Bible Truth #21 - 2 Corinthians 4:3-4

2 Corinthians 4:3-4
3  But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost:
4  In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.

Again, proof that the lost world can NOT, on its own, believe in or accept Christ. They can NOT see the Light of the Gospel. They can NOT see the glory of Christ. If they can’t see It, how can they “choose” to follow It ? How can they make a decision to believe in It?

Verse 3, other versions use perishing but the King James version uses the word lost. Well, who are those perishing? It is the lost who are perishing and Paul says here that the Gospel is hid to them. The god of this age has BLINDED the minds of unbelievers so they CANNOT see the Light. As Jesus said in John 3:20, everyone who does evil (the lost) won’t come into the Light. They won’t because they can’t. They can’t come into the Light because they can’t even see the light of the Gospel of the Glory of Jesus Christ. So tell me, how can they believe (accept) what they can not even see?

If I didn’t believe in the sovereignty of God, I would find it hard to believe that one who believes in decisional salvation can’t see this. The lost WON’T come into the Light (John 3:20), the lost CAN’T please God (Romans 8:8), the lost CAN’T understand things from the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 2:14), and now the lost CAN’T see the light of the Gospel of the Glory of Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 4:4). But because I believe in the sovereignty of God, I know they don’t believe, or have trouble believing it, because God has not revealed it to them. But just as the lost will always make the “decision” to reject Christ, for which they will be held accountable - it is still the Arminian’s decision to deny God’s sovereignty in Election for which they WILL be held accountable. Arminian soteriology (i.e. a lost man with a dead spirit can respond to the Gospel and accept Christ as Savior) does NOT bring glory to God.

We become children of God NOT by human decision (John 1:13).