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Deceived As Was Eve - 2 Cor. 11
Deceived As Was Eve - 2 Cor. 11
And so it began. God said, Satan lied, Eve was deceived. She thus believed the lie and died because of rebellion. Satan is a liar from the beginning. When he speaks, he lies. Lying is his 'native language'.
Reading through the bible one is confronted time and again with this same story. The characters change, but God has said and Satan lies. Every truth that God reveals brings a corresponding lie by Satan. Every warning that God gives is denied or watered down. Every promise of God is denied or questioned.
With the advent of the information age, the internet, and the constant stream of information, it is easy to be deceived. Anyone can set up a web page and dispense lies. Such misinformation and lies are so abundant that people have set up many web pages that supposedly allow one to check the truthfulness of various claims. There are fact checkers for politicians. There are catalogues of various bogus email stories.
Paul adds to this picture the warning of vs. 13-15. Here we learn that Satan will not appear as our enemy. Even the lies that are put forth are made to look attractive, alluring, and profitable.
This has been at the very heart of this letter to the Corinthians. Some have entered among them. They have presented themselves as 'super-apostles', great teachers with lofty words and persuasive words. They have set forth themselves as the true teachers of God's message and have spoken evil of Paul. They have watered down and perverted the message that had been presented by Paul. Now, these believers in Corinth must make a choice of who and what to believe.
In the midst of all of this, there is TRUTH. God doesn't lie (Titus 1:2, Heb. 6:18), God's word is truth (John 17:17). Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6). Without becoming uber-skeptical, we are to 'prove all things and hold to that which is good' (1 Thess. 5:21). We are to give all diligence to rightly divide God's word (2 Tim. 2:15). We must learn to love truth and not be deceived (2 Thess. 2:10).
Are you deceived? Are you deceived about being deceived? How are you determining this?
Hugh DeLong
