Topical Studies
What the Bible says about
Sin of Self Deception
(From Forerunner Commentary)
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2 Samuel 12:1-7
Nathan had to teach David the seriousness and repulsiveness of his concealed sins by seeing it mirrored in someone else. God often uses negative behaviors in people with whom we come in contact to reflect the hideousness of our sins. Like so many faults I see in others, they are often mirrors of my own shortcomings and failings. The problem when I use others' proverbial specks as mirrors of my planks is that I fail to reflect upon the warning etched on the bottom: “Objects in mirror are closer than they appear.”
David F. Maas
Specks as Mirrors
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1 Kings 22:8
These two were joining in an alliance to go to war together. They wanted to seek the will of God to see whether it was right for them to do such a thing and to do it together. The king of Israel brought his prophets of Baal before Jehoshaphat, and skeptical of this, Jehoshaphat asked that a true prophet of God be brought. Notice the king of Israel's response regarding God's prophet when Jehoshaphat makes his request: "I do not like him because he does not say things that please me!"
John W. Ritenbaugh
The Sin of Self-Deception
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Matthew 24:24
Because of the way this verse is translated, one can be left with the impression that it is not possible for the elect to be deceived. This concept is a close cousin to the theory of eternal security—the idea that once we accept Jesus Christ as our personal Savior, it is impossible for us to fall away (see John 15:5-6; I Corinthians 9:27; Hebrews 6:4-6; 10:26-31; 12:25; II Peter 1:10-11; 3:17-18; I Timothy 1:19; 6:10). Similarly, this verse is sometimes interpreted to mean that if we are one of the elect, our minds are perfectly and forever protected from deception. It is a tantalizing thought, implying that we are spiritually invincible once we accept the blood of Christ and receive the Holy Spirit. Yet, if that were the case, the rest of the New Testament would consist of vastly different themes and warnings. In fact, Jesus begins this same prophecy in Matthew 24:4 with the warning to His followers, "Take heed that no one deceives you"! If His followers could not be deceived, our Creator would have no cause to preface His prophecy in such a way. In addition to Jesus' warning here, the apostles warn repeatedly and specifically against being deceived. For instance, in Romans 16:17-18, Paul says to note those who cause divisions and offenses and avoid them—because "by smooth talk and flattering words they deceive the hearts of the unsuspecting" (verse 18; Holman Christian Standard Bible). If it were not possible for them to deceive us, we would have no reason to avoid divisive people. In I Corinthians 3:18, he warns against deceiving ourselves by thinking we are wise by the world's standards. A few chapters later, he again warns against deceiving ourselves by believing that the unrighteous will inherit the Kingdom (I Corinthians 6:9). He cautions in I Corinthians 15:33, "Do not be deceived: 'Evil company corrupts good habits.'" In Galatians 6:3, Paul says, "For if anyone thinks himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself." He warns in Ephesians 5:6, "Do not let anyone deceive you with empty words . . .." Colossians 2:4-8 cautions against being deceived by persuasive words and cheated through philosophy and empty deceit. He begins II Thessalonians 2:3 with the warning, "Let no one deceive you by any means. . . ." Finally, in Hebrews 3:13, the author warns against being hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. This is just a sampling of the many direct and indirect warnings against deception. It should be clear that the epistles' writers fully believed that it was possible for their audience—the same "elect" as in Matthew 24:24—to be deceived, and thus, they wrote as they did. Therefore, Matthew 24:24 says that if there is a way to deceive one of the elect, the master deceiver will use it. In other words, we can take measures to guard against deception, but if one of the elect refuses to take heed, he will be deceived.
David C. Grabbe
The Truth About Deception (Part One)
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Luke 6:41-42
We each have our own "planks" that distort our discernment of the truth about others. Criticizing others for their faults makes us hypocrites. Indeed, if we try to lead them out of their faults before working to remove our own glaring sins, we will be much like the blind leading the blind into the ditch, which Jesus describes in Luke 6:39. While we are all sinful creatures, we need to make sure that we cast our most discerning gazes on ourselves and, in all humility, refrain from "fixing" others, especially when we have similar problems! What kind of adjustments can we make to compensate for our innate blindness to see what is really going on in another's life? The physically vision-impaired person may wear glasses or contact lenses or undergo eye surgery to improve his sight problems. But no eyeglasses in the world can help us to see another person's heart. Laser surgery is worthless against our ignorance of another's background or circumstances. Is there anything we can do? Years ago, a friend came to church services with a patch over his eye. Concluding that he had injured it, I thought little more about it until he showed up a few weeks later with the patch over the other eye. He explained that he was exercising his eyes to improve his vision. Here is our answer! We must exercise ourselves in the skill of discernment. We must train ourselves in how to "look" at other people. If nothing else, we can "squint," trying to see beyond what we normally and habitually imagine of others. Paul writes in Acts 24:16 (The Amplified Bible, AMP): "Therefore I always exercise and discipline myself [mortifying my body, deadening my carnal affections, bodily appetites, and worldly desires, endeavoring in all respects] to have a clear (unshaken, blameless) conscience, void of offense toward God and toward men." The apostle Peter provides us some ground rules for our training in I Peter 3:8-12: Finally, all of you be of one mind, having compassion for one another; love as brothers, be tenderhearted, be courteous; not returning evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary blessing, knowing that you were called to this, that you may inherit a blessing. For "He who would love life and see good days,
Let him refrain his tongue from evil,
And his lips from speaking deceit.
Let him turn away from evil and do good;
Let him seek peace and pursue it.
For the eyes of the LORD are on the righteous,
And His ears are open to their prayers;
But the face of the LORD is against those who do evil." To begin recovering from our blindness, then, we must start with true, godly love for our brethren. We have to add sympathy and courtesy and a good measure of helpfulness. We must make sure to bite our tongues, bury our hatchets, and swallow our pride. Most of all, we must remember that God the Judge is watching, and He rewards those who do good and punishes those who cause harm. In summary, unlike God, we cannot know or understand everything that comes within our view; it is far beyond our capabilities. We have great difficulty seeing beyond our prejudices and opinions. So, we must be careful about what we say and how we react to what we think we have seen. Only God sees all and knows all, and He is our righteous judge. We need to get out of His way and out of His business! We need to take pains to improve our judgment and sincerely try to act and react to others in love. We will not do it well every time; it will take consistent effort and commitment. But if we keep at it, our experiences will begin to develop in us a keener "eye" for what others are really like and what they are going through. It sounds like a lot of work, a lot to bear in mind. But what is it worth to see the truth?
Dan Elmore
Are You Blind? (Part Two)
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James 1:22-25
An old Yiddish proverb reads, “Der Spigel iz der greste farfirer,” meaning “The mirror is the greatest deceiver.” We find this statement especially true when we use mirrors that distort the image. How many of us have: -
seen mirrors at amusement parks that make us look taller or fatter than we really are? -
tried to shave or perhaps to insert contact lenses using those stainless steel mirrors at Interstate highway rest areas? -
tried to judge whether to pull out into traffic using a side-view mirror with the warning etched onto it, “Objects in mirror are closer than they appear”? Jesus' brother, James, advises us that looking into God's law—“the perfect law of liberty”—and becoming a faithful doer of the Word is the only accurate and reliable mirror to evaluate spiritual progress (James 1:22-25). But many of us prefer to judge our spiritual progress by making comparisons with one another, something the apostle Paul points out in II Corinthians 10:12 as being unwise. Human nature, very standardized and predictable, seems to have a blind spot to its own faults and shortcomings. Like the car mirrors mentioned above, human nature distorts what we see in ourselves. This mirror is the great deceiver when we apply it to ourselves, but so clear when observing the faults of others. Jesus' admonition in Matthew 7:1-5 reflects this principle: Judge not, that you be not judged [Jesus refers to condemning or passing sentence, something we are not authorized to do]. For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you. And why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, “Let me remove the speck from your eye”; and look, a plank is in your own eye? Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye. In Romans 2:19-24, the apostle Paul gives a parallel warning to Jewish religious leaders for hypocritical condemning: . . . and are confident that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of babes, having the form of knowledge and truth in the law. You, therefore, who teach another, do you not teach yourself? You who preach that a man should not steal, do you steal? You who say, “Do not commit adultery,” do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? You who make your boast in the law, do you dishonor God through breaking the law? For “the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you,” as it is written. In both instances, the topic of judging is ancillary to the egregious evil of tolerating sin in oneself. In other words, the anger both Jesus and Paul express is far more intense against concealing or tolerating sin in oneself than against judging. As we learn in the first chapter of Amos, the sins of Israel's enemies were hideous and disgusting, but the concealed hypocritical sins within Israel—from the people who allegedly made a unique covenant with God—produced a more noxious stench in God's nostrils. Other people's sins do and should make us angry. But the things that intensely annoy or anger us about other people's behaviors should serve as warning indicators of the very things that God finds offensive in us.
David F. Maas
Specks as Mirrors
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