THE POPULAR ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIBLE PROPHECY

DECEPTION

DECEPTION IS THE INTERNATIONAL misleading of another person through words or deed. Though deception can be use for good purposes    ( such as when the Hebrews Midwifes deceive Pharaoh to save the lives of the new born males( [Exodus 1:19] ), It is most often used to describe the unethical exploitation of another person or the teaching of erroneous doctrines. 

THE USAGE OF DECEIT – Old Testament Usage :

The Primary Hebrew word for deceit is ramah  and its related word group. Ramah is use to refer to personal and ethical deception. The verb form ( ramah ) is found eight times in the Old testament and describe petrayal, deceit,  or treachery. For example, the Gibeonites deceive Israel into making a treaty with them ( Joshua 9:22 ). The noun form ( mirmah ) occurs 40 times in the Old Testament. It denotes one person deceit of another. Because Shechem had rape their sister, Danah, “Jacobs sons answer Shechem  and his father Hamor with deceit “( Genesis 34:13 NASB ). Amos condemns dishonest merchant who cheat with dishonest scale ( Amos 8:5 ). Proverbs 11:1  says, “A false balance  is an Abomination to the Lord.” The tongue of the wicked is said to be “deceitful” (Psalm 52:4 ). The “Little Horn ” A reference to Antiochus Epiphanes will us Schrewdness and deceit to gain power, but then he will attempt to destroyed God’s people ( Daniel 8:25 )  ( Carpenter and Grisanti  PP. 1122 – 23 ).The second Hebrew word for deception is patah and is translated by the Greek apatao in the Septuagint. The verb patah  in the Niphal  form means “to be deceive” ( Job 31:9 ), in the piel form, “to deceived”( 2 Samuel 3:25; Proverbs 24:28 ), and in the pual form, “to be deceived”( Jeremiah 20:7 -10 ). Like ramah, patah  refers to ethical and personal deception. 

NEW TESTAMENT USAGE

The New Testament uses several’s Greek words for deceit: Plane ( error ), dolos ( Cunning  or treachery), apate (deception, deceitfulness ), and paralogizomai ( deceive, delude ). The New Testament uses the active verb form planao  almost exclusively in an apocalyptic scene ( Gunther P.459 ). In Jesus Olivet discourse, He warn about false Messiah who would mislead many ( Matthew 24:5;see also Matthew 13:6 ; Luke 21:8 ). Paul predict apostasy in the last days and warns that Evil men and impostors will proceed from bad to worse deceiving and being deceived ( 2 Timothy 3:13 ). John uses planao  in an ethical and spiritual sense in 1 John 1:8  “If we say that we have no sin we are deceiving our self and the truth is not in us” ( see also 3:7 ). And like Paul John warns about false teachers or Antichrist “who are trying to deceive you” ( 1 John 2:26 ; 2 John 7 ). Paul, Peter, John and Jude all uses the noun plane to warn about the deceptive tactics of false teachers ( 2 Thessalonian 2:11; 2 Peter 2:18; 1 John 4:6 ; Jude 11:13 ) Jude depiction of false teachers as wandering stars give the primary idea of planao. Like stars that have move out of their establish place, false teachers have strive for the truth and have attempted to persuade others to follow their erroneous ways. Thus though planao has a spatial sense, The New Testament writers use it in a theological or ethical sense to describe those who have depart from the truth. 

Deceit or Treachery ( dolos ) is use primarily in a either sense. Jesus list deceit ( dolos) in a list of vices to emphasize that it is not goes into the stomach but what comes out of the heart that corrupt a man( Mark 7:21 – 23 ) Paul condemn the Jewish sorcerrer  Elymas, declaring ” You who are full of all deceit and fraud” You son of the devil, You enemy of all righteousness, will You not cease to make crocked the strait ways of the Lord?” ( Acts 13:10 ). Paul include deceit  ( dolos ) as one of the sins of depraved mankind ( Roman 1:29 ). He calls false Apostles “deceitful workers” ( 2 Corinthians 11:13). Peter urges believers to put aside ” all malice and all deceit ( dolon) and hypocrisy and envy and all slander   ( 1 Peter 2:1 ) In contract to wicked deceitful men, Jesus commanded Nathaniel because he was a true Israelite, ” In whom there is no deceit!”  ( John 1:47). Paul distanced him self from the deceitful ways of false teachers ( 1 Thessalonian 2:3 ) Peter praise Christ as a perfect example of one who suffers unjustly because He ” Committed no sin nor was any deceit found in this mouth”( 1 Peter 2:22 ). The Arch-deceiver is Satan, whom the triumphant Christ will cast in to the lake of fire( Revelation 20:10 ) The New Testament uses apatao and apate both theological and ethnically. Paul cautious the Thessalonians not to be deceive by false teachers who claim that the day of the Lord has come ( 2 Thessalonian 2:1-4; see also Ephesians 5:6 ; Colossians 2:8 ) Jesus employed the word in its ethical sense to warn of the seductive attraction of riches (Matthew 13:22; see also Mark 4:19). Paul, Peter and the unnamed author of Hebrews each use the term to expose the deceptive power of sin ( Romans 7:11; Hebrews 3:13; 2 Peter 2:13). Paul uses it twice to refer to Satan’s deception of eve ( 2 Corinthians 11:3 ; 1 Timothy 2:14 )Paul uses Paralogizomai   (deceive; deluded ) to warn about pervasive arguments that might lead ( paralogizetai ) true believers astray ( Colossian 2:4). James  says that believers can deceive themselves by hearing the Word but not doing it   ( James 1:22 ). Both passages contains the underlying idea of something that gives the impression that it is true or right when it is actually wrong.