The Deceivableness of Unrighteousness

 2 Thes 2:10 - And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.


Whenever a Christian gives in to sin and unrighteousness, they become in some measure, deceived. There is a deceiving property that always comes with sin in which no one is immune to. The more a Christian gives in to any particular sin, the more deceived they become. This is why the writer of Hebrews said this: But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the *deceitfulness* of sin (Heb 3:13). Sin always has the effect of hardening the heart and deceiving the one who commits it, especially for a Christian when they knowingly and repeatedly violate their conscience.


This is why we are told to not just “feel bad” about sin and unrighteousness, but to resist it, forsake it and no longer continue in it. What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid! How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? (Rom 6:1-2). The Apostle Paul makes it very clear that a Christian is expected to forsake their sin and follow after righteousness. He reiterated this when he rebuked the Corinthians for their carnality and said: Awake to righteousness, and SIN NOT; for some have not the knowledge of God: I speak this to your shame (1 Cor 15:34). Their slack attitude towards sin resulted in a number of unsaved, unredeemed people able to freely fellowship within their congregation with apparently little to no issue or conviction in them.


Now a Christian might wonder how they can be deceived when they sin, especially if they feel bad about it and are careful to always ask for the Lord to forgive them when they do? It’s because of the deceivableness of unrighteousness, the effect of which is real and does not simply or easily go away. The more a Christian gives in to a particular sin, the more their conscience becomes calloused to it and the less alarmed they become with the presence of it in their lives. Although it may be very subtle, their mind begins to acclimate and get used to the contradiction in their lives. They will try to find ways to quiet their troubled conscience and figure out how to reconcile with its continued presence and reoccurrence of it in their lives…..thus begins the deception. 


Rather than looking to scripture for reproof, correction and training in righteousness (2 Tim 3:16), they begin looking to scripture to try and explain their continuing in sin and somehow make the contradiction feel “ok”, normal and even expected. I think this is largely what drives the misinterpretation of the latter half of Romans chapter 7. The Apostle Paul was not speaking of his present experience as a “sinning Christian”, but of his prior conflict and turmoil as a Pharisee trying to please God through the law and apart from Christ.


Not only will the deceit of ongoing sin cause the Christian to reinterpret scripture to match their experience, they will also gather to themselves teachers in accordance with their lusts rather than teachers that will bring the full weight of conviction, make them uncomfortable and lay the axe to the root. The Apostle Paul told Timothy this would happen and instructed him to preach the full force of the word anyway and to not hold back: Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables (2 Tim 4:3-4).


As a Christian “turns away their ears from the truth” they eventually lose their love for the truth and what ultimately happens if a Christian continues in unrighteousness. So, it is imperative that we be vigilant and steadfast to root out sin lest we be taken out by the deceivableness of unrighteousness.

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