The "God" of this World - NCCG.ORG Ning Network Archive 2008-10

The “God” of This World
By Lahry Sibley
For probably as long as I have been a bible student, without exception, I have always heard when 2 Cor 4:4 is quoted, that “satan is the god of this world”. This has troubled me from the very beginning of my walk with Christ and the study of His Word. My spirit always grieves every time I hear anyone quote this verse and then say that “satan is the ‘god of this world’”.
Using virtual study helps, and more recently electronic study helps, I have not been able to find one other supporting scripture for the hypothesis that “satan is the ‘god’ of this world” or that satan has ever blinded anyone is the old or new testaments . Nor have I been able to find one other minister of the Gospel, preacher or writer, that opposes this same hypothesis. Why is that? I’ve read the works of many a renowned and respected preacher and teacher of the Word, and nowhere can I find anyone saying anything different about this scripture verse. I suppose this puts me, and what you are about to read in a very precarious position. So be it.
The Bible tells us that out of the mouth of two or three witnesses let every word be established (2 Cor 13:1) Where oh where are the witnesses for this doctrine that is beheld as a sacred cow by so many a “learned” man of God that “satan” is the “god” of this world?
Jehovah God is the God of this World, beloved. Please allow patience for me as I set scriptural expose’ before you. Let us first take a look at this scripture verse itself in its original language:
2 Cor 4:4 ἐν οἷς ὁ θεὸς τοῦ αἰῶνος τούτου ἐτύφλωσεν τὰ νοήματα τῶν ἀπίστων εἰς τὸ μὴ αὐγάσαι αὐτοῖς τὸν φωτισμὸν τοῦ εὐαγγελίου τῆς δόξης τοῦ Χριστοῦ ὅς ἐστιν εἰκὼν τοῦ θεοῦ
Just below this paragraph I’m writing, we see the Greek word and its English rendering of theos, meaning deities or divinities. Once you look at the word in Greek, you can easily spot it in the original text above, the 4th word from the beginning (highlighted above in red). Please note, that in the original text, the word θεὸς is capitalized. But in the translation “theos” it is not capitalized. Very important. Why it was not rendered “Theos” as it is for every other reference to Jehovah God is beyond me.
Please refer to all of the definitions of “theos” below. As an English speaking person, what does this mean to you? To me it means all the definitions quoted below from Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance refer to Jehovah God, except the first one which refers to anything thought to be a deity, but is not. Now, I ask you simply, can you find “fallen angels, satan, Lucifer, advisory, devil(s) or any such reference in the definitions below? My friend, neither can I.
θεός theos

1) a god or goddess, a general name of deities or divinities
2) the Godhead, trinity
a) God the Father, the first person in the trinity
b) Christ, the second person of the trinity
c) Holy Spirit, the third person in the trinity
3) spoken of the only and true God
a) refers to the things of God
b) his counsels, interests, things due to him
4) whatever can in any respect be likened unto God, or resemble him in any way
a) God's representative or viceregent
1) of magistrates and judges

Men and women of God, please prayerfully hear me. What would you say of someone who took the things of God, His activities, and attributed them to satan? Your answer, whatever it may be causes me to tremble. To me, if it is not blasphemy to do so, it is certainly blasphemy’s next door neighbor.
Now, before you begin constructing a cross to nail me too, let’s see if God has ever blinded anyone, shall we?
John 12:40 - He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart; that they should not see with [their] eyes, nor understand with [their] heart, and be converted, and I should heal them. (Red = Jesus Himself is speaking)
Now I am not one who favors taking a word out of context and assume that the word “He” the first word of the above scripture is God or Satan. So I recommend you read the last half of John 12. John, in verse 38 is referring to Isaiah 53:1:
“Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed?”
Then in vs. 40 above, John writes: “He Hath blinded their eyes. So I it is obvious to me, and I hope to you as well, that “He” in vs 40 is not any other that Almighty God. To keep this as brief as possible, I will hope that you will search the scriptures yourself, to see it these things be so. (Acts 17:11)
Here’s another verse, Romans 11:7:
“What then? Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for; but the election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded”
Oh this verse is rich in Old Testament references. Paul is speaking of Israel. It is not difficult to see here, that Paul is preaching about the Gospel and stating that only a few or a remnant, himself included, of all of Israel, have been brought into the Light of the Gospel. Paul Himself had to be struck down on the road to Damascus to have his blind eyes opened. Most of Israel, and the majority of those not Israel are still blind to the Gospel. But beloved, I would that you check for yourself and see that it is not the “devil or satan” that has blinded them but God Himself! (Please go back to Romans 10:16 and read through 11:10 and read the context of the above scripture, then Is. 53:1, Ps 19:4, Dt 32:21, Is 65:1-2, Dt 29:4, Is 29:10, Ps 69:22-23) This is Jehovah God dealing with Israel exactly how He would deal with them in reference to the coming Messiah. Now, just for the sake of clarity, let’s take a close look at Romans 11:8: καθὼς γέγραπται Ἕδωκεν αὐτοῖς ὁ θεὸς πνεῦμα κατανύξεως ὀφθαλμοὺς τοῦ μὴ βλέπειν καὶ ὦτα τοῦ μὴ ἀκούειν ἕως τῆς σήμερον ἡμέρας
Now, let’s look at it in English: 11:8 - (According as it is written, God hath given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear;) unto this day.
Now, in this verse, can you find the Greek word for God, “θεὸς”, in the scripture above? Is this not the same word used, beginning with a capital letter for “God” of this world in 2 Cor 4:4? It sure looks like it to me. But I don’t think you could find a single Bible scholar who would say that here in Romans 11 and the Old Testament verses referred to by Paul, that Paul is speaking of “satan”. Do you?
Let’s look at another New Testament vs, talking about this same “blinding”:
2 Cor 3:14 But their minds were blinded: for until this day remaineth the same vail untaken away in the reading of the old testament; which [vail] is done away in Christ.
If you would simply look at the vs preceding this one, the context subject people here is the nation of Israel:
2 Cor 3:13 -And not as Moses, [which] put a vail over his face, that the children of Israel could not stedfastly look to the end of that which is abolished:
“Their”, in vs 14 is the nation Israel whose minds were blinded by God. You can read the chapter for yourself. If you simply continue to read on into chapter 4 of 2 Cor. , you will see that Paul is still on the same subject and concludes it in vs 4.
Beloved, Jehovah is the God of this world. It makes me ill for anyone to refer to Him or His work as the work of “satan”. Evidently, the early, if not first English translators erred in rendering God as “god” in 2 Cor 4:4. Someone, somewhere along the way, attributed this, after reading it in English to mean reference to “satan”. Yet there are no scriptural witnesses to support this “supposition”.
Satan may be the prince of the air, but God is God over this world. Amen. So Be It. To refer to Jehovah God, our Father in Heaven, as “satan” is a very, very scary thing to do, don’t you agree?
In fear and trembling,
Lahry Sibley

Comment by DR on February 3, 2010 at 8:27pm: Here's a theology paper that you might find interesting that traces the development of the different views: http://www.rctr.org/journal/8.pdf

Comment by DR on February 3, 2010 at 8:18pm: Actually, Lahry, in neither case is θ capitalized in the Greek you cite. This (Θ) is the capitalized theta. Likewise, when the New Testament was originally written, all the letters were capitalized and there were no spaces. :) Capitalization (or lack thereof) is not really as big a deal in biblical Greek as it is in modern English.

However, I think you'll find it interesting, at the very least, that Irenaeus writing in the middle of the second century also thought that God was being referred to. I'm not sure I agree, though, as the "god" in that verse is called the "god of this age" (and not WORLD) in the original Greek. Satan, in one sense, does serve as a god to those who choose to worship him by turning against the true God. But his rulership over the age is limited in duration.

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