God sends (them) a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness.
(2 Thessalonians 2:11-12)

Greek word translated delusion is plané (πλάνη), in context, this represents a deception or deceit. It derives from the verb planaó, to go astray, to wander, or cause to wander or be misled. In English, this comes to us in the word ‘planet’ as these satellites of the sun are observed to ‘wander’ across the firmament, the ‘firm’ back-cloth of the fixed stars.

So, the sense is deviation, and specifically in the spiritual context, deviation from the truth that there is one God; and of course, the planets are even named after pagan gods, mere inventions from the human mind under powerful delusion.

Of course, those deluded do not know they are deceived and it has been to job of prophets speaking for God to warn against deviation.

How long will you people turn my glory into shame?
How long will you love delusions and seek false gods?
(Psalm 4:2)

When Jesus came as God made flesh, he did the same; yet his gospel was thought of as delusional and deceptive one – even the day after he was crucified:

The next day, the one after Preparation Day, the chief priests and the Pharisees went to Pilate. ‘Sir,’ they said, ‘we remember that while he was still alive that deceiver said, “After three days I will rise again.” So give the order for the tomb to be made secure until the third day. Otherwise, his disciples may come and steal the body and tell the people that he has been raised from the dead. This last deception (plané) will be worse than the first.’ (Matthew 27:64)

The apostle John counsels the early church about how to avoid deception by heeding the gospel of Christ.

You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us; but whoever is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we recognise the Spirit of truth and the spirit of falsehood (plané). (1 John 4:4-6)

Yet the world continues to be deceived, and this is God’s will. A close examination of the head quotation the apostle Paul is clear whence the delusion comes. God sends a ‘powerful delusion’. The qualification here by adding the word energeia in Greek, conveying that the delusion is effective, strong and active.

Is there scriptural contradiction here? And what of the previous verses to the head quotation:

The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with how Satan works. He will use all sorts of displays of power through signs and wonders that serve the lie, and all the ways that wickedness deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. For this reason, God sends them a powerful delusion… (2 Thessalonians 2:9-11).

Satan and the pre-figured Antichrist (whom Paul usually calls the Man of Lawlessness) are enemies of God, yet he alone sanctions their power and operations; though these creatures of evil seek to oppose God’s will, they do it nonetheless, or God is not sovereign; Satan and his servants are agents of God; all serve the divine purpose, and do so by creating falsehoods and lies, that strengthen the delusion that beguiles the world.

If there is contradiction to be found, it is not in Scripture but human logic. It runs like this: each person will be held responsible should they hardening their heart; indeed, God leans in and further hardens this. That being the case, how then can any hope to overcome this? How is this just? Furthermore, scripture declares that saving faith is God-given and comes by revelation – recalling what Jesus said to Peter when he recognised spiritual truth and declared Jesus to be the Christ and Son of the living God.

‘Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.’ (Matthew 16:17)

And God has chosen who will receive this revelation:

…those whom (God) predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified. (Romans 8:30)

This affirms that no-one receives spiritual truth and salvatory faith unless pre-chosen. This is the doctrine of election, and God’s delusion makes it impossible for any to find this themselves; even the great minds made of ‘flesh and blood’ can never discern spiritual truth and God would have it so. When Jesus spoke in parables the disciples were confounded and challenged Jesus to speak plainly to which Jesus responded by quoting a prophet who warning against apostate Israel:

‘This is why I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. Indeed, in their case the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled that says:

‘“You will indeed hear but never understand,
and you will indeed see but never perceive.
For this people’s heart has grown dull,
and with their ears they can barely hear,
and their eyes they have closed,
lest they should see with their eyes
and hear with their ears
and understand with their heart
and turn, and I would heal them.”’ (Matthew 13:13-15)

But standing alongside God’s sovereign choice is human choice and God expects people to turn and seek the truth. Jesus’ first instruction was one word ‘repent’ which in Greek of the New Testament is metanoeó (μετανοέω), meaning to radically rethink or reconsider. In other words, question what you have heard said about God and treat it as calumny; moreover, recognise one is subject to delusion and living under a spiritual lie. In modern jargon, treat the one’s world view as the consummate conspiracy theory.

Jesus continually taught that only by him and though him would be gained access to the kingdom of God, and people should believe him. This be the exercise of choice. Jesus did not teach election (which does not disavow it), but he did advocate that there is human free will. Only because there is free will, may anyone be judged for their choices and held accountable. And so God’s elective design and human responsibility seem to be at odds.

To the human mind, the operation of human free will and God’s sovereign will cannot coexist; yet they do – and the two can never be reconciled in the human mind. Thus, God sends a powerful deception and fully expects people to heed the warnings of Scripture, which is the only way to overcome the lies the world swallows.

And this corrosive delusion effects even those of faith.

Both Jesus and his apostles warn that the church will be swept up in the delusion increasingly becoming worldly. Just as apostasy led to downfall of Israel, so will this be replicated in the body of faith.

And Paul speaks of the inevitability that before Jesus can return there will be rebellion (apostasia) and that led by the Antichrist who many will believe to the true saviour of the world.

Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction. (2 Thessalonian 2:3)

And this comes because:

(a) time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather round them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. (2 Timothy 4:3-4)

This happens when the church heeds the ‘wisdom’ of the world, rather than searches Scripture as did those in Berea as Luke reports (Act 17:11).

In the week before his crucifixion, Jesus warned:

… many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. (Matthew 24:11-12)

‘Lawlessness’ in that his commandments will be ignored, chief of which is to love God before everything else. Worldliness promotes the deceit that men and women can save the world whereas the gospel offers salvation from it. For those who seek the latter, Jesus offers some hope.

But the one who endures to the end will be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come. (Ibid 24:13)

God’s gracious offer is time limited. Though the gospel must reach every ear, few will heed it. The powerful delusion that God has put upon the world will end, then Jesus will returns and everyone will be confronted with stark spiritual reality.