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NASB | 2 Corinthians 4:1 Therefore, since we have this ministry, as we received mercy, we do not lose heart, |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | 2 Corinthians 4:1 Therefore, since we have this ministry, just as we received mercy [from God, granting us salvation, opportunities, and blessings], we do not get discouraged nor lose our motivation. |
Subject: 2 corn. 4:4 the god of this world hath b |
Bible Note: Hi Tim, I’ve read your posts very carefully and what you say simply is not true. Your reasoning is not sound. No matter how you try and “twist”, the loving Creator would not blind anyone for any reason. The theos referred to in 2 Cor 4:4 is the same one mentioned at 1 John 5:19, which says: “The whole world is lying in the power of the wicked one.” And surely one cannot ignore what the leading respected Bible scholars by both you and I, understand this verse to mean. I feel it apropos to mention that allowing one’s preconceived ideas to sway one’s thinking can easily prevent one from drawing accurate conclusions. Respected in virtually all theological circles, John Wesley, considers it a horrible description of even Satan much less Jehovah God! Undoubtedly, 2 Cor. 4:4 is an example of the Bible’s use of “theos” clearly making application to Satan. Satan is a creation of the Almighty Theos who turned evil. Nonetheless, Satan is identified by the Almighty Theos as a “theos” but of course, not the Almighty theos since there is only “one” Almighty theos that is to be worshipped as such. At 1 Cor. 8:4-6 Paul says, “Now concerning the eating of foods offered to idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is no God but one. For even though there are those who are called ‘gods,’ whether in heaven or on earth, just as there are many ‘gods’ and many ‘lords,’ there is actually to us one God the Father, out of whom all things are, and we for him.” To Paul and the first-century Christians, true religion was not the worship of many gods, not polytheism,(not of Jesus as Almighty God and also the Father as Almighty God) but was devotion to only “one God the Father,” whose name the Bible reveals when it says: “That people may know that you, whose name is Jehovah, you alone are the Most High over all the earth.”—Psalm 83:18. Let’s not forget that the Bible teaches that the spirit creature who transformed himself into Satan the Devil was originally one of those “sons of God” or one of those “godlike ones,” one of those elohim (Bible designated “gods“). Also the spirits that became demons under Satan were once numbered among those “godlike ones” (and again the Bible uses “gods”). So it is no remarkable thing that the apostle Paul calls Satan “the god of this world,” or that he says that the pagan nations have made the spirit demons their gods and offer sacrifice to them.—2 Cor. 4:4; 1 Cor. 10:20, 21, Authorized Version. Again stop ignoring what Paul said: “Though there be that are called gods, whether in heaven or in earth, (as there be gods many, and lords many)”; but Paul was not teaching polytheism thereby. For he added: “But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him.” (1 Cor. 8:5, 6, AV) We worship the same God that the Lord Jesus Christ worships, and that is the “one God, the Father.” This worship we render to him through the Son of God, our “one Lord Jesus Christ and mighty theos (not Almighty theos) as Isaiah 9:6 makes application to Jesus Christ. How can you ignore our leading Hebrew Lexicons when they say that Psalms 89:6 makes application to angels as “gods” using the Hebrew word “el” according to Strong’s and other Hebrew Lexicons. -Shortened from H352; strength; as adjective mighty; especially the Almighty (but used also of any deity): - God (god), X goodly, X great, idol, might (-y one), power, strong. Compare names in “-el.” Psalm 8:5, the angels are also referred to as ´elo·him´, as is confirmed by Paul’s quotation of the passage at Hebrews 2:6-8. They are called beneh´ ha·´Elo·him´, “sons of God” (KJ); “sons of the true God” (NW), at Genesis 6:2, 4; Job 1:6; 2:1. Lexicon in Veteris Testamenti Libros, by Koehler and Baumgartner (1958), page 134, says: “(individual) divine beings, gods.” And page 51 says: “the (single) gods,” and it cites Genesis 6:2; Job 1:6; 2:1; 38:7. Hence, at Psalm 8:5 ´elo·him´ is rendered “angels” (LXX); “godlike ones” (NW). |