Charles Ellicott Commentary 2 Corinthians 4:3

"And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled in them that perish:" — 2 Corinthians 4:3 (ASV)

But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost.—Better, in both cases, as keeping the sequence of thought, has been veiled, instead of “is hid,” and among those who are perishing. (See Note on 2 Corinthians 2:15.)

He cannot close his eyes to the fact that the glorious words of 2 Corinthians 3:18 are only partially realized. There are some to whom even the gospel of Christ appears as shrouded by a veil.

And these are not, as some have thought, Judaizing teachers only or chiefly, but the whole class of those who are at present on the way to perish, not knowing God, counting themselves unworthy of eternal life. The force of the present participle, as not excluding the thought of future change, is again to be carefully noted.