Truth, holding a mirror and a serpent (1896).
Olin Levi Warner, Library of Congress Thomas Jefferson Building, Washington, D.C.
This topic ranks as by far the most frequently cited vice in the New Testament and in the top four for Jesus. All forms of dishonesty break down the trust required for reliable communication and for the flow of information essential in any relationship. I perpetuated this harm in my own life by going through a season of deceiving my family about marital unfaithfulness, and the results were devastating. Dishonesty hurts people. By its nature, deception is an attempt to cover something else - our selfish choices, our failures, other parts of the truth that do not serve our agenda or support the narrative we are spinning, the case we are making, the package we are selling. Where fraud, deception, cover up, or exaggeration are present, these break down the necessary ground of relationship. Our footing becomes uncertain; we do not know where to step, how to walk.
Dishonesty does not travel alone - it serves other evils. Deceit is like a locomotive, carrying a train of misdeeds. Deception is an intentional strategy to conceal dishonest gain, illicit behavior, hidden motives. A false front of integrity and honor conceals a reality of sordid gain, cronyism, self-indulgence. Jesus warned against this ...
"Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. (Matthew 7:15)"Given that truth is a fundamental ethical principle, and deceit breaks down every system of communication, we should make every effort to expunge deceit and expect truth in all of our relationships, in our families, in our business dealings, media sources, and from all of our leaders - social leaders, church leaders, civic, political and government leaders.
Are there people in your relationships, your spheres of influence, your leadership, that engage in deception when convenient? Sometimes? Frequently? Systematically? Chronically? Where does this leave you? Where does it leave all of us?
The New Testament writer Paul exhorts followers of Jesus … “lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit (i.e. the attraction of presenting the false version of ourselves), and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth. Therefore, laying aside falsehood, speak truth, each one of you, with his neighbor, for we are members of one another.” (Ephesians 4:22-25)
Thoughtful engagement is required on this topic. There is pathology and delusion, there is self-deception, there can be fear and trauma, there is time when information is withheld, controlled or protected; these cases are exceptional and must be considered. All other things being equal, however, the need for truth is basic.
This study is part quantitative in nature, and I intend to provide reference material – lists of words and scripture passages – that will facilitate further study. (see table at the bottom) There are approximately 25 virtue lists in the New Testament, and deceit appears in about one-third of these. (NCBC - North Clackamas Bible Community, 2010) For each vice / topic, I will list all of the English and Greek words identified with the vice. There is an element of interpretation and subjectivity, in that I have made decisions about which New Testament passages using the Greek or English word actually represent a “vice” in context. Also the groupings of vices and the words I have connected are subject to rearrangement depending on interpretation. There is overlap, as well. For example, for the group of words and passages associated with deceit, there is similarity with some of the words found under steal / theft, and also another similar group that I describe as “abusive speech,” (gossip, revile, defame, etc.). These will be covered in later articles.
Notes:
Note 1: The giving of the Ten Commandments, also known as the Decalogue, is described in Exodus, chapters 19 and 20. There we find the account of YHWH giving these words to the people through Moses. Conservative Bible scholars place this event in the range of 1400-1500 BC / BCE. The list is repeated again (also during the ministry of Moses) in Deuteronomy chapter 5. Jesus made reference to the Commandments in conversation with a wealthy man in Matthew 19:16-19, specifically mentioning commandments 5 through 9, then adding what we refer to as “the golden rule,” to love your neighbor as yourself (also found in Leviticus 19:18), and then, by implication, challenging the man along a line of ethical behavior connected to the 10th commandment, coveting.
Bibliography
Bauer, W. (1979). A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (Second Edition ed.). (W. F. Gingrich, Trans.) Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
NCBC - North Clackamas Bible Community. (2010, October 25). Vice and Virtue Lists from the New Testament. Retrieved from Bible Study Resources from NCBC: https://bcresources.net/2200000-nts-frg12-lit-frm-vv-lists-nt-art-bcrx/
NASB-NIV Parallel New Testament in Greek and English. (1987). (A. Marshall, Trans.) Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan.
Ten Commandments. (n.d.). Retrieved February 17, 2020, from Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ten_Commandments.
Thomas, R. L. (Ed.). (1981). New American Standard Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible. Nashville: Broadman & Holman.Strong, J. L. (1984). Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible. Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers.
Image: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truth
