2 Corinthians 4:4

The god of this world (o qeo tou aiwno toutou). "Age," more exactly, as in 1 Corinthians 1:20 . Satan is "the god of this age," a phrase nowhere else in the N.T., but Jesus uses the same idea in John 12:31 ; John 14:30 and Paul in Ephesians 2:2 ; Ephesians 6:12 and John in 1 John 5:19 . Satan claimed the rule over the world in the temptations with Jesus. Blinded (etuplwsen). First aorist active of tuplow, old verb to blind (tuplo, blind). They refused to believe (apistwn) and so Satan got the power to blind their thoughts. That happens with wilful disbelievers. The light (ton pwtismon). The illumination, the enlightening. Late word from potizw, to give light, in Plutarch and LXX. In N.T. only in 2 Corinthians 4:4 2 Corinthians 4:6 . Accusative case of general reference here with the articular infinitive (ei to mh augasai that should not dawn). That is, if augasai is intransitive as is likely, though it is transitive in the old poets (from augh, radiance. Cf. German Auge=eye). If it is transitive, the idea would be "that they should not see clearly the illumination, etc."