Is this “god” Satan or Beliar (a name or entity associated with Satan)?.The problem with this view is that this entity plays an active role in the blinding, and so we might expect an intelligent personal being is behind this deception. For example, Paul speaks of enemies of the cross of Christ, whose “god is their belly” (Philippians 3:18–19). This metaphorical understanding of the word “god” is evident elsewhere in Paul. The “god of this world” could then be understood as “the god, namely, this world (god = world) blinds the minds of the unbelievers…” Such an interpretation would mean that the influence and ideology of this world has a way of blinding the minds of people from the truth of the gospel. Is “god” simply supposed to be a reference to this age? If so, the Greek genitive (what we usually translate as “of”) would be considered “epexegetical.” In other words, “of” in this sense stands for “namely” or “is.” It simply equates the one word with the other (such as in the phrase, “the city of New York,” where “the city” is namely, “New York”).Thus, this deity seems to be associated with what is evil and fallen. The problem with this view is that Paul does not write “God” like he normally does if he simply meant “God.” He writes instead, “the G/god of this age.” Paul associates the present age ( aiȏnos) with what is evil and fallen (1 Corinthians 1:20–21 2:6–8 3:18–19 Galatians 1:4 Romans 12:2 cf.
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