A recent discussion about deception prompted me to do a little research. I knew the Bible gave warnings about being deceived, but who is vulnerable to this?
The first thing to note is that Satan is the father of lies and the great deceiver. Mankind was swayed in the beginning with falsehood from Satan.
The deception came early in God’s perfect world when Satan lured Eve to disobey God’s command. Eve was to not eat from a certain tree in the garden, but she did anyway. Her reason? She was deceived.1
“Then the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” And the woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”” (Genesis 3:13)
What started in the garden with Eve has not stopped.
We will see in this paper that anyone can be deceived at any time. Those who do not revere God certainly are deceived, but Christians can also be deceived.
Non-Believers
Because of mankind’s rebellion against God, people are deceived about their sin and God’s truth. Sin blinds them to the truth of their condition and they are enslaved by sin.
Many passages speak of the deception in the world. Here are just three:
The Apostle Paul speaks about life before becoming a Christian:
“For we also once were foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another.” (Titus 3:3)
The activity of Satan is identified as having,
“All power and signs and false wonders, and with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved.” (2 Thessalonians 2:9b-10)
The Apostle John describes the spirit of antichrist as deceptive, and says,
“For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is the deceiver and the antichrist.” (2 John 1:7)
Be Reconciled
The course of action for non-believers is to be reconciled to God by turning from their sin. Since they are deceived, God must reveal Himself to them and they must believe in Him. (For more about this good news, please read my post, The Gospel.)
For Believers
Christians are not immune to being deceived. In fact, there are many passages that warn and instruct believers about deception. This was surprising to me, but should not have been so. The deceiver hates us, wants to distract us, and wants to make us and our life of faith ineffective.
Biblical Thinking
Christians can be deceived when we listen to worldly traditions and principles. Living out biblical principles should make us different than the world, so we must stop listening to the world. Part of the deception is that we might think we can be a Christian, but live like those in the world.
We are called to be transformed from living and thinking like unbelievers. This warning also helps us distinguish who a Christian truly is. Following, are two passages that speak about this:
“See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ.” (Colossians 2:8)
“Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, shall inherit the kingdom of God.” (1 Corinthians 6:9-10)
The kingdom of God is reserved for those made righteous by the sacrifice of Jesus. New believers are especially helped by this distinction. But all those who name Christ as their Savior need guidance such as this. The influence of our own fleshly thinking, as well as that of other world views, needs to be kept in line with biblical thinking.
One Bible commentary has this to say about not having a transformed life: “The self deception of merely verbal orthodoxy is the most dangerous of all.”2
In other words, we can’t just say or think about what is true. It must become part of our lives. We must be transformed. If we do not live out the truth, we are deceived.
Various Deceptions
Following are a few other deceptions that can beguile Christians. This list is not exhaustive, but illustrates that falsehood can come in many forms.
- Riches – “And the one on whom seed was sown among the thorns, this is the man who hears the word, and the worry of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.” (Matthew 13:22)
Whether this person is actually a Christian in the first place is debatable. However, in any case, we know that riches can have a very strong pull on us. We can tend to trust in them instead of fully depending upon God.
- Bad Company – “Do not be deceived: “Bad company corrupts good morals.”” (1 Corinthians 15:33)
This warning concerns us allowing those we know to have undo influence in our lives. We alone are responsible before the righteous One.
- Lifestyle Choices – “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap.” (Galatians 6:7)
The context of this passage is speaking of how we live our lives. Living a life that does not honor God results in corruption.
- Deceitful Spirits – “But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons.” (1 Timothy 4:1)
We are constantly being allured to listen to ‘other’ spirits. God alone in His Word should inform us.
Solutions
These solutions can also be seen as warnings. I chose to frame them as godly answers to our problem of deception. We can guard ourselves and help others when we apply these in our life of faith.
- Encouragement – “Take care, brethren, lest there should be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart, in falling away from the living God. But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called “Today,” lest any one of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.” (Hebrews 3:12-13)
Demonstrating a life of faithfulness to God encourages fellow believers. Here, we are prompted to also speak truth to each other.
- Practice Righteousness – “Little children, let no one deceive you: The one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as Christ is righteous. The one who practices sin is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the very start. This is why the Son of God was revealed, to destroy the works of the devil.” (1 John 3:7-8)
As we mentioned earlier, it is not just what we say that matters. It is crucial that we practice upright moral behavior as outlined and demonstrated in scripture. We are righteous when we practice righteousness.
- Devotion to Christ – “But I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ.” (2 Corinthians 11:3)
I have been reminded and encouraged every time I remember this passage. We don’t need to make trusting God complicated.
Conclusion
Everyone is surrounded by deception. The very nature of deception makes it hard to detect. The battle comes to us whether we want it or not.
Christ has delivered us from the spiritual falsehood that can delude us. Through Him, we can choose to walk in His truth and learn to recognize the deceitfulness that is around us.
Appendix
I write about another form of deception in the paper, Superstition and Omens.
1 Eve disobeyed God and did not trust Him, but she blamed Satan for deceiving her. She was still responsible for her actions.
2 Pulpit Commentary