This entry is adapted from a longer piece that argues that New Testament authors identified Jesus as the creator of the cosmos.
In a recent entry, I argued that three New Testament authors see Jesus as the creator of the cosmos, including Paul. However, Paul also pens 2 Corinthians 4:6. Traditionally, commentators take “God” in this verse to refer to the Father. There are good reasons for doing so. Typically, when Paul says “God” in proximity to terms referring to Jesus (e.g., Jesus, Christ, Jesus Christ, the Son, etc) as a distinct person, “God” refers to the Father. For instance, “I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus” (1 Corinthians 1:4). If we apply the same reasoning to 2 Corinthians 4:6, “God” will refer to the Father. This may then imply that the Father is the divine person in Genesis who says, “Let there be light,” and hence the immediate creator. Furthermore, the same divine person would be shining “the light of the knowledge of the glory of God” in human hearts by the gospel that Paul preached to the Corinthians. However, in light of the christological saturation of the passage, I shall argue that Paul’s language in 4:6 allows “God” to include Jesus and that this verse does not invalidate the conclusion that Jesus is the immediate creator of the cosmos.
We should begin with the rhetorical flourish that 4:6 is a part of:
2 Corinthians 4:4-6 ESV
In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. [5] For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. [6] For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
Unbelievers are blinded as though in a dark room because they do not have “the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ.” This “glory of Christ” is connected to “the glory of God.” These are not competing divine glories. On the contrary, the “glory of God” is revealed in Christ. Jesus’ face is the locus of divine glory. Just as Moses radiated the glory of the old covenant (2 Corinthians 3:7), the glory of God also shines in “the face of Christ Jesus.”
The first point to note is that Paul does not seem concerned about differentiating among the divine persons in these verses. While it is true that when Paul mentions Christ in proximity to God, he usually refers to the Father, this is merely a pattern not necessitated by grammar rules or logic. Paul can and often clearly adds “Father” to labels intended to pick out the Father. For example:
2 Corinthians 1:2 ESV
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
But he does not use the paternal language in 4:4-6. Besides, Paul also uses “God” in ways that include Christ within the divine identity:
Romans 9:5 ESV
To them belong the patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen.
Philippians 2:5-6 ESV
[5] Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, [6] who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped,
These verses show that Paul can include Christ in his “God” language. So, if Paul is not concerned with differentiating divine persons in 2 Corinthians 4:6, there is no reason to press too hard for his intended referent of “God.” He could be using the term in a sense inclusive of Christ.
More importantly, notice that the focus of 4:4-6 is Christ. Hence, Jesus is “the image of God,” the one proclaimed as Lord, and the one for whom Paul and his colleagues became servants of the Corinthians. Commentators generally believe that Paul alludes to Genesis 1:3 in verse 6, but notice that the light that shone in “our hearts” is “God” himself (“God…shone in our hearts.”) But elsewhere, Paul says Jesus resides in believers’ hearts:
Ephesians 3:14-17 ESV
[14] For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, [15] from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, [16] that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, [17] so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love,
Interestingly, Paul here clearly marks out “the Father,” but it is Christ who is said to dwell in the believer’s heart. Paul also says to the Galatians in 4:19 that it is Christ who is being formed in them. It gets even more fluid:
Romans 8:9-10 ESV
[9] You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. [10] But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness.
Here, Paul uses “Spirit of God,” “Spirit of Christ,” “Spirit,” and “Christ in you” interchangeably. So, who exactly resides in a believer’s heart? For Paul, the one God of Israel does! Paul takes much liberty in describing this reality, as these texts show. So, the “God” language of 2 Corinthians 4:6 is fluid and almost certainly includes Jesus.
We have thus seen that the standard reading that “God” in 2 Corinthians 4:6 refers to the Father is itself influenced by the pervasive assumption that the Father is the creator described in Genesis. Once we question that assumption, the popular reading loses its force. Interestingly, Paul also claims that Christ is the creator in the Corinthian Correspondence:
1 Corinthians 8:5-6 ESV
[5] For although there may be so-called gods in heaven or on earth—as indeed there are many “gods” and many “lords”— [6] yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist.
Once again, Paul clearly distinguishes among the divine persons when necessary. Here, Paul says “all things” are from the Father and through Jesus, using a similar language to that in his letter to the Colossians. So, we may not use 2 Corinthians 4:6 to invalidate an idea Paul posits within the Corinthian correspondence and elsewhere:
Colossians 1:16 NKJV
For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him.
So, the “all things” of 1 Corinthians 8:6 is all of creation.
An interesting connection with the gospel of John is worth mentioning briefly. John 3:35 says, “The Father loves the Son, and has given all things into His hand” – “all things” referring to all of creation, as John states:
John 1:1-5 ESV
[1] In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. [2] He was in the beginning with God. [3] All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. [4] In him was life, and the life was the light of men. [5] The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
First, the Father committed “all things” to Jesus. Then, “all things” were made by and through Jesus. That is, Jesus brought “all things” into being – “and without him was not any thing made that was made.” Second, John says in Jesus was life and the life was the light of men, shining in darkness. This language is reminiscent of 2 Corinthians 4:6,
2 Corinthians 4:6 ESV
For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
Paul says “God…shone in our hearts,” while John says Christ is the source of light, not merely its reflector. The Johannine text enables us to see Paul’s point that “the light” is mediated by Jesus and Christologically defined. Hence, it is plausible that Jesus is the “God” in this text. In any case, nothing in 2 Corinthians 4:6 requires us to exclude Christ from the identity of the “God” who said, “Let light shine out of darkness.” If anything, Paul’s christological pattern encourages us to see Christ as the very one who spoke that primordial light into being and who now shines that same creative light into human hearts. And, given that, this verse does not threaten the conclusion that Jesus is the immediate creator described in Genesis 1.