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DELUSION

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.

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WITHHOLD

a man named Ananias, along with his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property. With his wife’s knowledge, he withheld some of the proceeds from the sale. (Acts 5:1-2a; Common English Bible)

The Greek verb translated in many translations as ‘keep back’ but in the above more simply ‘withhold’ is νοσφίζω nosphizó ‘to sequestrate for oneself’.  The more common usage of this Greek word ‘to embezzle, pilfer or purloin’ is more problematic in the context of this singular incident that beset the foundational Church with fear when first Ananias and then his wife, were struck dead by God as the result of this act.  After all, as the head quotation shows this was Ananias and Sapphira’s asset to theirs to dispose of as they pleased; they stole from no one.  

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