By Paul Alberts
The matter of deception runs from Genesis to Revelation. In relation to humans, we first read about it in Genesis 3, when the woman confessed that “the serpent deceived me” (v.13 NASB). We probably know the story well, remembering how satan asked Eve questions, craftily challenging her understanding of the one command God had given for the good of man. Having had her desires stirred, she took and ate of the tree from which fruit was not to be eaten. she also gave of the fruit to her husband and he ate. Thus sin entered the human race.
This certainly was not God’s desire for mankind. He does not want men and women to be deceived by the things in this world. His Word tells us, “Do not be deceived” (Gal 6:7; Jas. 1:16). being deceived is related to our old nature and the state we were in before we trusted the Lord. Titus 3:3-6 says, “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. but when the kindness of God our savior and His love for mankind appeared, He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy spirit, whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our savior.”
We may like to suggest that the problem of being deceived is strictly from outside ourselves: the great Deceiver, known as the Devil, or “evil men and impostors [who] proceed from bad to worse, deceiving …” (2 Tim. 3:13). Certainly there are many examples of this in the bible, even stories of family members deceiving one another. However, the Old Testament prophets revealed to God’s people that they were being deceived by “the arrogance of your heart” (Jer. 49:16). Is there not pride in our hearts at times, like the people of old, which leads us away from the things of the Lord, replacing that which gives honor and glory to Him with something evil in His sight? Oh, dear ones, we must be careful and heed the exhortations given to us from scripture!
