Some biblical authors viewed God as having the ability to deceive, others did not

Do the Biblical authors agree on who God is? In many cases they do, in others they do not.

Most biblical scholars say that the Bible was written by a diverse group of people with differing views and opinions about political and social issues (one only need look at some of the differences between the Hebrew Bible with it’s nationalistic focus, to the New Testaments pacifist ethics.)

As the Oxford Companion to the Bible (edited by leading Princeton/Harvard scholars Bruce Metzger and Micahel Coogan) asserts: “The Bible thus speaks with many voices, and, from the time of its emergence as an authoritative sacred text, readers and interpreters have noted its many repetitions, inconsistencies, and contradictions.”

How the biblical writers view god

2 comments

  1. God cannot lie as the writer to the Hebrews assures us. But take the quote above in 2Thess. Is God telling a lie or is he allowing a lie. We all tell lies do we not. The trouble is when we start believeing lies then God allows us to be deceived even further as a judgment on our stupidity.
    The other quotes involve a prophet being deceived. God has allowed it and allows him to teach that which is false. John records the words of the Lord Jesus. “I am come in My Father’s Name and you receive me not. If another shall come in his own name Him you will believe.” (7:43)
    We choose our delusions so God sends us to us since we refuse His truth. The case of the lying spirit in IKings 22 is another example of this principle. Ahab’s prophets had already deceived the nation because of the encouragement of the pagan fertility religions instead of the worship of Yehovah. So Ahab was to be lured to his death by those same Satanically inspired prophets.

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