2 Corinthians 4:6Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Therefore, by the shining of this light, we see not sensible objects, but God Himself through Christ.

Do you see here the indivisibility of the Holy Trinity? Indeed, concerning the Holy Spirit the Apostle says: "But we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are transformed into the same image from glory to glory, as from the Lord's Spirit" (2 Cor 3:18).

Concerning the Son he says: "Lest the light of the Gospel of the glory of Christ, Who is the image of God, should shine for them" (2 Cor 4:4).

Concerning the Father he says: "Who commanded light to shine out of darkness, has shone in your hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ" (2 Cor 4:6).

And just as, after saying "the Gospel of the glory of Christ," he added, "Who is the image of God," showing that those who did not know Christ's glory are deprived also of the glory of God the Father.

So too, after the words "knowledge of God," he added, "in the face of Christ," showing that through Christ we know the Father, just as through the Spirit we are brought to Him.

From this it is also evident that God did not implant unbelief in unbelievers. He generously bestowed on all the radiance of intelligible light.

Rather, they themselves loved unbelief. God did not send them the "ray" of light, because they themselves did not wish to see.

Why did he not say, "the knowledge of God," but the knowledge "of the glory of God"?

Because even before the Incarnation of His Son, God was not completely unknown, since "God is known in Judah" (Ps 75:2).

But His glory was then unknown. For the essential glory of God consists not in the creation of creatures of another essence, but in the begetting of the consubstantial Son and the procession of the consubstantial Spirit.

The glory of God is also in the creation of the visible and invisible world, but this is not the essential glory of God.

To be the Father of the Son and the sender forth of the Spirit: this is the essential glory of God.

The Son is "the radiance of God's glory and the image of the Father's hypostasis" (Heb 1:3). The Holy Spirit, Who proceeds from the Father, is the glory of God.

Therefore the Son also said of Him, "He will glorify Me" (Jn 16:14).

Jesus Christ proclaimed the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit in the world, saying to His Apostles: "Go therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit" (Mt 28:19).

Since He enlightened men to understand the preeminence of God's glory, which consists in worship and service of the tri-hypostatic, consubstantial Godhead, He therefore said to His God and Father: "I have glorified Thee on earth" (Jn 17:4).

This, then, is the meaning of the Apostle's present words. God, Who at the creation of the world said that sensible light should shine from the darkness covering the earth, for the illumination of creatures, is this same God.

"When the fullness of time had come" (Gal 4:4), He sent His Son, Who became man, our Lord Jesus Christ. He enlightened our hearts, that we might know the true glory of God.

This illumination is also spoken of in the following words:

Verse 7. "But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the exceeding greatness of the power may be God's and not from us."

This light is the gentle light of the holy glory of the Immortal One. Or, what is the same, it is the image of God, invisible in essence, Who illumined the Apostles through Jesus Christ, and then all believers.

Although the essential thoughts in all that has been said concern the glory and greatness of Christianity in general, they also concern the Apostles as representatives of Christianity. This is especially so because certain accusations were made against them.

That is why the Apostle often speaks of himself: we do not lose heart, but have renounced the hidden things of shame, not walking in craftiness, nor falsifying the word of God, cf. 2:17.

Concerning these last words, St. John Chrysostom remarks: "The false apostles boasted as if they were free from love of money, while they took gifts, only secretly.

"They were regarded as holy, but in reality they had many vices. We, says the Apostle, have rejected everything, that is, what he calls the hidden things of shame."

"We are in deed what we are in word. We have nothing ambiguous, hidden, or crafty, either in our life or in our preaching."

"It is not our fault that our Gospel is veiled for some. The cause is their own blindness and their perishing condition."

"What happened to the Jews under Moses also happens to all unbelievers during the Gospel. Because of the fattening of their heart, the light of the Gospel of Christ's glory is hidden from them.

"That is, they do not see that the Cross is the salvation and glory of the world. They do not see that He Who was crucified upon it wishes to come again with great glory.

"Everything else also remains hidden from them: present and future things, visible and invisible things, and the ineffable manifestation of the expected blessings.

"It is hidden because they themselves first did not wish to believe this.

"To show that those who have not known Christ's glory do not know only Christ's glory, but also the Father's glory, the Apostle added: Who is the image of the invisible God.

"Yet one cannot stop at Christ alone. As through Christ you see the Father, so if you do not know Christ's glory, you do not know the Father's glory either."

"By the shining of this light, we too see not things subject to the senses, but God Himself."

As though continuing this, blessed Theodoret writes: "Since the divine nature is invisible, it becomes visible, as far as possible, through the assumed humanity, illumined by divine light and emitting lightning-like radiance."

Then they begin clearly to see the light of the knowledge of the glory of God. Thus, amid the darkness that covered the whole world, the light of the knowledge of God has now shone forth.

Now the same thing is accomplished in the moral world that was accomplished on the first day of creation in the material world. Then God by His word commanded light to shine out of darkness.

God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. Now the same God speaks through us to all: repent and believe in the Gospel.

This word makes light shine in the hearts of believers. Those who receive it begin clearly to see the indescribable glory of the boundless God in the face of Jesus Christ.

The face of Jesus Christ makes it plainly understood that the most great and wondrous God is our compassionate Father. He did not wish to leave us in our fall.

Instead He was pleased to arrange for us a wondrous manner of salvation in His Only-begotten Son. Coming to earth, He was incarnate, suffered, died on the Cross, rose, ascended into heaven, and sits at the right hand of God the Father.

There He draws all believers and those chosen for salvation, so that where He is, they also may all be.

Such is the countenance of Jesus Christ. What perfections of God are not reflected in this countenance? Here are boundless goodness and infinite righteousness. Here are incomprehensible wisdom and immeasurable omnipotence.

Here are all-caring providence and all-embracing dominion. The mystery of the Most Holy Trinity is also luminously reflected in this same countenance.

God the Father was well pleased. The Son accomplished. The Holy Spirit completes in believers what was accomplished in the Son.

“For through Christ we know God the Father, just as through the Spirit we are brought to Him” (Saint Chrysostom).

Thus the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ has shone into the world, through its shining in the hearts of believers.

“By the radiance of this light, we also see not things subject to the senses, but God Himself through Christ” (Saint Chrysostom).

Theodoret writes, “He who of old brought the nature of light into being by His word and said, ‘Let there be light,’ has now illumined our minds, not with that light, but with His own light. He did this so that through Christ Himself we might see His glory.

And the phrase ‘in the face of Jesus Christ’ has this meaning: because the nature of God is invisible, it becomes visible, as far as possible, through the humanity He assumed, which is illumined by divine light and sends forth lightning-like radiance.”

Oecumenius continues the same thought: “He who in the beginning commanded light to shine out of darkness has also shone in our hearts. He shone by enlightening us and revealing to us the knowledge of His glory, and this in the face of Jesus Christ.

For only through the Son has true knowledge of the Father been given to us, as He Himself says to the Father in the Gospel: ‘I have manifested Your name to men,’ and, ‘I have glorified You on the earth’ (Jn 17:4-6).

Only through Christ Jesus has it been revealed to us that the Father no longer wishes to be honored by incense and blood, but by spiritual sacrifices. True worshipers of God must worship God only in the Trinity, consubstantial and equal in power.”