The Bible's Use of the Word Deceit
“Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment” (John 7:24).
And the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die” (Gen. 3:4). Clearly, Satan lied to the woman, but Paul later writes, “And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived, fell into the transgression” (1 Tim. 2:14). Paul is probably referring to the entire process of deception perpetrated upon Eve, which included appeals to the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and pride. Outright lying was a part of the devil’s overall attack.
Several forms of the word deceit are used in the Bible; this article will be devoted to looking at several of them before drawing an important conclusion with respect to Mac Deaver’s doctrine of “Authorized Ethical Deception” (AED). According to the Blue Letter Bible, the English word deceit appears 34 times over 33 verses in the King James Version of the Bible. The first three usages are found in the book of Job and are all used in a negative sense. One of them affords us an excellent prohibition: “My lips shall not speak wickedness, nor my tongue utter deceit” (Job 27:4; cf. 15:35; 31:5). This verse also includes a parallelism, and deceit is interchangeable with wickedness. [Scriptures in this article will be from the King James instead of the New King James.]
There are seven verses in the book of Psalms, and deceit is associated with several other negative actions, such as cursing, fraud, mischief, and vanity (10:7); iniquity (36:3); evil (50:19); wickedness and guile (55:11); violence (72:4); lies (101:7); and falsehood (119:118). If a person can be known by the company he keeps, so should a concept. Deceit certainly walks on the dark side of the street, away from the light, among the deep shadows.
As one might expect, several Proverbs also make statements concerning deceit’s character, and none of them are flattering. Following are the seven that Solomon wrote:
The thoughts of the righteous are right: but the counsels of the wicked are deceit (12:5).
He that speaketh truth sheweth forth righteousness: but a false witness deceit (12:17).
Deceit is in the heart of them that imagine evil: but to the counsellors of peace is joy. (12:20).
The wisdom of the prudent is to understand his way: but the folly of fools is deceit (14:8).
Bread of deceit is sweet to a man; but afterwards his mouth shall be filled with gravel (20:17).
He that hateth dissembleth with his lips, and layeth up deceit within him (26:24).
Whose hatred is covered by deceit, his wickedness shall be shewed before the whole congregation (26:26).
Once again, the reader does not see anything positive in deceit. The next Old Testament usage is an important one since it is the prophecy of Jesus in Isaiah 53:9 that is cited by Peter in 1 Peter 2:22, where the English word guile is used in place of deceit; the two words are synonyms. In either case, no deceit or guile was found in the mouth of our Lord. Jeremiah includes the word seven times in six verses (5:27; 8:5; 9:8; 14:14; and 23:26). The double occurrence is in Jeremiah 9:6, which is part of a lament against his people. The entire passage (9:3-6) is instructive of the way life was:
And they bend their tongues like their bow for lies: but they are not valiant for the truth upon the earth; for they proceed from evil to evil, and they know not me, saith the LORD.
Take ye heed every one of his neighbour, and trust ye not in any brother: for every brother will utterly supplant, and every neighbour will walk with slanders.
And they will deceive every one his neighbour, and will not speak the truth: they have taught their tongue to speak lies, and weary themselves to commit iniquity.
Thine habitation is in the midst of deceit; through deceit they refuse to know me, saith the LORD.
How could a civilization be more thoroughly acquainted with deceit than this one? They are filled with deceit (Jer. 5:27) as a cage is full of birds. They hold fast to deceit (8:5); that is all their tongues can speak (9:8). The last two references in Jeremiah have to do with some who were prophesying—not the truth—but false visions out of the deceit of their hearts (14:14; 23:26). Hosea talks about Israel (the northern kingdom) being filled with deceit (11:12) at a time previous to Jeremiah, when Judah had not yet become the way Jeremiah described her.
Two references are made to merchants practicing deceit by using false balances (Hosea 12:7; Amos 8:5). The final mention of deceit in the Old Testament is from Zephaniah 1:9, where God promises to punish houses that are full of deceit and violence. Only five times can the English word be found in the New Testament—twice in a list of sins (Mark 7:22; Rom. 1:29). In Romans 3:13, deceit is the equivalent to the poison of asps in their lips. Paul warned brethren not to be spoiled through philosophy and vain deceit (Col. 2:8). In a defense of himself, Paul said that his exhortation to the people was not motivated by deceit (1 The. 2:3).
One cannot miss the fact that everything about “deceit” is negative. Nothing positive is said about it any time that it is recorded. The word deception appears only three times in the Bible—all with negative connotations (Ps. 38:12; Matt. 27:64; 2 Thess. 2:10). The question Mac Deaver should be asked and required to answer is: “How can the word ethical be attached to deceit or deception? Nothing in the Bible indicates that this is ever the case, let alone that it would be authorized by God! To formulate a doctrine called Authorized Ethical Deception is itself a misnomer, since deceit is plainly neither ethical nor authorized.
The Related Words
The two noun forms were examined in detail; lesser consideration shall be given to the verb forms of the word. In the King James, again according to the Blue Letter Bible, deceive is used throughout the Bible 27 times in 27 verses, deceived is found 34 times in 31 verses, and deceiving appears twice—in 2 Timothy 3:13 and James 1:22. In none of these instances, just as with the nouns, no positive aspect of the words can be found. In several instances we find a warning to Christians to take heed that no one deceive them (Matt. 24:4-5, 11, 24; Mark 13:5-6; Eph. 4:14; 5:6; 2 Thess. 2:3; 1 John 3:7). Christians are likewise cautioned to avoid self-deception (1 John 1:8).
Jeremiah 4:10
The past tense, deceived, is really no different than the present tense in meaning, although in Obadiah 3 the reader may want to note that self-deception can be brought about by pride (cf. Jer. 49:16). There are three verses that assign deception to God, which someone might cite in a misguided effort to establish that on occasion deceit is acceptable. Such could be attempted, however, only by ignoring the context. The first one of these is Jeremiah 4:10, in which the reader is stunned to see the prophet say these words:
Then said I, Ah, Lord GOD! surely thou hast greatly deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, Ye shall have peace; whereas the sword reacheth unto the soul.
Commentators have been baffled by these words. When one studies Jeremiah 4:1-9, it is even more puzzling because these verses contain clear warnings that Judah must repent or be conquered by a nation from the north. The people are urged to genuinely repent. How, then, are the prophet’s words to be understood? We know from Jeremiah 14:13 (and other passages) that the false prophets were the ones who proclaimed a message of peace:
Then said I, Ah, Lord GOD! behold, the prophets say unto them, Ye shall not see the sword, neither shall ye have famine; but I will give you assured peace in this place.
Since the false prophets spoke lies while God spoke the truth, then it may be that in Jeremiah 4:10 that Jeremiah is actually lamenting—not that God had deceived the people—but that He allowed the false prophets to deceive the people. God, of course, can neither sin (1 Peter 2:22) nor lie (Titus 1:2). But He can give Satan the liberty to do certain things, as in 1 Kings 22:22. But even then God warned Ahab not to pay heed to the lying spirit. Jeremiah is also present in Judah to tell people the truth to counter-balance those proclaiming peace. Still Jeremiah bemoans the fact that God has allowed the false prophets to deceive the people.
Jeremiah 20:7
O LORD, thou hast deceived me, and I was deceived: thou art stronger than I, and hast prevailed: I am in derision daily, every one mocketh me.
There are three things to keep in mind concerning this verse. First, it is a highly emotional passage, the one in which Jeremiah says he will no longer make mention of God or speak any more in His name, although he could not go through with that intention (Jer. 20:9). What Jeremiah says here, therefore, comes from frustration and depression; therefore, if the KJV gave us the best translation of the Hebrew term, we could easily understand how that Jeremiah’s perspective on things was a little skewed.
Second, what evidence is there that God had, in fact, ever deceived Jeremiah? Third, the word translated “deceive,” can be legitimately so rendered, but according to Gesenius, the verb first means “to persuade anyone,” and he cites as an example Jeremiah 20:7. He then adds, “especially in a bad sense,” and then mentions “to entice, to seduce, and to deceive” [6601] (696). Probably, for that reason, the New King James translated the first part of the verse: “O Lord, You induced me, and I was persuaded.” The American Standard says similarly, “O Jehovah, thou hast persuaded me and I was persuaded.” Some modern translations have returned to “deceived,” but “persuaded” is definitely the better choice. The Pulpit Commentary states that enticed is the best rendering and points out that in verse 10 of the same passage, the KJV used precisely that word. As to the meaning of the text, they offer these comments:
Jeremiah refers to the hesitation he originally felt to accepting the prophetic office (ch. I). … In Ezekiel, too, the same case is supposed as possible of Jehovah’s “enticing” a prophet (Ezek. xiv. 9) (11:1:463).
Ezekiel 14:9
Those remarks bring us to the third passage (Ezek. 14:9), and the situation here is like that of 1 Kings 22:22. God will allow the false prophet to say what his heart is inclined to say, but He “will stretch out His hand against him and destroy him also.” God is not verbally lying to such men, He is simply allowing them to do what it is they want to do anyway—just as He allowed Balaam to follow the inclination of his covetous heart. Then He destroyed him (Num. 31:8). This is the same situation as described in 2 Thess. 2:11: “And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie.” God cannot lie, but He will not stop someone from believing a lie. He is said to send a strong delusion, but that is only in the sense of allowing Satan free reign to deceive people who have no love of the truth in the first place (v. 10).
None of these three passages have anything to do with using deceit on our fellow man for a supposedly good or ethical purpose. God does not deceive any more than He lies; He only allows Satan the opportunity to do so upon those who really do not love God or want to be obedient to Him in the first place.
Adjectives and Adverbs
The adjective deceitful is found 21 times in 21 verses: 8 times in Psalms, 6 times in Proverbs, once in Jeremiah, 4 times in the minor prophets, and twice in the New Testament. All instances carry with them the idea of condemnation on the part of the one using deceit. Below are a few examples.
O deliver me from the deceitful and unjust man (Ps. 43:1b).
…bloody and deceitful men shall not live out half their days… (Ps. 55:23).
Deliver my soul, O LORD, from lying lips, and from a deceitful tongue (Ps. 120:2).
A true witness delivereth souls: but a deceitful witness speaketh lies (Pr. 14:25).
The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? (Jer. 17:9).
For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ (2 Cor. 13).
Using deceit is not only negative; in parallelisms it is equated with lying (Ps. 120:2). The adverb deceitfully is found 11 times in 11 verses, and none of them have anything positive to say about the use of deceit or suggest that there is anything ethical about it.
Deceivableness appears once—in 2 Thessalonians 2:10. The Greek word dolos [1388], translated as “deceit” twice, is also translated “subtilty” (Matt. 26:4; Acts 13:10), “craft” (Mark 14:1), and “guile” (John 1:47-48, 2 Cor. 12:16; 1 Thess. 2:13; 1 Peter 2:1; 2:22; 3:10; Rev. 14:5). Two different verbs are translated “beguiled.” One is found in 2 Corinthians 11:3 [1818]; the other is in Colossians 2:4 [2603].
In 2 Corinthians 4:2, Paul writes that, concerning his ministry, he had renounced “the hidden things of dishonesty,” and did not walk in craftiness, nor did he handle “the word of God deceitfully.” If Mac Deaver could have found a verse that praised deceit or put it in a positive light, he would have included it in his article. Instead, he tried to find some examples which he alleged proves that deceiving others is all right, and these have been dealt with in the two previous articles. Perhaps it is deceitful, but not ethical, to use the Word of God the way Mac has in his article.
Applications
If Christians bought into Authorized Ethical Deception (which is not a Biblical concept), how would it work? Under what circumstances would a child of God be able to use deception? If someone is perceived to be a spiritual enemy, is it all right to lead him on and give a false impression, such as saying that you will participate in a debate when you have no intention of doing so? Some brethren have promised that they will give a reply to an exposure of their false views only to ignore the issue. One brother assured this writer eight years ago that a response would be forthcoming, but none has been received to date. Was that AED?
If a preacher is fired or threatened with being fired, is it deceptive to write a letter of resignation in order to avoid problems within the congregation (such as certain members rebelling against the elders’ decision)? Since this is a practice in other fields of endeavor, this writer once believed that it was all right to do so in the Lord’s church, but the world is not our model, and he has repented of having done so.
The Scriptures offer no positive support for deceiving anyone. After Jesus had been crucified and put to death, Peter wrote that He did no sin, neither was guile (deceit) found in His mouth. Will men be able to say the same of Mac Deaver or anyone else who holds to the false doctrine of Authorized Ethical Deception?