2 Corinthians 4:6

For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(6) For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness.—Better, For it is God who commanded . . . that hath shined. The whole verse is in manifest antithesis to 2Corinthians 4:4. The god of this world did his work of blinding; the true God called light out of darkness. Here there is obviously a reference to the history of the creation in Genesis 1:3.

Hath shined.—The English tense is allowable, but the Greek is literally shone, as referring to a definite fact in the past life of the Apostle and other Christians at the very time of their conversion.

In the face of Jesus Christ.—Some MSS. give “Christ Jesus,” others “Christ.” The clause is added as emphasising the fact that the glory of God is for us manifested only in the face (or, possibly, in the person, with a somewhat wider sense; see Note on 2Corinthians 1:11) of Christ, as it was seen by the Israelites in the face of Moses. The word for “give light” is the same as that rendered “radiance” in 2Corinthians 4:4.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

4:1-7 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 and wicked designs, covered with fair and specious pretences. They did not try to make their ministry serve a turn. Sincerity or uprightness will keep the favourable opinion of wise and good men. Christ by his gospel 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 light of the gospel of Christ out of the world, he spares no pains to keep 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. Ministers 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 upon the soul. The treasure of gospel light and grace is put into earthen vessels. The ministers of the gospel are subject to the same passions and weaknesses as other men. God could have sent angels to make known the glorious doctrine of the gospel, or could have sent the most admired sons of men to teach the nations, but he chose humbler, weaker vessels, that his power might be more glorified in upholding them, and in the blessed change wrought by their ministry.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

For God, who commanded ... - The design of this verse seems to be, to give a reason why Paul and his fellow-apostles did not preach themselves, but Jesus Christ the Lord, 2 Corinthians 4:5. That reason was, that their minds had been so illuminated by that God who had commanded the light to shine out of darkness, that they had discerned the glory of the divine perfections shining in and through the Redeemer, and they therefore gave themselves. to the work of making him known among people. The doctrines which they preached they had not derived from people in any form. They had not been elaborated by human reasoning or science, nor had they been imparted by tradition. They had been communicated directly by the source of all light - the true God - who had shined into the hearts that were once benighted by sin. Having been thus illuminated, they had felt themselves bound to go and make known to others the truths which God had imparted to them.

Who commanded the light ... - Genesis 1:3. God caused it to shine by his simple command. He said, "let there be light, and there was light." The fact that it was produced by "his saying so" is referred to here by Paul by his use of the phrase (ὁ εἰπὼν ho eipōn) "Who saying," or speaking the light to shine from darkness. The passage in Genesis is adduced by Longinus as a striking instance of the sublime.

Hath shined in our hearts - Margin, "It is he who hath." This is more in accordance with the Greek, and the sense is, "The God who at the creation bade the light to shine out of darkness, is he who has shined into our hearts; or it is the same God who has illuminated us, who commanded the light to shine at the creation." "Light" is every where in the Bible the emblem of knowledge, purity, and truth; as darkness is the emblem of ignorance, error, sin, and wretchedness. See note, John 1:4-5. And the sense here is, that God had removed this ignorance, and poured a flood of light and truth on their minds. This passage teaches, therefore, the following important truths in regard to Christians - since it is as applicable to all Christians, as it was to the apostles:

(1) That the mind is by nature ignorant and benighted - to an extent which may be properly compared with the darkness which prevailed before God commanded the light to shine. Indeed, the darkness which prevailed before the light was formed, was a most striking emblem of the darkness which exists in the mind of man before it is enlightened by revelation, and by the Holy Spirit. For:

(a) In all minds by nature there is deep ignorance of God, of His Law, and His requirements; and,

(b) This is often greatly deepened by the course of life which people lead; by their education; or by their indulgence in sin, and by their plans of life; and especially by the indulgence of evil passions.

The tendency of man if left to himself is to plunge into deeper darkness, and to involve his mind more entirely in the obscurity of moral midnight. "Light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil," John 3:19.

(2) this verse teaches the fact, that the minds of Christians are illuminated. They are enabled to see things as they are. This fact is often taught in the Scriptures; see 1 John 2:20; 1 Corinthians 2:12-15. They have different views of things from their fellow-men, and different from what they once had. They perceive a beauty in religion which others do not see, and a glory in truth, and in the Saviour, and in the promises of the gospel, which they did not see before they were converted. This does not mean:

(a) That they are superior in their powers of understanding to other people - for the reverse is often the fact; nor,

(b) That the effect of religion is at once to enlarge their own intellectual powers, and make them different from what they were before in this respect.

But it means that they have clear and consistent views; they look at things as they are; they perceive a beauty in religion and in the service of God which they did not before. They see a beauty in the Bible, and in the doctrines of the Bible, which they did not before, and which sinners do not see. The temperate man will see a beauty in temperance, and in an argument for temperance, which the drunkard will not; the benevolent man will see a beauty in benevolence which the churl will not: and so of honesty, truth, and chastity. And especially will a man who is reformed from intemperance, impurity, dishonesty, and avarice, see a beauty in a virtuous life which he did not before see. There is indeed no immediate and direct enlargement of the intellect; but there is an effect on the heart which produces an appropriate and indirect effect on the understanding.

It is at the same time true, that the practice of virtue, that a pure heart, and that the cultivation of piety all tend to regulate, strengthen, and expand the intellect, as the ways of vice and the indulgence of evil passions and propensities tend to enfeeble, paralyze, darken, and ruin the understanding; so that, other things being equal, the man of most decided virtue, and most calm and elevated piety, will be the man of the clearest and best regulated mind. His powers will be the most assiduously, carefully, and conscientiously cultivated and he will feel himself bound to make the most of them. The influence of piety in giving light to the mind is often strikingly manifested among unlettered and ignorant Christians. It often happens, as a matter of fact, that they have by far clearer, and more just and elevated views of truth than people of the most mighty intellects, and most highly cultivated by science and adorned with learning. but who have no piety; and a practical acquaintance with their own hearts, and a practical experience of the power of religion in the days of temptation and trial is a better enlightener of the mind on the subject of religion than all the learning of the schools.

(3) this verse teaches, that it is the "same God" who enlightens the mind of the Christian that commanded the light at first to shine. He is the source of all light. He formed the light in the natural world; he gives all light and truth on all subjects to the understanding; and he imparts all correct views of truth to the heart. Light is not originated by man; and man on the subject of religion no more creates the light which beams upon his benighted mind than he created the light of the sun when it first shed its beams over the darkened earth. "All truth is from the sempiternal source of light divine;" and it is no more the work of man to enlighten the mind. and dissipate the darkness from the soul of a benighted sinner, than it was of man to scatter the darkness that brooded over the creation, or than he can now turn the shades of midnight to noonday. All this work lies beyond the proper province of man; and is all to be traced to the agency of God - the great fountain of light.

(4) it is taught here that it is the "same power" that gives light to the mind of the Christian which at first commanded the light to shine out of darkness. It requires the exertion of the same Omnipotence; and the change is often as remarkable, and surprising. Nothing can be conceived to be more grand than the first creation of light - when by one word the whole solar system was in a blaze. And nothing in the moral world is more grand than when by a word God commands the light to beam on the soul of a benighted sinner. Night is at once changed to day; and all things are seen in a blaze of glory. The works of God appear different; the Word of God appears different; and a new aspect of beauty is diffused over all things. If it be asked in what way God thus imparts light to the mind, we may reply:

continued...

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

6. For—proof that we are true servants of Jesus unto you.

commanded the light—Greek, "By speaking the word, commanded light" (Ge 1:3).

hath shined—rather, as Greek, "is He who shined." (It is God) who commanded light, &c., that shined, &c., (Job 37:15): Himself our Light and Sun, as well as the Creator of light (Mal 4:2; Joh 8:12). The physical world answers to the spiritual.

in our hearts—in themselves dark.

to give the light—that is, to propagate to others the light, &c., which is in us (compare Note, see on [2309]2Co 4:4).

the glory of God—answering to "the glory of Christ" (see on [2310]2Co 4:4).

in the face of Jesus Christ—Some of the oldest manuscripts retain "Jesus." Others omit it. Christ is the manifestation of the glory of God, as His image (Joh 14:9). The allusion is still to the brightness on Moses' "face." The only true and full manifestation of God's brightness and glory is "in the face of Jesus" (Heb 1:3).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

The Holy Ghost in the New Testament often compareth the work of the new creation by Jesus Christ, to the work of God in the old creation; intimating to us, that the latter is as great a work of providence and Divine power, as the former: Ephesians 4:24, the new man, after God, is said to be created in righteousness and true holiness. For as that is a creation which is a making of something out of nothing, (as God created the heavens and the earth), so the production of one thing out of another, which hath no fitness or aptitude to receive such a form, is also a true creation, and requireth an Almighty power. God made light to shine out of darkness, Genesis 1:2,3: so (saith the apostle) he hath made Christ (who is the Light of the world) to shine into our hearts, to give us the true knowledge of God, and of his glory, the glory of his grace.

In the face of Jesus Christ; that is, by which we attain the clear and certain knowledge of God: as a man is distinctly known by or from his face, God is clearly and distinctly known only in and by Christ.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness,.... The causal particle for, shows these words to be also a reason of the foregoing; either why they so clearly beheld the glory of the Lord, 2 Corinthians 4:18 or why they renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, 2 Corinthians 4:2 or why their Gospel could not be hid, 2 Corinthians 4:3 or why they did not preach themselves, but Christ, 2 Corinthians 4:5 because God had

shined in their hearts; and in this light, they saw the glory of Christ; could not bear any secret, hidden, scandalous practices; and held forth the word of light and life to others; and seeing so much of their own weakness, sinfulness, and unworthiness, dared not to preach themselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; in which may be observed the character of the true God, as opposed to Satan, the god of this world, who is said to blind the minds of men, 2 Corinthians 4:6 whereas the true God is represented as the author of "light", and as producing it by a word of "command", and that "out" of mere "darkness"; respect is here had to the creation of all things at the beginning, when "darkness was upon the face of the deep--and God said, let there be light and there was light", Genesis 1:2. Now this character of God, as creating light in this wonderful manner, is prefaced to his giving spiritual light unto his people; because of the agreement there is between light corporeal and spiritual, in their nature and production; for as there was darkness upon the earth before there was light, so there is a natural darkness in the minds of men, before any spiritual light is infused into them; and as light was the first production out of the dark and unformed chaos, so light is the first thing that is struck into the soul in conversion; moreover, as light was the effect of almighty power, so is the spiritual illumination, or the opening of the eyes of the understandings of men, who are naturally born blind; and as light was a creation of that which was not before, so the work of grace on the soul is not an increase of, or an addition to, or an improvement of the light of nature, but it is a new light, created in the understanding; add to all this, that both corporeal and spiritual light are good, and both called "day"; the influence that God has over the hearts of men, and the effect he produces there are, he

hath shined in our hearts. The hearts of men are like this dark terraqueous globe, having no light in them; God is as the sun, the fountain of light, which shines upon them and in them; so as to give them a true sight and sense of sin, and of their lost state and condition; so as to cause them to see the fulness and suitableness of Christ as a Saviour; so as to warm their affections, and draw out their desires after Christ, his ways, truths, ordinances, and people; and so as to give them light into the mysteries of the Gospel; particularly he so shines into the hearts of some, whom be makes ministers of the Gospel, as to give more light and knowledge into Gospel truths, than he does to others; and his end in doing this, is

to give: that is, that his ministering servants may give

the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ; men must be first made light in, and by the Lord, or they will never be fit and proper persons to hold forth the word of light, or to communicate light to others; God first shines into their hearts, and then they give light to others: by "the glory of God" is not meant the essential glory of God, or the perfections of his nature, though these are to be seen in the face, or person of Christ; but rather the glorious counsels of God, and scheme of salvation by Jesus Christ; or in other words, the glorious Gospel of God: and by "the knowledge" of it is designed, not a mere notional speculative knowledge of the Gospel, but an experimental one; a spiritual knowledge of the Gospel, of Christ in it, of God in Christ, and of an interest in God's salvation by Christ: now when the ministers of the word are said to give the light of this to men, or to enlighten them with this knowledge, it cannot be thought that they are the efficient causes, for such are only Jehovah, Father, Son, and Spirit; but only that they are instrumental, and are means in the hands of God, of bringing persons to see the fellowship of this mystery: all which is done, "in the face of Jesus Christ"; this denotes the clearness and perspicuity of their ministry, and of that knowledge which is communicated by it; see 2 Corinthians 3:12 and also the authority by which they act; it is in the name and person of Christ, in which sense the phrase is used, 2 Corinthians 2:10.

Geneva Study Bible

For God, {g} who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the {h} light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

(g) Who made with his word alone.

(h) That being enlightened by God, we should in the same way give that light to others.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Meyer's NT Commentary

2 Corinthians 4:6. Confirmation of the above, and not simply of the concluding words of 2 Corinthians 4:5 (ἑαυτοὺς δὲ δούλους κ.τ.λ.), but of the entire 2 Corinthians 4:5. For it is God who has bestowed on us such enlightenment, and for such behoof as is declared in 2 Corinthians 4:6; how should we not be far exalted above the preaching of ourselves instead of Christ as the Lord, and how could we proclaim ourselves otherwise than simply in the relation of serviceableness to you, serviceableness for Christ’s sake!—“For God, who bade light shine out of darkness, it is who caused it to shine in our hearts, in order that we should make the knowledge of the divine glory give light in the presence of Christ.” Apart from this figurative clothing, the sense is: For it is God, the creator of light, who bestowed on us the spiritual light communicated to us, not that we might retain it for ourselves without further communication, but that we should convey the knowledge of the divine glory to others in making this knowledge manifest to them in Christ, whom we teach them to know. As to the construction, ὅς is not to be taken as equivalent to οὗτος (Vorstius, Mosheim, Morus, Rosenmüller, Schrader; comp. Theodoret and Luther), nor is ὅς to be deleted (Rückert hesitates between the two), but ἐστί is to be supplied, and supplied before ὃς ἔλαμψεν (so, rightly, most of the commentators[194]), not immediately after ὁ θεός (Valla, Erasmus, Vatablus, Estius, Bengel, Vater, Ewald), because it is only with ὃς ἔλαμψεν that the important idea is introduced, and because Paul has written ὅς and not ὃς καί. On account of the ὃς κ.τ.λ. that follows it is impossible, with Hofmann, to regard the sentence on ὅτι ὁ θεός as far as λάμψαι (“for it is God who … has bidden to shine”) as a complete and perfect sentenc.

ὁ εἰπὼν ἐκ σκότονς φῶς λάμψαι] qui jussit, etc. Reminiscence of Genesis 1:3,[195] in order to prepare for the following Ὃς ἜΛΑΜΨΕΝ Κ.Τ.Λ., which is meant to appear as analogous to the physical working of God in the creation. “Saepe comparantur beneficia creationis veteris et novae,” Grotius. The emergence of the light of the holy truth in Christ from amid the sinful darkness of untruth (Hofmann) is not as yet spoken of; this spiritual fact only finds its expression in what follows, and has here merely the way prepared for it by the corresponding physical creation of ligh.

ἐκ may doubtless mean immediately after (Emmerling), see Heindorf, ad Prot. p. 463; Jacobs, ad Ael. p. 464; but in the N. T. it does not so occur, and here “forth out of darkness” is far more in keeping with graphic vividness, for such is the position of the matter when what is dark becomes lighted up; comp. LXX. Job 37:15.

ὃς ἔλαμψεν ἐν τ. καρδ. ἡμ.] This Ὅς cannot be referred to Christ, with Hofmann, who compares irrelevantly Hebrews 5:7 (where Christ is in fact the chief subject of what immediately precedes), but it applies to God. Whether ἔλαμψεν is intransitive (Chrysostom and most expositors): he shone, which would have to be explained from the idea of the indwelling of God by means of the Holy Spirit (John 14:23; 1 Corinthians 3:16; 1 Corinthians 14:25), or whether it is factitive: who made it (namely, φῶς) shine (Grotius, Bengel, Emmerling, Fritzsche), as ἀνατέλλειν is used in Matthew 5:45, and even ΛΆΜΠΕΙΝ in the poets (Eur. Phoen. 226, and the passages in Matthiae, p. 944; Jacobs, ad Anthol. VI. p. 58, VII. p. 378, VIII. p. 199; ad Del. Epigr. p. 62; Lobeck, ad Adj. p. 94, ed. 2), is decided from the context by the preceding physical analogy, which makes the factitive sense in keeping with the εἰπὼν λάμψαι most probable. If the progress of thought had been: “who himself shone” (Chrysostom, Theodoret), the text must have run, ὃς αὐτὸς ἔλαμψεν. God has wrought in the hearts of the apostolic teachers, spiritually creating light, just as physically as at the creation He called light out of the darkness. Hofmann, in consequence of his referring Ὅς to Christ, wrongly explains it: “within them has been repeated that which took place in the world when Christ appeared in it.” On the point itself in reference to Paul, see Galatians 1:16.

πρὸς φωτισμὸν κ.τ.λ.] for the purpose of lighting (2 Corinthians 4:4), etc., equivalent to πρὸς τὸ φωτίζειν τὴν γνῶσιν κ.τ.λ., in order that there may lighten, etc., by which is set forth the thought: “in order that the knowledge of the divine glory may be conveyed and diffused from us to others through the preaching of Christ.” For if the knowledge remains undiffused, it has not the nature of a thing that lightens, whose light is received by the eyes of me.

ἐν προσώπῳ Χριστοῦ] belongs to ΠΡῸς ΦΩΤΙΣΜΌΝ, but cannot be explained in persona Christi, i.e. in nomine Christi, as Estius explains it after the Latin Fathers, but it specifies where the knowledge of the divine glory is to lighten: in the presence of Christ. For Christ is εἰκὼν τοῦ θεοῦ, and Christians see unveiled the glory of Christ, 2 Corinthians 3:18. He, therefore, who converts others to Christ makes the knowledge of the divine glory become clear-shining to them, and that in the countenance of the Lord, which is beheld in the gospel as the reflection of the divine glory, so that in this seen countenance that clear-shining knowledge has the source of its light (as it were, its focus). Probably there is in ἐν προσώπῳ Χριστοῦ a reminiscence of 2 Corinthians 3:7. The connection of ἘΝ ΠΡΟΣΏΠῼ ΧΡ. with ΠΡῸς ΦΩΤΙΣΜΌΝ has been justly recognised by Estius, and established as the only right one by Fritzsche (Dissert. II. p. 170, and ad Rom. I. p. 188), whom Billroth follows, for the usual way of connecting it with τῆς δόξης τ. θεοῦ (comp. also Hofmann: “the glory of God visible in Christ”) would of necessity require τῆς repeated after ΘΕΟῦ, since ΔΌΞΑ is not a verbal substantive like ΦΩΤΙΣΜΌς, and consequently, without repeating the article, Paul would necessarily have written Τῆς ΤΟῦ ΘΕΟῦ ΔΌΞΗς ἘΝ ΠΡΟΣΩΠ. ΧΡ. (see Krüger, §§ 50, 9, 9, and 8). The objection of de Wette against our view—an objection raised substantially by Hofmann also—that the ΓΝῶΣΙς is the subjective possession of the apostle, and cannot therefore become light-giving in the face of Christ, leaves out of consideration the fact that the ΓΝῶΣΙς is objectivised. Conveyed through preaching, the γνῶσις of the divine glory gives light (it would not give light otherwise), and its light-giving has its seat and source of issue on the countenance of Christ, because it is this, the glory of which is brought to view in the mirror of preaching (2 Corinthians 3:18).

Note, further, how there is something clumsy but majestic in the entire mode of expression, πρὸς … Χριστοῦ, especially in the accumulation of the four genitives, as in 2 Corinthians 4:4.

[194] Comp. also Buttmann, neatest. Gramm. p. 338 [E. T. 395].

[195] Ewald, following the reading λάμψει, supposes an allusion to Isaiah 60:1, Job 12:22, or to some lost passage.

Expositor's Greek Testament

2 Corinthians 4:6. ὅτι ὁ Θεὸς κ.τ.λ.: seeing it is God who said “Light shall shine out of darkness” (a paraphrase of Genesis 1:3; cf. Psalm 112:4), who shined in our hearts to illuminate (others) with the knowledge of the glory of God in the Face of Christ. That is to say, there is nothing secret or crafty in the Ministration of the New Covenant; it is the proclamation of a second Fiat Lux (St. John 1:4; John 8:12) in the hearts of men (2 Peter 1:19). The image of 2 Corinthians 3:18 is thus preserved in this verse; we reflect the light which shines upon us from the Divine Glory, as manifested in Christ.

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

6. For God … shined] Literally, Because it is God Who shined, and therefore, if the doctrine of the ministers of Christ were not received by any, it was not because they exercised any concealment or reserve (ch. 2 Corinthians 3:13), much less on account of any adulteration of the pure word of God (2 Corinthians 4:2), but because the soul of the unbeliever deliberately refused to receive the light of God’s truth. Cf. John 1:5.

who commanded the light to shine out of darkness] First in the physical world (Genesis 1:3) and then in the moral and spiritual world, in the person of Jesus Christ. Cf. John 1:4; John 3:19; John 8:12, &c.

hath shined in our hearts] God makes use of human instrumentality in spreading the knowledge of His glory. Cf. ch. 2 Corinthians 2:15-16, 2 Corinthians 3:3; 2 Corinthians 3:6.

to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God] Literally, in order to the enlightenment: illumination, Rhemish. Knowledge is here spoken of rather as the effect of light than light itself. See note on 2 Corinthians 4:4.

in the face of Jesus Christ] The same word is used here as in ch. 2 Corinthians 2:10. See note on the words ‘image of God,’ above. “A notable place, whence we learn that God is not to be investigated in His unsearchable height, for He inhabits the light unapproachable (1 Timothy 6:16), but to be known as far as He reveals Himself in Christ … It is more useful for us to behold God as He appears in His Only-begotten Son, than to investigate His secret essence.” Calvin. There is another interpretation of these words. We may translate them ‘in the person of Christ,’ and then the sense is that Christ was Himself the revealer of the glory of God. John 1:14; John 1:18.

Bengel's Gnomen

2 Corinthians 4:6. Ὅτι, because) He proves, that they were true servants.—ὁ Θεὸς, God) God—to shine, constitutes the subject; then by supplying is (as in Acts 4:24-25) the predicate follows, [is He] who hath shone.—ὁ εἰπὼν, He who spake the word) who commanded by a word LXX., εἶπεν, Genesis 1:3.—ἐκ σκότους φῶς, light out of darkness) LXX., Job 37:15, φῶς ποιήσας ἐκ σκότους. A great work.—ἔλαμψεν, hath shone) Himself our Light; not only the author of light, but also its fountain, and Sun.—καρδίαις, in our hearts) in themselves dark.—ἐν προσώπῳ[23] Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, in the face of Jesus Christ) Who is the only begotten of the Father and His image, and was manifested in the flesh with His glory.

[23] Both the margin of the 2d Ed. and the Germ. Ver. hint that the name Ἰησοῦ is a doubtful reading; and the same may be said of the reading τοῦ Κυρίου, 2 Corinthians 4:10.—E. B.

AB Orig. 1,632f omit ʼ Ιησοῦ. But C Orig. 4,448c have it before Χριστοῦ; and D(Λ)Gfg Vulg. have it after Χριστοῦ. ABCDGfg Vulg. Orig. Iren. omit Κυρίου in 2 Corinthians 4:10. It is supported only by some later uncial MSS. and later Syr., etc.—ED.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 6. - Who commanded the light to shine out of darkness. The argument of the verse is that God, who created the material light (Genesis 1:3) and who is the Father of lights (James 1:1) and sent his Son to be the Light of the world (John 8:12), did not shine in our hearts for our sakes only, or that we might hide the light under a bushel for ourselves, but that we might transmit and reflect it. There is an implied comparison between the creation of light and the dawn of the gospel light, and each of these was meant for the good of all the world. The verse should be rendered, if we follow the best manuscripts, "Because it is God, who said, Light shall shine out of darkness, who shone in our hearts for the illumination of the knowledge of the glory of God." In the face of Jesus Christ (see ch. 2:10; 3:7). Probably, however, there is a reference to the glory of God, not as reflected from the face of Christ, but as concentrated in and beaming from it (Hebrews 1:2). 2 Corinthians 4:6

Vincent's Word Studies

Who commanded the light to shine (ὁ εἰπὼν φῶς λάμψαι)

The correct reading is λάμψει shall shine; so that we should render, it is God that said light shall shine. So Rev.

To give the light of the knowledge (πρὸς φωτισμὸν τῆς γνώσεως).

Lit., for the illumination, as 2 Corinthians 4:4. In order that the knowledge may lighten. Knowledge, if not diffused, is not of the nature of light.

In the face of Jesus Christ

Containing the thought of 2 Corinthians 3:18. The knowledge of the divine glory becomes clear revelation to men in the face of Christ as it appears in the Gospel: "So that in this seen countenance that clear-shining knowledge has the source of its light, as it were, its focus" (Meyer).