SEV Biblia, Chapter 4:3
Que si nuestro Evangelio está encubierto, a los que se pierden está encubierto;
Clarke's Bible Commentary - 2 Corinthians 4:3
Verse 3. But if our Gospel be hid] kekalummenon? Veiled; he refers to the subject that he had treated so particularly in the conclusion of the preceding chapter. If there be a veil on the Gospel, it is only to the wilfully blind; and if any man's heart be veiled that hears this Gospel, it is a proof that he is among the lost, apollumenoi, those who are fully under the power of sin; who have given up themselves to work wickedness; persons who are mere heathens, or live like such, and yet such as Jesus Christ came to seek and save; for the word does not necessarily imply those that will perish eternally, but is a common epithet to point out a man without the Gospel and without God in the world. Christ commands his disciples in preaching the Gospel to go to probata ta apolwlota, the LOST sheep of the house of Israel; Matt. x. 6; for himself says, Matt. xviii. 11, and Luke xix. 10: The Son of man is come zhthsai kai swsai to apolwlov, to seek and to SAVE that which is LOST. And such persons he represents under the parable of the lost sheep; for to find to apolwlov, that which is LOST, the good shepherd leaves the ninety-and-nine in the wilderness, and goes in search of it; Matt. xviii. 12; Luke xv. 4. The word more properly signifies, in all those connections, and in the parallel passages, not those who ARE LOST, but those who are perishing; and will perish, if not sought and saved.
John Gill's Bible Commentary
Ver. 3. But if our Gospel be hid , etc..] When the Gospel is called ours, the meaning is, not that ministers are the authors or subject of it; but it is so styled, because they are intrusted with it; it is preached by them; and is in opposition to another Gospel, the Gospel of the false apostles. Here an objection is obviated, which the apostle saw would be made against the clearness and perspicuity of the Gospel, asserted by him in the foregoing chapter; taken from some persons, who though they sat under the ministry of the word, were not enlightened by it, saw no glory nor excellency in it, nor were their minds in the least affected with it: to which he replies, saying, “if our Gospel be hid”, it is hid to them that are lost . But why should the apostle put an if upon its being hid? is it not hid? is it not “the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom?” To which may be answered, that it was hid in God from the beginning of the world; and in Christ, in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge; and in the ceremonial law, which contained types and shadows of many things in it; and was hid from whole nations, and for whole ages formerly: but now God has made known the mystery of his will; Christ is manifest in the flesh; the ceremonial law is done away, and the Gospel is preached to Jews and Gentiles; so that it is hid to none, as to the outward ministration of it: and if the internal, spiritual, and saving knowledge and experience of it is hid from any, eventually and finally, it is “to them that are lost”: all mankind are in a lost and perishing condition through sin; though some will not be lost eternally, whom God has chosen, Christ has redeemed, and who by the Spirit are brought savingly to believe in Christ; but there are others, that will be lost for ever; and to these the Gospel is hid; and they are such, who are left to the native blindness of their minds, and are given up to a reprobate mind, to judicial darkness, and are suffered to be under the influence of the prince of darkness, as in the following verse; now such instances are no more an objection to the clearness and perspicuity of the Gospel, and the ministration of it, than men born blind, who never could, nor never will see light, are to the bright and clear shining of the sun noon day.
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 1-7 - The best of men would faint, if they did not receive mercy from God And that mercy which has helped us out, and helped us on, hitherto, we may rely upon to help us even to the end. The apostles had no base an wicked designs, covered with fair and specious pretences. They did no try to make their ministry serve a turn. Sincerity or uprightness wil keep the favourable opinion of wise and good men. Christ by his gospe makes a glorious discovery to the minds of men. But the design of the devil is, to keep men in ignorance; and when he cannot keep the ligh of the gospel of Christ out of the world, he spares no pains to kee men from the gospel, or to set them against it. The rejection of the gospel is here traced to the wilful blindness and wickedness of the human heart. Self was not the matter or the end of the apostles preaching; they preached Christ as Jesus, the Saviour and Deliverer who saves to the uttermost all that come to God through him. Minister are servants to the souls of men; they must avoid becoming servants to the humours or the lusts of men. It is pleasant to behold the sun in the firmament; but it is more pleasant and profitable for the gospel to shine in the heart. As light was the beginning of the first creation so, in the new creation, the light of the Spirit is his first work upo the soul. The treasure of gospel light and grace is put into earthe vessels. The ministers of the gospel are subject to the same passion and weaknesses as other men. God could have sent angels to make know the glorious doctrine of the gospel, or could have sent the mos admired sons of men to teach the nations, but he chose humbler, weake vessels, that his power might be more glorified in upholding them, an in the blessed change wrought by their ministry.
Greek Textus Receptus
ει 1487 COND δε 1161 CONJ και 2532 CONJ εστιν 2076 5748 V-PXI-3S κεκαλυμμενον 2572 5772 V-RPP-NSN το 3588 T-NSN ευαγγελιον 2098 N-NSN ημων 2257 P-1GP εν 1722 PREP τοις 3588 T-DPM απολλυμενοις 622 5730 V-PEP-DPM εστιν 2076 5748 V-PXI-3S κεκαλυμμενον 2572 5772 V-RPP-NSN
Vincent's NT Word Studies
3. Hid (kekalummenon). Rev., veiled, in accordance with the imagery of ch. 3.
Robertson's NT Word Studies
4:3 {It is veiled in them that are perishing} (en tois apollumenois estin kekalummenon). Periphrastic perfect passive of kaluptw, to veil in both condition (first class) and conclusion. See on ¯2:15f. for "the perishing."
