2 Cor 4:3-4 And if our gospel be also hidden, it is hidden to those who perish: 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.(Douay translation)
The footnote commentary from the Geo Haydock (Douay) Bible shows that some see it as referring to God and some as referring to the devil. (S. Chrys. = St. John Chrysostom)
Quote:
In whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds of unbelievers.
Thus the words are placed, both in the Latin and Greek text, so that the true God seems to be called the God of this world, as he is elsewhere called the God of heaven, the God of Abraham. God, says S. Chrys. blinded, that is, permitted them to be blinded. Others translate,* in whom God hath blinded the minds of the infidels of this world;* so that *this world *may be joined with unbelievers, and not with God: and by the God of this world, some understand the devil, called sometimes the prince of this world, that is of the wicked.
The Navarre Bible footnotes mentions only the devil interpretation:
Quote:
…If, in spite of everything, there are still some who cannot see the truth of the Gospel, the reason lies in their bad dispositions, which allow the devil–the god of this world (cf. Jn 12:31; 14:30; Eph 2:2)–to darken their minds. …
The Jerome Biblical Commentary gives it the possibility of being either the devil or the world. Quote:
god of this world. If the genitive is objective, the god is over this world; he is Satan (Jn 12:3; 14:30; 16:11; cf. Eph 3:3), to whom the nonbelievers have surrendered themselves by their evil dispositions. If the genitive is epexegetic, the god is the world, which they virtually worship by their actions (cf. Phil 3:19).
