinthians 3:7-8
With Israel still in his sights, Paul moves on to a brief discussion of the covenants. He notes that the Old Covenant had a glory, but the ministry of the Spirit is even more glorious. He refers to the incident when God's glory glowed from a human face, and even that reflected glory was too much for the Israelites to bear. Out of consideration, Moses wore a veil.
David C. Grabbe
Spiritual Blindness (Part Two): The God of This Age
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2 Corinthians 3:12-16
Paul says Moses kept Israel from looking at “the end of what was passing away.” Romans 10:4 says that Christ is the end (meaning “the goal” or “aim”) of the law. This reality is vital to us because we should be able to look at all the sacrifices and rituals and see Christ's glory, for He was their object. His light was too bright for the Israelites because their carnal minds could not receive it. So, Paul uses the metaphors of blindness and veils. Moses' veil was out of consideration for a carnal people who could not handle the light—either physically or spiritually—because of their natural state (see Deuteronomy 29:4). But it was not Satan who introduced the veil! Who blinded Israel? God Himself declares that He blinded and hardened the hearts of the Israelites, just as He promised He would if they persisted in disobedience (Deuteronomy 28:28): » And He said, “Go, and tell this people: 'Keep on hearing, but do not understand; keep on seeing, but do not perceive.' Make the heart of this people dull, and their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and return and be healed.” (Isaiah 6:9-10) » For the LORD has poured out on you the spirit of deep sleep, and has closed your eyes, namely, the prophets; and He has covered your heads, namely, the seers. (Isaiah 29:10) » Therefore, behold, I will again do a marvelous work among this people, a marvelous work and a wonder; for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hidden. (Isaiah 29:14) Because of Israel's hardness of heart and rejection of God, part of Isaiah's unusual commission was to make Israel's self-inflicted blindness even worse (Isaiah 6:9-10)! God successfully used Isaiah, such that when Jesus came on the scene, the nation was still blind except for the few to whom He chose to grant spiritual sight. When Jesus came to His own, God withheld an incredible blessing, such that the Jews, in general, could not see their Savior. Recall Jesus' prayer in Matthew 11:25: “I thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and have revealed them to babes.” His people saw Him physically, yet most did not recognize Him spiritually. God did not withhold this understanding out of vindictiveness but because they had rejected Him all along. On the road to Emmaus, the two disciples' eyes were restrained (Luke 24:16). Jesus, beginning with Moses' writings, showed them all the places in Scripture that spoke about Him. He opened their eyes to see the things they could not comprehend before. The true God had closed Israel's eyes—the God of this age had blinded them—and He was now opening the eyes of those few He was calling so that He could heal their minds. In his epistle to the Romans, Paul underscores Israel's spiritual blindness and clearly identifies who was and is responsible for it: What then? Israel has not obtained what it seeks; but the elect have obtained it, and the rest were blinded. Just as it is written: “God has given them a spirit of stupor, eyes that they should not see and ears that they should not hear, to this very day.” (Romans 11:7-8) He uses somewhat different terminology, but the essence of his words unmistakably matches II Corinthians 4:3-4: But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the [G]od of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them. For those who are perishing, the gospel of the Kingdom of God is veiled. They can understand some aspects of it, for which God will hold them accountable, but He has equipped only the elect with the Holy Spirit to understand the deep things (I Corinthians 2:10). Even with what His elect do understand, they still see dimly and await being face to face (see I Corinthians 13:12). Everybody else will have his or her chance in the resurrection. God holds them responsible for much less than He does the elect. He has consigned them to disobedience so that He may show mercy. When the time is right, He will open the eyes of those whom He has blinded for now.
David C. Grabbe
Spiritual Blindness (Part Two): The God of This Age
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2 Corinthians 4:3-4
II Corinthians 4:3-4, is commonly quoted with little consideration as to who it is truly describing. Who did this blinding? Because the translators use a lowercase g, we assume that Satan receives the title of “god of this age” or “god of this world.” But could this be a case of mistaken identity? The Bible contains many clear and definitive scriptures in which God declares that He will blind and that He has blinded, as well as ones about eyes being closed (see Deuteronomy 29:4; Job 17:4; Matthew 11:25-26; Luke 10:21; 19:41-42). He blinds, and He also heals the blindness that either He has caused or that men have chosen. But in no other place is Satan said to blind or is shown closing eyes. If II Corinthians 4:4 is about Satan, it is a significant anomaly. Rather than blinding, Satan deceives. He works to distort vision (rather than take it away) to influence people to sin, but the Bible never shows him opening or closing eyes, physically or metaphorically. Some may argue that this is a distinction without a difference. However, deceiving and blinding are indeed distinctive. Satan's deceptions are active oppositions to truth, while God's blinding is usually a temporary state in which He chooses to withhold complete understanding. God embodies truth, but He does not give all truth all at once. He blinds, either temporarily or for judgment, but Satan actively opposes and distorts the truth. A second reason Satan does not fit in II Corinthians 4:4 is that nowhere else is Satan referred to as the god of anything. Undoubtedly, Satan fits within the general classification of false gods, referring either to idols or the demons behind them, or both (see I Corinthians 10:19-20). However, even though people may worship those idols and demons as gods, Scripture also maintains that these so-called gods are not truly gods (see II Chronicles 13:9; Jeremiah 2:11; 5:7; Jeremiah 16:20; Galatians 4:8). In I Corinthians 8:5, God inspired Paul to call the demons—which would include Satan—“so-called gods.” He then clarifies his description with a contrast in the next verse: “. . . yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist.” In other words, even though people worship demonic principalities—whether deliberately or inadvertently—the perspective of God and His servants is that they are not gods. Paul tells the Gentile Galatians that, prior to their conversion, they served “those which by nature are not gods” (Galatians 4:8). He immediately describes them as “weak and beggarly elements” to which they were again turning (verse 9). Did this same apostle then bestow upon Satan the title “god of this age” when writing to the Corinthians? God answers this in Isaiah 45:5: “I am the LORD, and there is no other; there is no God besides Me.” The true God never names the Devil as a god of anything. If II Corinthians 4:4 is about Satan, it is a highly significant exception to the pattern, and exceptions invite us to dig deeper. So, how does Scripture characterize him? Instead of calling Satan a “god,” the gospel accounts consistently call him a “ruler.” He is “the ruler of the demons” (Matthew 9:34; 12:24; Mark 3:22; Luke 11:15; see Ephesians 6:12), and three times in the book of John, Jesus calls him “the ruler of this world” (John 12:31; 14:30; 16:11). Paul calls him “the prince [or ruler; it is the same Greek word] of the power of the air” (Ephesians 2:2). The Devil has authority, intelligence, and capabilities far above man, and we should never underestimate him (see Matthew 24:24). Yet, he in no way approaches God's level, except in his own mind! While God rules supremely, the highest title Satan can legitimately claim is “ruler” over something but never “god.”
David C. Grabbe
Spiritual Blindness (Part One): The God of This World
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