Theme
Deception
Being led to believe what is not true about God or about oneself
What the text teaches
Deception in Scripture is not only being lied to. Genesis 3:1 to 5 shows the shape of it: a true statement is bent into a question, the warning of God is denied, and a motive is suggested for God that God never gave.
2 Corinthians 11:3 looks back at that scene and names the danger as the mind being led away from simplicity toward Christ, which makes deception a matter of what a person comes to rather than only of what he is told.
Scripture also speaks of self-deception. 1 John 1:8 says that if we claim to have no sin we deceive ourselves, and Galatians 6:7 says God is not mocked, because a person reaps what he sows. Deception in these places is a person believing about himself what is not true.
First in Scripture
Genesis 3:4. The first flat contradiction of God recorded in Scripture: you will not surely die. God had said in Genesis 2:17 that they would.
Verses to carry with you
- Genesis 3:1-5. Question the word, deny the warning, accuse the motive.
- Genesis 3:13. The serpent deceived me, said in answer to God's question.
- 2 Corinthians 11:3. The fear that minds would be led away as Eve was.
- 1 John 1:8. Claiming to be without sin is named as deceiving ourselves.
- Galatians 6:7. Be not deceived, God is not mocked.
The original language
נָשָׁא
The word Eve uses in Genesis 3:13 when she says the serpent deceived her. It describes being led astray, and in the verses that follow it does not remove her from the account God takes.
Through the whole Bible
Deception enters through speech about God, not through force.
Jeremiah 17:9 says the heart is deceitful above all things, moving the problem inward.
Jesus warns repeatedly that many will be deceived, and ties safety to holding to his word.
Paul and John treat deception as a present danger to believers and answer it with Scripture and with honest confession.
Where this appears across the Bible
Audela traces deception through 9 chapters in 8 books, from Genesis to 1 John.
Old Testament
The word that was later denied.
The first flat contradiction of God recorded in Scripture: you will not surely die. God had said in Genesis 2:17 that they would.
Jeremiah 17:9 says the heart is deceitful above all things, moving the problem inward.
New Testament
Jesus names lying as native to the devil.
The fear that minds would be led away as Eve was.
Be not deceived, God is not mocked.
Hearing without doing is called self-deception.
Claiming to be without sin is named as deceiving ourselves.
Cross references
- Genesis 2:17. The word that was later denied.
- Jeremiah 17:9. The heart itself is called deceitful.
- John 8:44. Jesus names lying as native to the devil.
- 2 Corinthians 11:3. Eden used as the pattern of a mind led away.
- James 1:22. Hearing without doing is called self-deception.
How it points to Christ
John 8:31 to 32 sets the remedy in the same terms as the problem: continuing in his word is what leads to knowing the truth.
Matthew 4:4 shows Christ meeting a bent use of Scripture with Scripture read whole.
Often misunderstood
Genesis 3:13 records the deception, and Genesis 3:16 to 19 still records the consequences. Scripture holds both together without setting either aside.
1 John 1:8 and James 1:22 both describe a person deceiving himself, so Scripture treats self-deception as real deception.
Related people, places, events and themes
Related chapters
Genesis 3, John 8, 1 John 1
Study this further in Audela
Sources and evidence
Where readers have differed
Scripture does not tell us how much Eve understood at each step, and it does not describe what she was thinking between the serpent's words and her act. Debated
Explore the passage
These are questions the text can actually answer. Take one, go back to the passage with it, and read until Scripture answers rather than until you have an explanation you like. Each question names where this study, or another passage, does the answering.
What this reveals about God
Start here, because every passage of Scripture is first about God before it is about us. Read for what He does, what He says, and what He is called.
What does this word in Scripture teach about God?
Underline every verb God is the subject of. What He does tells you who He is.
What does this word in Scripture reveal about God's character?
Look for the words the text itself uses of Him: holy, merciful, faithful, jealous, patient. Take the text's own vocabulary rather than your own.
What this reveals about us
Scripture is honest about people. Read for what it says of human need, human failure, and the kind of response it calls for.
What does this word in Scripture teach about humanity?
Watch what the people in the text want, fear, and trust. Scripture rarely flatters them.
Where this arrives in Christ
Jesus said the Scriptures testify of Him. Follow the line the Bible itself draws rather than inventing one.
What does this word in Scripture reveal about Jesus Christ?
Look for what the New Testament does with this text. A connection Scripture makes is a connection you can stand on.
What does this word in Scripture reveal about salvation?
Ask who does the saving, who is saved, from what, and by what means. Let the text answer each part.
The world behind the words
The first readers knew things we have to learn. Recovering what they knew is study, not speculation.
How would the original audience have understood this word in Scripture?
Ask what they had already been told, what they were living through, and what this would have cost them to believe.
What do these words carry in the original: נָשָׁא?
Take the word to its root, its first appearance, and its range of use. Then let the context choose the meaning.
How this connects to the rest of Scripture
Scripture is its own best commentary. The clearest answers usually come from another passage rather than from a scholar.
Which Old and New Testament passages help explain this word in Scripture?
Prefer passages that quote or clearly echo this text. Those links are the Bible's own, not ours.
What biblical themes are developed in this word in Scripture, and where do they begin?
Trace one theme backwards to where Scripture first raises it, then forwards to where it lands.
Questions Audela will not answer
Where Scripture does not answer a question, Audela says so plainly rather than filling the silence. An honest “the Bible does not tell us” is more faithful than a confident guess, and it keeps the reader’s trust in God’s Word rather than in our reasoning.
The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever.
- Ask instead: What does the passage say God did, and what does that reveal about His character?
- Ask instead: What has God told us about His purpose here, in this text or elsewhere in Scripture?
- Ask instead: What does Scripture say about how God acts, and where does it say it?
- Ask instead: What happened, and what does the rest of Scripture make of it?
Study tools
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Where this is taught in full
These are the deepest studies Audela has written that stand on this concept. Start with the chapter study if you want the passage itself, or the topic study if you want the theme traced across the whole Bible.
Studies standing on the same passages
How this connects across Audela
Scripture teaches one story, so Audela is one library. These are the pages standing on the same passages, themes, doctrines and people as this one.
Same passage
Same chapter
- Genesis 22: The Mountain Where God Revealed the GospelBoth stand in Genesis 3, at different points in the chapter.
- Genesis 4Both stand in James 1, at different points in the chapter.
- Psalm 1: The Way of the Righteous and the WickedBoth stand in Jeremiah 17, at different points in the chapter.
- Does "I shall not want" mean Christians will never lack anything?Both stand in 2 Corinthians 11, at different points in the chapter.
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