In our text, “delusion” is given for the purpose of deceiving or allowing one to be deceived. Paul says, that “for this cause,” that is, because they receive not the love of the truth, “God sendeth them a working of error, that they should believe a lie.” He cannot mean that God causes them to believe a lie by any direct exertion of His power; for He never interferes in that way for the injury of any human being; but that in the workings of His providence He allows those who do not love the truth to be worked upon by error, so that they shall believe a lie. And the result of this he declares to be, “That they all might be judged who believe not the truth, but had pleasure in unright­eousness.” He uses the word judged here, as in many other places, in the sense of being judged adversely, or being condemned.

The result, then, of believing a lie, in the case under consideration, is not salvation, but condem­nation. And that condemnation will be eternal, unless in the tender mercy of God it be forgiven before death intervenes. Notice, too, that Paul connects this belief of a lie with a fail­ure to love the truth, and with taking pleasure in unright­eousness. It is but a natural consequence that the belief of a lie is injurious in some way; and especially that it leads away from the love of the truth, and from the paths of right doing. Belief of the truth alone leads to love of the truth, and to the practice of righteousness which truth always demands.

Our Lord taught in person the same doctrine on this subject that is here taught by Paul. He said of the Phar­isees: “They are blind guides. And if the blind guide the blind, they shall both fall into the ditch” (Matthew 15:14). According to this, the blind guide will not escape falling into the ditch because he is blind; on the contrary, his blindness is the very cause of his falling in. The same is true with the blind man who is guided by him. We know that this is literally true of the physically blind, and the Lord’s purpose here is to teach that as it is with the physically blind, so it is with the mentally and spiritually blind. By the ditch into which they fall is meant the evil consequence into which misguidance naturally leads men in Spiritual matters.

Scriptural Examples of People Believing Lies. In Genesis 3, Eve heard the lie of Satan, believed his lie was truth, obeyed the lie and was punished according to God’s truth. In Genesis 27, Isaac believed Jacob was Esau, but it was a lie. In Genesis 37, Jacob heard his sons’ lies and thought Joseph was dead. He believed them because of the evidence of a bloody coat of many colors, and wept bitterly. Many years later he learned the truth of his sons’ lies. How sad that believing a lie caused him many years of sorrow! In 2 Samuel 6, Uzzah believed he could touch the Ark of the Covenant, but he was struck dead. In Acts 10, we learn that Cornelius was a good, god-fearing man. He thought he was doing the right thing. He evidently believed he was pleasing God. However, the new law of salvation in Christ Jesus had not been preached to him. Therefore, he was NOT a saved man. To the extent that he thought he was saved, he believed an untruth. When he heard of Christ, he believed the preaching of Peter, accepted the Gospel and obeyed the “words” preached (Acts 11:14-15). He then became a saved man with his entire house. In Acts 26, Paul said he formerly believed that persecuting Christians was the thing to do. All these believed lies, and those lies adversely affected their lives.