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15th January 2026
ThursdayReflection
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'John Piper'
founder and teacher of Desiring God.org
The text answers questions that are important to me and that I believe should be important to you.
They are questions about who you are and how you might be of use to the people around you.
Blind to the Light
What is it? I think the answer is given in 2 Corinthians 4:4 and 2 Corinthians 4:6.
The depth of the answer, the real beauty of the answer, is found when you lay the first on top of the second, noticing the way that 2 Corinthians 4:6 illumines 2 Corinthians 4:4
Let's look at 2 Corinthians 4:4 first.
"In their case" - that is, the case of the perishing, the lost, the unsaved - "the god of this world" - that's Satan - "has blinded the minds of the unbelievers to keep them from seeing.
From seeing what?
"The glory of Christ is the highest, sweetest, best, final good of the gospel."
Now look at 2 Corinthians 4:6.
"For God, who said, 'Let light shine out of darkness,' has shone in our hearts to - and here it comes again - "the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ."
Now lay the verses on top of each other.
Compare the phrase the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God from 2 Corinthians 4:4 with the phrase the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ from 2 Corinthians 4:6
Both of them start with the light, so that's the same, but 2 Corinthians 4:4 continues with of the gospel while 2 Corinthians 4:6 goes on with of the knowledge.
Here's what seems plain to me: the gospel is the gospel of the glory of Christ.
My answer is that the glory of Christ is the highest, sweetest, best, final good of the gospel - because it's called the gospel of the glory of Christ in these verses.
When I ask myself, "Okay, what's better than that?" I have no answer.
The gospel of the glory of Christ is the best.
There seem to be two glories - or are there?
There is the glory of Christ in 2 Corinthians 4:4 and the glory of God in 2 Corinthians 4:6. Whose glory is it?
Notice that Paul, as soon as he brings up the glory of Christ in 2 Corinthians 4:4, qualifies the phrase with who is the image of God:
"The glory of Christ, who is the image of God."
Notice also that Paul, as soon as he brings up the glory of God in 2 Corinthians 4:6, says that it shines most brightly "in the face of Christ."
So it's one glory, not two glories.
The highest, sweetest, best, final good of the gospel is the glory of God in the face of Christ or the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, shining forth in the gospel.
When I say gospel, I mean the facts, the narratives.
We all know the message of the gospel is that Christ died for our sins.
He was buried. He rose again from the dead, triumphant over hell and sin and Satan.
If there is no glory of Christ, no glory of God, shining from that event into your heart, being savoured once there, you don't have it.
The highest good of the gospel that makes the facts of the gospel glorious is glory.
My answer to the first question is that the glory of God in the face of Christ is the highest, sweetest, best, final good of the gospel.
The glory of Christ, who is the image of God - that's the answer.
Beauty is best. Greatness is best. Christ is shining the most.
Let me give you an illustration, one which made me begin to ask this question years ago.
Suppose I get up in the morning and trip over something which I had asked my wife, Noël, to put away last night.
I snap at her, who is still lying in bed, "I asked you to put that away. I could've broken my neck."
I go to the kitchen.
She goes to the kitchen later, and there's ice in the air. She has her back to me at the sink, and I know what I need: I need forgiveness.
I want forgiveness.
Why do I want it? Why would you want it?
Here are some bad answers to that question: I hate going to work with a guilty conscience, or she might not fix supper if she doesn't forgive me.
Forgiveness is worthless in and of itself.
Why do you want forgiveness?
You want forgiveness because you want her back.
You want her to turn around, her face to soften, words of forgiveness to be spoken, and you want to embrace and to have a clear, sweet, unhindered relationship:
"I want you."
My question for you is, Why do you want to be forgiven by God?
Is it just escape from hell?
If that's your answer, then you don't know him.
Is it just to clear your conscience?
Forgiveness is precious for one reason - one ultimate, sweet, high, good reason.
We get God back.
Everything is out of the way. I have him and no fear. That's sweet.
This is an edited version.
The full article is avaiable on request
'John Piper'
is founder and teacher of Desiring God and chancellor of Bethlehem College and Seminary.
For 33 years, he served as pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church, Minneapolis, Minnesota.
He is author of more than 50 books, including Desiring God: Meditations of a Christian Hedonist
and most recently Foundations for Lifelong Learning: Education in Serious Joy
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