give the reason for so doing, than why he served the Corinthians, which is a subordinate matter.
2. The phrase “in our hearts” is much more naturally understood to mean “in the hearts of believers” than in Paul’s own heart. It is indeed possible that here, as in <470302>
3:2, the plural (hearts) may be used in reference to the apostle himself. Still this is admissible only when the context requires it. Had Paul meant himself he would probably have said “in our heart,” as in the parallel passage in <480116>
Galatians 1:16 he says, ejn ejmoi>, in me. To explain the plural form here by assuming that Paul means himself and Timothy is contrary to his uniform habit of speaking for himself. His epistles are his and not Timothy’s.
3. The former interpretation supposes fwtismo>v to have a different meaning here from what it has in v. 4. There it means light, here it is made to mean the act of communicating light. But if fwtismo<v tou~
eujaggeli>ou means the light which flows from the gospel (or the gospel itself as luminous), then fwtismo>v th~v gnw>sewv means the light of which the knowledge of Christ is the source, (or that
knowledge as light). In v. 4, it is said that Satan hath blinded the eyes of unbelievers so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ. Here it is said that God has enlightened us so that we do see it. In Test. XII. Patr. p. 578, it is said, to< fw~v tou~ ko>smou, to<
doqe<n ejn uJmi~n pro<v fwtismo<n pa>ntov ajnqrw>pou, the light of the world deposited in you, for the (subjective) illumination of every man.
4. It is an additional reason in favor of this interpretation that it suits the antithesis between vs. 4 and 6. The gospel is hid to one class of men, but God has opened the eyes of another class to see its glory.
Here, as elsewhere, particularly in <460214>
1 Corinthians 2:14, the apostle recognizes a twofold illumination, the one external by the word, to which Satan renders unbelievers blind; and the other internal by the Spirit, whereby we are enabled to see the glory which is objectively revealed.
The literal translation of this passage is, ‘God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, who shined into our hearts.’ Something must be supplied to complete the sense. We may read either ‘It is God who commanded, etc., who shined into our hearts;’ or, ‘God who commanded
the light to shine out of darkness, is he who shined,’ etc. There is an obvious reference to the work of creation as recorded in Genesis. Darkness originally brooded over chaos, until God said, Let there be light. So
spiritual darkness broods over the minds of men, until God shines into their hearts. Shined into our hearts. The word la>mpw, means either, to be luminous; or as here, to illuminate, or cause light, as the analogy with the physical creation, just referred to, requires. The idea is not that God becomes luminous in us, but that he produces light in our hearts. The design of this inward illumination is expressed by the words pro<v fwtismo<n th~v gnw>sewv, which, according to the former of the two interpretations mentioned above, means, to the shining abroad of the knowledge, etc. He illuminates us that we may diffuse light, and thus illuminate others. According to the second interpretation, the meaning is, to give us the light of the knowledge. God illuminates our minds so that we apprehend that light which flows from the knowledge of the glory of God, or which consists in that knowledge. By the glory of God is of course meant the divine majesty or excellence, which is the proper object of admiration and adoration. In the face of Jesus Christ; the position of these words and the sense require that they should be connected with the word glory, notwithstanding the omission in the Greek of the connecting article (th~v). It is the glory of God as revealed in Christ that men are by the illumination of the Holy Ghost enabled to see. There are two important truths involved in this statement. First, that God becomes in Christ the object of knowledge. The clearest revelation of the fact that God is, and what he is, is made in the person of Christ, so that those who refuse to see God in Christ lose all true knowledge of him. “No man hath seen God any time; the only begotten Son., who is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him,” <430118>
John 1:18. “Neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, who is in the bosom of the will reveal him,” <401127>
Matthew 11:27.
“Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father,” <620223>
1 John 2:23; <630109>
2 John 9; <431523>
John 15:23. Insignis locus, says Calvin, unde discimus Deum in sua altitudine non esse investigandum (habitat enim lucem inaccessibilem), sed cognoscendum quatenus se in Christo patefacit.
Proinde quicquid extra Christum de Deo cognoscere appetunt homines, evanidum est, vagantur enim extra viam.... Nobis utilius est Deum
conspicere, qualis apparet in Filio unigenito, quam arcanam ejus essentiam investigare. The other truth here taught is, that this knowledge of God in
Christ is not a mere matter of intellectual apprehension, which one man may communicate to another. It is a spiritual discernment, to be derived only from the Spirit of God. God must shine into our hearts to give us this knowledge. <401617>
Matthew 16:17; <480116>
Galatians 1:16; <460210>
1 Corinthians 2:10, 14. As the glory of God is spiritual, it must be spiritually discerned. It is therefore easy to see why the Scriptures make true religion to consist in the knowledge of Christ, and why they make the denial of Christ, or want of faith in him as God manifest in the flesh, a soul-destroying sin. If Christ is God, to know him, is to know God; and to deny him, is to deny God.
7. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the