How does the Bible view deception?

Deception shows up in my ‘home’ translation four times:

1.       In Joshua 9 with respect to the Gibeonites’ deception of Israel, an attempt to survive the Israelites’ genocidal eradication of other communities as YHWH brought His people in to Canaan.  The consequence: ‘But Joshua made them that day cutters of wood and drawers of water for the congregation and for the altar of the Lord, to this day, in the place that he should choose.’ (Josh 9:27)

2.       In Proverbs 26: Whoever hates disguises himself with his lips
    and harbors deceit in his heart;
²⁵ when he speaks graciously, believe him not,
    for there are seven abominations in his heart;
²⁶ though his hatred be covered with deception,
    his wickedness will be exposed in the assembly.

3.       In 2 Thessalonians 2 (concerning ‘the man of lawlessness): 

2 Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we ask you, brothers,² not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by a spirit or a spoken word, or a letter seeming to be from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. ³ Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, ⁴ who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God. ⁵ Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things? ⁶ And you know what is restraining him now so that he may be revealed in his time. ⁷ For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way. ⁸ And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and bring to nothing by the appearance of his coming. ⁹ The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, ¹⁰ and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. ¹¹ Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, ¹² in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

4.  And in the second chapter of 2 Peter (concerning false prophets and teachers, verses 10b-13):  Bold and willful, they do not tremble as they blaspheme the glorious ones,¹¹ whereas angels, though greater in might and power, do not pronounce a blasphemous judgment against them before the Lord. ¹² But these, like irrational animals, creatures of instinct, born to be caught and destroyed, blaspheming about matters of which they are ignorant, will also be destroyed in their destruction, ¹³ suffering wrong as the wage for their wrongdoing. They count it pleasure to revel in the daytime. They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their deceptions, while they feast with you.

Various forms of ‘deceit’ appear in that translation 129 times: 83 in the OT and 46 in the NT. 

Eve claims she was deceived by the serpent (Gen 3). 

Jacob the deceiver robs Esau’s blessing and birthright by deceit, and then is deceived by Laban in Jacob’s bargaining for Rachel as his wife (Gen 27 and 29). 

Jacob’s sons deceive Hamor and Shechem after the latter raped their sister Dinah, leading to the slaughter of all the Canaanite men in that community (Gen 34). 

Deception is implicated in sins against God and neighbor (Lev 6:2; Deut 11:16). 

The Gibeonite deception was mentioned earlier (cf also Josh 9:22). 

In the books of Samuel, Saul accuses Michal of deception when she helps David escape his murderous wrath; the witch of Endor accuses Saul of deception when he seeks her help in summoning Samuel’s ghost from Sheol; and lame Mephibosheth tells David of deception by his scheming servant, which resulted in the king’s misjudgment of both Saul’s crippled son and the lying servant (cf. 1 Sam 19:7; 28:12; 2 Sam 3:25; 19:26). 

In Kings, Elisha proves he is no deceiver when he raises a dead child at his mother’s petition (2 Ki 4:28)  And the Assyrian king Sennacherib tries to persuade Hezekiah that God is deceiving Israel by promising their deliverance from Assyria’s army (2Ki 19:8-13).  [You’ll recall how that turned out:  God killed 185,000 Assyrians and delivered Israel as Isaiah had spoken on YHWH’s behalf.] 

Deceit appears several times in the book of Job (12:16; 13:7,9; 15:11, 35; 27:4; 31:5)

The Psalms have many cautions against deceit and its dire consequences (5:6; 10:7; 17:1; 24:4; 32:2; 34:13; 35:20; 36:3; 43:1; 50:19; 52:2, 4; 78:57; 101:7; 109:2; 120:2, 3).  So also in Proverbs (12:5, 17, 20; 14:8, 25; 20:17; 24:28; 26:19, 24; 31:30).

In Isaiah, Sennacherib’s misguided threat is repeated (36:14 and 37:10, cp 2 Ki 19:9ff); the Lord’s Servant is declared free of deceit (53:9), while mockers are called the offspring of deceit (57:4). 

Jeremiah, the ‘weeping prophet’ writes several times about the dire consequences of deceit:  (4:10;; 5:27; 8:5; 9:4, 5, 6, 8; 14:14; 23:26).   Deceit numbs people to real danger, and hardens them against repentance and godly sorrow; it puffs up the rich and mighty; it destroys civility and honesty among neighbors, bringing weariness, godlessness, and murderous malice.  Some who claim prophetic gifts are deceived, and so are ungodly deceivers. The deceitful are likened to failing brooks.  Of human hearts, the prophet says, ‘The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?’ (Jer 17:9).  At least twice, Jeremiah complains that God has deceived him (4:10, 20:7).  Being God’s mouthpiece makes the prophet a special target of deception and vengeance (20:10).  God’s prophet warns that deceiving prophets are themselves hopelessly deceived, and cannot be heeded.  As Jeremiah closes, YHWH warns his people:  ‘do not deceive yourselves’.  And as the women of the king of Judah’s household are being led out into captivity, they acknowledge that ‘trusted friends have deceived you and prevailed against you; now that your feet are sunk in the mud, they turn away from you.’  Jeremiah also prophesies against Edom, who trusted too much in their isolated mountain territory for security; they are self-deceived in the dread they have inspired in others and in the pride of their own hearts; however:  ‘Though you make your nest as high as the eagle’s, I will bring you down from there, declares the Lord.’ (Jer 49:16).  And the prophet gives voice to the lamentation of Jerusalem: ‘ I called to my lovers, but they deceived me; my priests and elders perished in the city, while they sought food to revive their strength.’ 

Deceit arises in the works of other prophets.  Daniel speaks of a future ruler who will cause fearful destruction and for a time ‘by his cunning he shall make deceit prosper’ (8:25)—in God’s providence this deceiver will be broken, ‘but by no human hand’.  In his prophecies concerning ‘the kings of the South and the North,’ Daniel describes ‘a contemptible person’ who will usurp royal authority ‘and obtain the kingdom by flatteries.  Armies shall be utterly swept away before him and broken, even the prince of the covenant.  And from the time that an alliance is made with him he shall act deceitfully, and he shall become strong’ despite leading small forces. (Dan 11:20ff).    

Hosea indicts Ephraim and Israel for their lies and deceit, but praises Judah, a tribe that ‘still walks with God and is faithful to the Holy One’ (Hos 11:12). 

Amos prophesies against God’s people Israel, specifically addressing ‘you who trample on the needy and bring the poor of the land to an end, saying “When will the new moon be over, that we may sell grain?  And the Sabbath, that we may offer wheat for sale, that we may make the ephah small and the shekel great and deal deceitfully with false balances, that we may buy the poor for silver and the needy for a pair of sandals and sell the chaff of the wheat?’ (Amos 8:4ff).  For such conduct, God will bring famine, not just for water or bread, ‘but of hearing the words of the Lord.’  (v.11).  Those so famished will wander from sea to sea, but fail in their quest; and ‘they shall fall, and never rise again.’ (v.14).

Obadiah echoes Jeremiah’s prophecy against Edom and their self-deceived and misplaced trust in their lofty dwelling, from which God will tear them down.  They have no allies; former friends have deceived and deserted the Edomites. (Ob 1:3, 7)

Micah prophesied against Samaria and Jerusalem.  They would seek to avoid exile by bribing neighboring kingdoms (Mic 1:14).  But God’s judgment was surely coming; He would not acquit those ‘with wicked scales and with a bag of deceitful weights’ (Mic 6:11).  Moreover, ‘Your rich men are full of violence; your inhabitants speak lies, and their tongue is deceitful in their mouth.’  God will smite them, make them desolate for such sins.  They have gone too far into the counsels of evil and falsehood, and now face desolation and exile. 

According to Zephaniah, when YHWH converts the gentiles and restores the children of Israel, God ‘will leave in your midst a people humble and lowly.  They shall seek refuge in the name of the Lord, those who are left in Israel; they shall do no injustice and speak no lies, nor shall there be found in their mouth a deceitful tongue…and none shall make them afraid.’ (Zeph 312-13)

The late chapters of Zechariah address the cleansing of the house of David and of the inhabitants of Jerusalem.  False prophets will face shame and punishment.  ‘On that day every prophet will be ashamed of his vision when he prophesies.  He will not put on a hairy cloak in order to deceive…’ (Zech 13:4)

Matthew (13:22) and Mark (4:19) present Jesus telling the ‘parable of the sower’ and soils; in both cases, Jesus says that the deceitfulness of riches choke the good seed, the true word about the kingdom of God, and so for those so deceived, the word proves fruitless.  Debating with the Pharisees, Jesus teaches that people are not defiled by what they eat, but rather by what comes out from the human heart: ‘evil thoughts, fornication, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, foolishness.’ (Mk 7:21-22) 

Freedom from deceit was one of the qualities Jesus perceived in Nathanael, the true Israelite (Jn 1:47).  By contrast, the chief priests and Pharisees accosted the officers they had sent to arrest Jesus; the latter came back without Him, having witnessed that ‘No man every spoke like this man.’  However: ‘The Pharisees answered them, “Have you also been deceived?  Have any of the authorities or of the Pharisees believed in him?”’ (Jn7:45-47)

On their first missionary journey, Paul and Barnabas, commissioned by the church at Antioch and set out by the Holy Spirit, at Paphos on Cyprus, encountered a Jewish magician named Bar-Jesus, also known as Elymas.  They clashed as the missionaries sought to testify to the local proconsul Sergius Paulus while Elymas sought to turn him from faith.  Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, addressed the magician: ‘You son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, full of all deceit and villainy, will you not stop make crooked the straight paths of the Lord?’  And the magician was struck blind, while the proconsul believed. (Acts 13:6-12)

Deceit is a great evil in Paul’s Roman letter.  The ungodly who deny the evidence concerning God available to all through His creation, who did not honor or thank God, but became futile in thought, darkened in mind, fools claiming to be wise, worshiping man-made images of creatures, and spurning the Creator and Master of all.  God gave them up to the consequences of their choices—unnatural lusts and fornication.  ‘They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice.  They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness.’ (Rom 1:19ff)  Paul perceives deceit as an element in the unrighteousness of both Jews and gentiles—all under sin’s power: “None is righteous, no not one; no one understands, no one seeks God.  All have turned aside, together they have gone wrong; no one does good, not even one.” “Their throat is an open grave, they use their tongues to deceive.”  Their words carry venom; their mouths flow with curses and bitterness; they hurry to shed blood; they create ruin and misery; they have no knowledge of the ways of peace, and there is no fear of God in their sight.’  (Ro 3:12ff)

Sin uses deceit, even concerning God’s law and commandments, to kill those seeking God. (Ro 7:11)  And in his final exhortations to the Romans, Paul appeals to the brothers and sisters ‘to take note of those who create dissensions and difficulties, in opposition to the doctrine which you have been taught’ and to ‘avoid them.  For such persons do not serve our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own appetites, and by fair and flattering words they deceive the hearts of the naïve.’  (Ro 16:18). 

In the Corinthian letters, Paul continues to warn against self-deceit and deceit by spiritual and human agents of deception:  ‘Let no one deceive himself.  If anyone among you thinks that he is wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise [in truth].’ (1 Cor 3:18)  The apostle deplores argument and division among the Christians.  ‘Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God.  Do not be deceived’ – the kingdom is denied to the immoral, idolaters, adulterers, sexual perverts, thieves, the greedy, drunkards, revilers and robbers—just as some among Paul’s audience (and some in this forum) had been:  ‘But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.’  (1 Cor 6, esp. vv.9-11)  And in his concluding discussion of the gospel and of the meaning of the resurrection, Paul exhorts: ‘Do not be deceived: “Bad company ruins good morals.”’  It’s a shame for believers to continue in sin and folly, particularly in the light of the resurrection.  (1 Cor 15, esp. v.33)

In his second Corinthian letter, Paul strives against the influence of false teachers seeking to deceive the congregation. He has labored to keep them a pure and faithful bride to Christ.  'But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ….And what I am doing I will continue to do, in order to undermine the claim of those who would like to claim that in their boasted mission they work on the same terms as we do. ¹³ For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. ¹⁴ And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. ¹⁵ So it is no surprise if his servants, also, disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will correspond to their deeds.’  (2Cor 11:3, 12-15)  Paul himself has been accused by some of the Corinthians of deceit (2Cor 12:16).  He strenuously denies this false charge. 

In his letter to the Galatians, Paul confronts self-deception and hubris: ‘For if anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself.’  (Gal 6:3)  We should soberly assess our own works and personal responsibilities, while helping others with burdens too great to bear alone.  ‘Let the one who is taught the word share all good things with the one who teaches.  Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap.’ (v.7). 

The letter we call Ephesians emphasizes unity in the faith and in the faith community; God in Christ has gifted us with apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers to equip the saints for the work of ministry, building up the body of Christ.  One result of these God-given privileges and powers is ‘that we may no longer be children, tossed to a fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.’ (Eph 4:14).  As we live out the new life God enables in Christ and by the Spirit, the deceptions and darkness of ungodly living can and must be set aside.  Those outside God’s community ‘are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart.’ (v.18)   Instead, we are ‘to put off your old self, which belongs to your former way of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires’ (v.22).  We are to be renewed in the spirit of our minds and ‘put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.’ (v. 24)

Paul counsels the Colossian Christians, ‘See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ.’  (Col 2:8)  To do this would be to spurn the fullness of deity, and ‘all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge’ (v.3) in favor of sin and folly.

In writing to the Thessalonians, Paul assures that ‘our appeal does not spring from error or impurity or any attempt to deceive’—Paul, Silas and Timothy ‘have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, not to please men, but to please God Who tests our hearts.’ (1 Thess 2:3-4)  He answers their fraught questions about the second coming:  ‘Let no one deceive you in any way.’  And he patiently reviews the signs that will precede Christ’s Parousia.  (2 Thess2:3ff)

To Timothy, Paul writes concerning proper order in community life among the faithful.  In what has become controversial in some ‘modern’ circles, Paul asserts that no woman may teach, or have authority over, men—on grounds that ‘Adam was formed first, then Eve; and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor.’  (1Tim 2:14)  Later, Paul writes: ‘Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons’ (1Tim 4:1)—such demonic doctrines will include forbidding marriage and restrictive dietary laws.  In seeking to prepare Timothy and those he will serve for the challenges ahead, Paul writes ‘¹² Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, ¹³ while evil people and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. (2 Tim 3:12-13)  A solid foundation in godly teaching and God’s scripture are a bulwark against these evils.  The sacred writings ‘are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.  All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.’  (vv.14-17)

To his fellow worker Titus, Paul writes guidance to help him ‘amend what was defective’ in the doctrine and praxis of the Christians on Crete, ‘and appoint elders in every town as I directed you.’ (Tit 1:5).  Paul details the qualifications for an elder; these are high and necessary: ‘For there are many insubordinate men, empty talkers and deceivers….’ (Tit 1:10)  The godly elder will have a lot of opposition, but will prevail, by God’s grace and power. 

The writer to the Hebrews exhorts those who share a heavenly call, to dwell on Jesus, ‘faithful over God’s house as a son’ (Heb 3:6a)  The Christians are exhorted to take care, ‘lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God.  But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” so that none be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.’  (Heb 3:12-13)

James addresses deceit early in his epistle, in the context of true faith - acting on what one believes:  ‘Do not deceived, my beloved brothers.’ (Jas 1:16)  Every good and perfect gift comes down to us from the Father of lights, concerning Whom there is no variation, no shadow, no change, no variation.  Our part is to persevere in searching into the perfect law, the liberty God in Christ has given us, and then to act upon what God enables us to believe: ‘Be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.’ (v.22)  And we guard against deception by bridling our tongues:  ‘If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person’s religion is worthless.’ (v.26)

In his first epistle, Peter writes of deceit three times:  ‘So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander.’ (2:1)  Speaking of Jesus:  ‘He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in His mouth.’ (2:22)  And guidance for followers of Jesus:  ‘Whoever desires to love life and see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit….’ (3:10)

In his epistles, John addresses both self-deception and deceptions from other sources:  ‘If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. (1 Jn 1:8)  John seeks to protect believers who heed his words: ‘I write these things to you about those who are trying to deceive you.’ (1 Jn 2:26)  Again: ‘Little children, let no one deceive you.  Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as [Jesus] Is righteous.’ (1 Jn 3:7). Addressing specific heretical deceptions:   ‘For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not confess the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh.  Such a one is the deceiver and the antichrist.’  (2 Jn 1:7).

Finally, in his apocalypse, John writes of the great deceiver:  ‘And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.’ (Rev 12:9)  Of the ‘second beast’ in his vision, the revelator writes:  ‘¹³ It performs great signs, even making fire come down from heaven to earth in front of people, ¹⁴ and by the signs that it is allowed to work in the presence of^[d] the beast it deceives those who dwell on earth, telling them to make an image for the beast that was wounded by the sword and yet lived.’ (Rev 13:13-14)  And finally, in the vision of the ‘fall of Babylon’:  ‘²¹ Then a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone and threw it into the sea, saying,

“So will Babylon the great city be thrown down with violence,
    and will be found no more;
²² and the sound of harpists and musicians, of flute players and trumpeters,
    will be heard in you no more,
and a craftsman of any craft
    will be found in you no more,
and the sound of the mill
    will be heard in you no more,
²³ and the light of a lamp
    will shine in you no more,
and the voice of bridegroom and bride
    will be heard in you no more,
for your merchants were the great ones of the earth,
    and all nations were deceived by your sorcery.
²⁴ And in her was found the blood of prophets and of saints,
    and of all who have been slain on earth.” (Rev 18:21-24)