2 Corinthians 4:3 - Clarke's commentary and critical notes on the Bible

But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: But if our Gospel be hid - Κεκαλυμμενον· 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, απολλυμενοι, 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 προβατα τα απολωλοτα, the Lost sheep of the house of Israel; Matthew 10:6; for himself says, Matthew 18:11, and Luke 19:10 : The Son of man is come ζητησαι και σωσαι το απολωλος, to seek and to Save that which is Lost. And such persons he represents under the parable of the lost sheep; for to find το απολωλος, that which is Lost, the good shepherd leaves the ninety-and-nine in the wilderness, and goes in search of it; Matthew 18:12; Luke 15:4. 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.