Holy Kissing - 2

Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the churches of Christ greet you. Now I urge you, brethren, keep your eye on those who cause dissensions and hindrances contrary to the teaching which you learned, and turn away from them. (Romans 16:16-17)

I don't think that I will be able to uncover all that is in this verse, at least right now. I am sure that God is going to be showing me things about this for a long time to come. But I still want to see more of what is here in the context that will give me clues as to better understand it and how to apply it profitably to my own life.

As I look it over again this morning I notice the contrast between the first and last phrases that I highlighted here. The first one is an instruction to embrace others with acceptance, love, and brotherly affection. The Greek word for greet actually means to embrace and the Greek word for kiss is closely related to the word phileo which is one of the kinds of love which humans enjoy – brotherly love. This is the kind of love that is most commonly found in healthy family relationships, siblings that care about each other and look out for and defend each other.

So in this context what I see here is that Paul is telling us to greet each other in the body of Christ in just the same way and with the same or more affection that we would greet our family members if we were to attend a family reunion. Of course that conjures up different things for different people since many families have a lot of tensions and suspicions and unresolved grudges that need to be dealt with before they would qualify to fit this description. But I think most people could think of pictures of family members reuniting after long periods of separation and joyfully embracing, hugging and kissing each other without fear of going overboard or becoming improperly emotionally involved in the wrong way with those they are greeting.

I think that the real problem arises when a person has been so starved of affection and real family-type love in their life that any experience of open affection awakens in them an intense, even unbalanced desire to ratchet it up to a more intense level of intimacy very quickly. This is a need that often is the root of addictions, the craving of unfulfilled desires. This is often mistaken by those around them as a sign of moral weakness or even evil intentions on the part of the person. But in fact it is really a symptom of a heart that is damaged, suppressed or so dry from lack of normal doses of affection and affirmation that it wants to overdose whenever there is an encounter that opens that inner need. To attach shame and condemnation to the damage already present is to further alienate that soul from the family of God and is not reflective of the way God relates to us.

What I see in these verses is a contrast between the way we should relate to each other in the family of God and the way the world tries to fake living as family. The people described in verses 17 and 18 try very hard to appear loving and gracious and attractive with their words and smooth talking, but their spirit is subtly divisive and their compliments are really flattery. But they are so convincing in their persuasive demeanor and make others feel so good that it is not obvious that there is deception involved that is designed to exploit the deep hunger of the heart.

This is where the real danger lies. When a person who is starved for genuine affection encounters another person who seems to meet that deep need and then responds with unusual intensity, the strong potential exists for a relationship that can quickly move into something much different than brotherly, family-like love. This creates a situation where the heart will eventually be further wounded while it was only seeking to receive the nourishment that it so desperately craves. It can set up a relationship that can easily turn into exploitation instead of healthy heart bonding and Paul is warning us to be aware of this danger and to turn away from such subtle deceivers.

When Paul says that the greetings and kisses we use when coming together should be holy, it is helpful to remember what the real meaning of the word holy is. My ideas of holiness for most of my life was like most others, thinking that it had something to do with great piety, almost stern religiosity, strict behavior control or something along that line. But a few years ago I heard a wonderful explanation that radically changed my thinking on this word and helped to make much more sense out of everything that is referred to as holy. It is a meaning that can be derived by carefully studying the context as it is used throughout the Bible and also some careful research into the roots of the word in the original languages.

Holy primarily means that someone or something is exclusively dedicated to something or someone else. Holiness makes no sense in and of itself because it requires an object toward which it is devoted. So anytime you see the word holy you have to realize that there must also be a reason, an outside target to which it points. In the context of how it is most often used in the Scriptures, the object toward which this dedication is pointing is usually God.

Holy is actually very similar to the word whole or wholly. In the New Testament God is cultivating a family of people who are supposed to be holy to God, wholly dedicated to God, just as the nation of Israel was supposed to His representative during the Old Testament era but failed to fulfill most of the time. Those who accept the invitation to become an integral part of the family of God are committing themselves to being dedicated totally and exclusively for the use of God, to be led by the Spirit of God and to no longer serve themselves and the desires of their flesh. They no longer are to look to the world and those around them to meet their deepest needs and cravings but are learning to trust God implicitly for everything they need and desire. They are to become bonded and knitted at the heart level into the family of God and to express God's feelings and disposition towards everyone else in that family.

In this context, when people who are all dedicated unreservedly to God for His use and are learning to depend on Him completely for all of their desires, when these people meet each other, the affections and greetings that they give each other will have no danger of spiraling into something selfish and exploitative. They will see each other through the eyes of heaven and if a person is heart-starved for affection they will be drawn into a healing, growing community that will teach them how to mature and grow into healthy, love-bonded relationships with others. They will not shamed or criticized for their weaknesses and vulnerabilities but will be cared for and nurtured and protected.

Our greatest danger does not lie in expressing open affection towards each other in the family of God nearly so much as in the encounters we are sure to have with those who appear to be Christians but have not given themselves unreservedly to God in holy devotion. These are people who are trying to mix two kingdoms and think they can get the best from both while playing one off against the other. These are the people who will seriously damage the reputation of God through professing to be His chosen ones while following the cravings of their own fleshly lusts.

The true family members of God are devoted to Him so totally that they could be described as looking like slaves. But to not be holy devoted to God in this level of commitment is to actually remain a slave to our own flesh which in turn is subtly manipulated and controlled by demonic influences set on infiltrating and undermining the family bonds that God is knitting together for His glory. It is really a lack of holiness in its true meaning that causes these people to become so dangerous at the heart level. They have not given over their own hearts and affections to God exclusively and so they become a liability and a source of danger within the family of God.

The sad part is that they may appear to be so Christian in their words and actions that the hearts of those who are still vulnerable from unresolved damage and wounds are susceptible to being easily deceived and drawn into following them. Flattery has little affect on a person who is secure in their relationship with God and whose heart is resting in His love. But it has great potential for seducing those who are immature in their faith, who are newer in their experience and who need the nurturing and protection of a loving, healthy, holy family. They can easily be drawn into the glowing promises that such false-hearted Christians have to offer and they can quickly become involved in activities, beliefs and emotional attachments designed to feed into their sense of emptiness inside.

What is really sad is that this often takes on the form of strict religious activities and organizations that promise to satisfy the cravings for wholeness and holiness. It plays on mistaken ideas of what holiness really is and leads many to believe that they must work very hard to get their characters perfect so that God will accept them and save them in heaven. These kind of attractions can be so deceiving because they look so religious and pious and feel so right. But they only lead down a path that ultimately leaves the heart even drier and more empty than it was before because it does not connect the heart with the only real Source of life that exists.

There is, of course, other variations of smooth talkers who can easily mislead hungry souls into other paths that promise to fill our deepest longings for love. There are many paths of deception that lead in many different directions. But there is only one path to life and that is connecting our heart to the heart of God from which we can receive everything we were created to need for thriving and growing and maturing.

I know that I have a great deal of growing to do myself in this area. I have areas of emptiness in my own heart that make me vulnerable to those who have flattering words and demeanor designed to draw my affections away from God. I realize that I do not have very many healthy bonds of phileo love with people in the family of God as I wish I enjoyed, and that sets me up as a potential target for pseudo-Christians with schemes to fit my particular hungers.

But what I really desire is to connect more closely with real Christians and learn what real family bonds look and feel like. I want to enjoy the affections and family unity and trust that God wants me to enjoy while living a life of total devotion and loyalty to Him. I also want to learn to be a person who can provide that safe contact for others who are hungering for healthy bonds of affection. I ask God to dwell in me and grow me into more maturity and balance so that I can be a safe channel for Him to use to draw others into close relationship to His own heart.

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Holy Kissing - 1

Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the churches of Christ greet you. (Romans 16:16)

I can well remember when I was a teenager thinking that this verse was one of my potential favorites. I had an inclination to try to use this verse as a means of reminding those in power that their prohibitions against expressions of open affection between young people were out of line with the words of God expressed in the Bible and that we should be allowed to kiss whenever and whomever we wanted to greet in the name of God.

Of course there were too many obstacles and far too much opposing logic that I never attempted such an argument except maybe in the privacy of my room with friends who were like-minded as me. And then there was always this problem of the word “holy” inserted in the text that we knew would be used to shoot down any such propositions if we were to make such a claim.

In addition to knowing that the adults in charge of our lives would never even consider buying into such logic, it was also pretty realistic that most all of the girls (we had our preferences of gender after all) that we might want to greet in “obedience” to these words would likely react with less than enthusiasm should they ever be confronted in such an affectionate way. And beyond all of these problems the final argument that drained all the authority out of this verse for us, the argument that was sure to arise was that this was simply a cultural practice that has long since disappeared and no longer applies to us today. (Sounds a lot like what many people claim about the law of God.)

So each time I came across this verse I knew that I would have to reluctantly give up all my ambitions and desires to greet my “friends” with a kiss, holy or otherwise, without getting myself into a great deal of trouble. I had to relegate this verse to the rest of the problematic verses that simply could not be explained within the context of the traditions that controlled our lives and our religion. And even though our leaders and teachers insisted that “every word of the Bible is true”, somehow this verse was supposed to be less true at its face value than most of the others.

Well, here I am back at the same text but in a much different state of affairs, much older and much more inclined to reexamine the traditions of the elders. Does that mean that I can now revive my hopes of being able to freely kiss others whenever I greet them? Does that mean if I can figure out how to satisfy this qualifier of the word “holy” that I can then indulge my latent desires to show more affection to others than what is commonly acceptable? Am I now willing to risk getting my reputation into deep trouble by claiming exemption to my religious society's inhibitions by claiming the Word of God as my excuse for satisfying me needs for affection? That still makes me quite uncomfortable and I really think there is something much deeper here.

What I do find inside of me as I choose to meditate on this verse is that I am still not completely satisfied with the typical explanations used to explain away this verse by most religious people. And while I am aware of the pitfalls of uninhibited expressions of affection to whomever I feel inclined, even if it stops at just kissing them, I still sense in my spirit that there is something here important that I am still missing. I can't subscribe to the argument that this is now obsolete because of a change in culture; I never have been able to swallow that argument satisfactorily. And while I realize that this text could easily be abused and misused to justify activities that could quickly lead to emotional troubles and improper attachments that would dishonor the name of Jesus, I think that there may be something very important here that I might learn that could bless my life if I listen carefully and humbly to what the Spirit might have waiting for those who are honest and open and hungry for truth.

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The Teaching Which You Learned

Now I urge you, brethren, keep your eye on those who cause dissensions and hindrances contrary to the teaching which you learned, and turn away from them. (Romans 16:17)

I mentioned before that the teachings which we grow up with cannot be assumed to be right simply because we grew up with them or even that so many people around us embrace or enforce them. Paul is not saying here that whatever teaching you learned first must be the one that you need to stick with while resisting anything new or different. That is patently absurd even on the face of it.

In my own experience I clung to the teachings of my youth for many years but not because they brought me inner freedom or peace or joy but because my own conscience was like a harsh slave-master torturing me anytime I dared to stray from the demands of a fear-based, guilt-motivated, God-fearing religion of performance and striving for perfection. I was taught that I must perfect my life into pure holiness (in the old sense of the term) to prepare for the Second Coming of Jesus and when I couldn't contain or control the sin in my life that I needed to simply get more help from God. As a result, most of my prayers were “help prayers” – God, help me be good, help me stop sinning, help me...

This produced in me at a very early age a state of mind that could easily have been diagnosed as schizophrenia and paranoia. It also resulted in a seething anger inside of my heart that I constantly tried to keep suppressed and hidden from others but came out in acts of rebellion and a spirit of bitterness and resentment that still plagues me to some extent yet today. It affected the formative hard-wiring of my personality and warped my character in ways that are now extremely difficult to repair.

So, for someone to come along and claim that I need to return to the original teachings that I learned and get away from all the “heresies coming into the church” will likely trigger me in ways that might be disproportionately intense as compared to others I grew up with might react. The oppressive nature of any religion that is founded primarily on fear and guilt damages the heart and distorts its view of the face of God. Because of this I have no doubt that these teachings are nothing like what Paul had in mind when he referred to the teaching which you learned.

In my case, and most likely in the case of nearly everyone I know today, it is essential that we realize that the teachings of the early apostles was so radically different than what we think they taught from our distant perspective and through our present heavily biased filters, that we need to be extremely cautious about advising people including ourselves to trust in “that old time religion” to be good enough for us. What do we really have in mind when we talk about our old time religion?

But when I stop to think about this carefully I find it frustratingly easier to identify many of the teachings that are not part of what Paul was likely referring to than it is to delineate the teachings that he may have been referring to that are accurate portrayals of the truths about God. On the other hand though, I cannot deny that God has been introducing me over a number of years to some of the truths that energized and motivated the early believers and challenged the assumptions of all the religious and non-religious people of the whole world in Paul's day.

One thing that is becoming more and more evident to me is that many of the teachings that I need to embrace that were more commonly known in the early church are teachings having to do with the condition of the heart, teachings that are difficult to articulate with spoken language but that are powerfully conveyed through the other 90% of the ways humans communicate. The disposition, the attitudes, the atmosphere surrounding each person who had dared to join themselves to the early group of radical believers in Jesus spoke far more eloquently about the nature of the truth that was transforming their lives than any words they could possibly articulate.

But their words were also indeed ways which they used to portray the startling new truths about God parallel to the witness of their hearts filled with the passion of God. Their whole being was so charged with the love that they were increasingly experiencing from heaven that they simply could not contain themselves from seeking to draw others – anyone who would respond – into this fellowship of joy and peace in the Holy Spirit.

For a period of time after Pentecost the early believers were living so close to God and so filled with the passion of the Holy Spirit that their natural righteousness was frighteningly pure and became threatening to every other religious establishment. Because the truth about God and His passionate love for humans was so obvious in their lives and their interactions with each other, their lives acted as a brilliant light that by contrast exposed the false assumptions and teachings of every counterfeit in the world. This kind of confrontation always produces anger, fear and hatred in the hearts of those who resist this exposure and they have to make a decision to either surrender their falsehoods and embrace this glorious new life or they are driven to resist it and fight its presence in the world with everything they can muster to suppress it.

But the question keeps coming back around inside my head that I cannot as yet completely answer very clearly. This may sound absurd to some who have read much of what I have been sharing over the past few years and maybe it should. It also may have to do with the fact that I struggle with a weak memory and often cannot recall easily what I have written, even recently. But the question that haunts me when I read these words by Paul is this: What really is the teaching that was originally delivered to those early believers that so radically made them misfits in the world around them? What was the teaching that so charged their hearts that it could be described as a fire in their bones? What really constituted the original beliefs of those early believers that transformed them into little imitations of Jesus so completely that they became labeled by others as “little Christs”, which later morphed into the word Christian?

I really want to know more personally the answer to these questions for myself, for I want to experience the kind of transforming passion and new birth that became the norm for those early Christians. I want my own life to glow with the fire of God's passion in my bones, to abhor evil with a perfect hatred and at the same time to unconditionally and passionately love every sinner caught in the deceptions of Satan. I want to be radically born again the way Jesus insisted must happen before a person can even perceive the kingdom of heaven.

I am tired of playing religion, of depending on arguments to prop up truth, of clashing with others over differences, of living a selfish life and using religion as a means for getting me out of trouble instead of vindicating the truth about God. The little glimpses that God has given me over the past few years have awakened in me a hunger to enter into the kind of rest that God talks about, the kind of joy that energizes me so powerfully that all fear is overcome in my life, the kind of passion for glorifying God that causes me to see all self-interest as worthless and even a liability.

But I cannot make myself holy in the ways that I am now seeing true holiness – a total devotion and obsession with revealing the truth about God to those who don't know Him intimately. I have to keep seeking God's Spirit to do in me what I simply cannot do even though I have attempted to for many years. I have to learn to live as a mirror and become so enamored with the growing revelations of the glory of God to my heart that my life will be transformed into a spectacle of glory reflected from the very throne of God.

So how do I get there from here? I can't answer that definitively yet, and I'm not sure I ever will be able to. I have to trust God to lead me day by day in ways that still remain very mysterious to me but that accomplish what He is planning for my life as I trust His heart and motives. But I can turn the mirror of my soul toward the light that I find in the Word. I can choose to turn my mirror away from the contaminating influences of the counterfeit systems and the entertainments of the world designed to confuse and warp my pictures of God and myself. In fact, about the only thing that I have the freedom and ability to do at all is to keep choosing to come to Jesus in every way I can think of so that He will do whatever it is that needs to be done in me while I learn to cooperate with that work.

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Smooth Talkers - 3

Now I urge you, brethren, keep your eye on those who cause dissensions and hindrances contrary to the teaching which you learned, and turn away from them. For such men are slaves, not of our Lord Christ but of their own appetites; and by their smooth and flattering speech they deceive the hearts of the unsuspecting. For the report of your obedience has reached to all; therefore I am rejoicing over you, but I want you to be wise in what is good and innocent in what is evil. (Romans 16:17-19)

From Paul, a slave of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, set apart for a gospel of God, (Romans 1:1 MNT)

I am starting to see yet more in this passage each time I look at it. The men that Paul is talking about here are not only smooth talkers and slaves to their own desires, but they are also in direct competition for the affections of the ones Paul is writing to. They are trying to draw away the loyalties and usurp the leadership and authority of those God was using to lead the early Christian believers.

People who are intent on drawing away others to follow their lead typically operate in the ways that Paul describes here. “Divide and conquer” has been a slogan that has proved very effective for centuries. Unity is one of the best means of protection for any group of people and one of the easiest ways to overcome an adversary is to first work on introducing any means that will weaken and break down the unity that binds them together.

This ties directly into having a better understanding of the true meaning of this reference to being slaves. Slavery always involves the issue of bondage or bonding. There are different kinds of bonds, some good and some evil. We generally don't like to use the term “slavery” when talking about the positive kinds of bonding. But the early apostles were so intensely glued to Jesus Christ at the heart level after they encountered Him fully enough that they caught a glimpse of His passionate love for them that they often referred to themselves as bondservants or slaves of Jesus.

I believe that the reason we feel uncomfortable with this kind of talk is simply because we have not yet had that same level of intimacy with God, we have not yet been so overcome and subdued by His grace and love that anything else becomes totally worthless in comparison. And when people become involved with religion without first encountering God's heart of passion for them and surrendering to His will, it is all to easy to become caught up in the counterfeit system of manipulation and fear and control and deception that marks the kingdom of God's enemy and makes up all false religion. They demonstrate in their lives the subtle bondage to selfishness, pride and the flesh that dictates all of their feelings and actions. They are slaves to their feelings and desires instead of love-slaves to Jesus.

It may sound strange at first, but in actuality the people in both kinds of service who are in the deepest slavery are the most effective in attracting others into their kind of slavery. The most prominent leaders are the most submissive slaves to their respective masters. And the way that they work to draw others into the same slavery in which they live is to appeal to the feelings and cravings of the ones they are trying to attract.

Paul here has just finished writing the entire book of Romans to instruct and attract his audience into surrendering to the truths about God that will draw their hearts into the bondage for which we were created. At the end of this letter he confronts head-on the competition who is trying to also attract the Roman believers into slavery but of a very different nature. These false-hearted Christians within the community present themselves as caring and wise and they use flattering words to attract others to embrace their version of religion and reality. Their teachings were not blatantly anti-Christian on the surface and they likely even resorted to Scriptures to support their teachings. In fact, if they were the ones referred to elsewhere in Paul's writings they likely appeared much more religiously correct that what Paul was teaching. This is almost always true of the various forms of legalistic religion.

To attract people into embracing their assertions about how to be right with God, they were using every means possible to endear themselves to the Christian believers and to make them feel good and draw out their affections. It appeared that they may have been affirming the good intentions of those they were trying to attract while offering suggestions as to how to better tweak their religion to make it more in line with the system of rules and traditions more widely accepted by recognized religious leadership.

These people seemed so religiously correct that it was nearly impossible for the believers to distinguish any problems with their teachings. To unmask the true nature of their counterfeit system of teachings required a level of maturity and discernment by others in the body that needed to be in place to protect newer believers from such alluring deceptions. To counteract the pernicious attractions of false teachings that appear to affirm and lead people into truth while embracing underlying false principles requires true leaders who are filled with the right Spirit of God, who in fact are in total bondage – heart, soul, spirit, body and mind – in their relationship with Jesus Christ. It requires people who have a deep experience in the things of God and who better understand the truth about God as revealed in Jesus Christ to discern the subtle deceptions of the enemy designed to fool our hearts into going astray.

Paul is making plain here that in spite of what these others are saying or how good and correct their words sound, it is what Paul is teaching that is the true revelation of God's ways and it is Paul who is offering them the right kind of affirmations that will tend toward life instead of the wrong kind of bondage.

I hear Paul saying here, “I am really the one who is rejoicing over you because of your willingness to follow the truth about God as it was presented to you originally. Do not be distracted or deceived by others who are giving you flattering affirmations designed to sucker you into the wrong kind of slavery. They may claim to be followers of God and claim to have the truth, but you must look behind the facade to what their true motives are, to discern their real spirit and see their secret life of abject slavery to their own selfishness and lusts.”

It is a known fact that the more conservative and legalistic people become the higher the level of abuse becomes that is carried on behind closed doors. People who are extremely “religious” in the public eye too often tend to harbor secret indulgent sins to satisfy their out-of-control cravings that they cannot find relief for in all their religious forms and traditions. This is why there is so much sexual abuse among priests as well as ultra-conservative family groups. I myself know all to well of families that have withdrawn more and more from interactions with others while intensifying the level of all kinds of abuse on their children in the name of religion.

These kinds of people are usually viewed by the church as very upright and good people who are honored and entrusted with leadership positions. They have figured out the system of religion very effectively and appear to be virtuous and righteous to most who see them in church. But when you get to know the subjects of their abuse and hear the stories of pain and fear and intimidation and shame that goes on behind the scenes where no one is allowed to visit, the heart is sickened and the conscience recoils with horror and anger at the injustice and damage that is promoted in the name of God.

But the worst part is that much of the time these people are sincere in their deception. They are usually victims of abuse themselves who have never received healing for their own wounds and are still bound in chains of pain and bitterness. As a result, these people are slaves to their own lower passions instead of being slaves to the pure and holy passion that comes from the heart of God. These kinds of people promote a righteous-sounding form of religion that appeals to the logic and even promises salvation in the end. But there is a dark side to their life that is carefully concealed from public view that undermines the true nature of their internal slavery to sin and false religion.

The effects of these kinds of revelations is often to turn other people away from God altogether since much of this abuse is done in the name of religion and God. But in reality, this is just yet another scheme of the enemy to prevent souls from catching sight of the true nature of God's love who is the only source of satisfaction for our yearning hearts. Because we believe the lies that God is like those who profess His name while abusing others in secret, we are tempted to keep away from Him. But coming to Him is the only way to encounter the very opposite of the slavery demonstrated by these false professors of religion.

The slavery of Jesus Christ is almost an oxymoron, for in His slavery is the only real freedom. To be a slave to Jesus Christ means to be so caught up in adoration and appreciation for His infinite love and grace that we refuse to compromise anything that would interfere with our loyalty to Him. God demands complete purity and perfection as the standard of holy living. But this demand is not in the spirit of oppression as we often think but is simply the requirement of reality. He knows that we cannot purify ourselves to be safe to live in His presence, but on the other hand, we must give Him total access to all of our heart and mind and body so that He can accomplish the work of total restoration that needs to take place before we can encounter Him at close range. This is the work that Paul is talking about here when he says we need to be wise in what is good and innocent in what is evil.

(next in series)

Being Wise and Innocent

For the report of your obedience has reached to all; therefore I am rejoicing over you, but I want you to be wise in what is good and innocent in what is evil. (Romans 16:19)

See, I am sending you out like sheep into the midst of wolves; so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. (Matthew 10:16 NRSV)

Snakes generally don't have a very good reputation with most people. Snakes are usually the object of great fear and probably receive more unsolicited attacks on themselves just by being seen than most other creatures. Their association with the use of a serpent by Satan to tempt Eve has garnered them far more scorn and hatred and fear than they likely deserve. And while there are certainly a number of snakes that can be dangerous and should be avoided, most snakes are actually much more benign and even shy than we give them credit for.

One of the attributes of snakes that seems to be commendable, according to the words of Jesus Himself, has something to do with wisdom. I cannot speak about this subject with a lot of authority, but I do know that most of the time snakes try to avoid confrontation with people far more than they invite it. Whenever people come around snakes generally try to get out of sight or move away instead of engaging head-on. Of course there are always exceptions such as the Copperhead snake that chased me through the woods years ago. But in most of my experiences with snakes they have almost always tried to avoid trouble when I came around.

In this context I believe there is a connection between the advice that Paul gives in this verse and the advice just previous to it in verse 17. Given the fact that I am sure Paul was very familiar with the words of Jesus quoted above, he may very well have had them in mind when he was writing this passage. What he seems to be saying here is that like snakes, we should have enough wisdom to avoid trouble when people who cause problems are around. Instead of engaging them or confronting them, it is the better part of wisdom to simply turn away from them and move away to a safe distance, leaving them alone while keeping a watchful eye on them.

This becomes even more important when there is the issue of deception involved. To try to engage or confront a person who is skilled in deception is to ask for serious problems. In fact, it is nearly impossible to have a meaningful dialog or relationship with a person who is always using deceptive means to manipulate others. To try to expose them by confronting them with truth usually only causes them to engage in even more subtle deceptions because that is simply how they operate and think. They are expecting to be confronted and are already prepared with many more deceptions for every eventuality. Because their heart is not honest it is impossible for a person living in honesty and truth to relate to them in any meaningful way. Paul says here that the correct way to relate to such ones is to turn away from them while keeping an eye on them from a distance.

In verse 18 Paul says that the simple and unsuspecting are the targets of those who operate deceptively trying to dismember what God is putting together. In verse 19 a similar term is used to describe what Paul desires us to be in relationship to evil – simple or innocent according to the Greek word. It is not our place to expose people who externally sound very appealing and flattering in their communications but with hidden intent to spread discontent and cause division. We need to learn to trust the Holy Spirit to do the exposing in His own way and His own timing. What I see in these passages is that I need to be wise in paying more attention to knowing what is good and spend far less effort in trying to confront those or even understand all the logic and arguments of those who are dealing in deception.

The very nature of deception means that there are endless possibilities for it. This is why it is impossible to overcome deception by explaining it and pointing out what is wrong with it. Those who spend more time trying to uncover all the conspiracies and falsehoods of the enemy are attempting to overcome darkness by trying to explore darkness. It is like the illustration I like to use of how to get darkness out of a room. You do not go into a dark room with a “dark shovel” and begin to shovel it out to expose what is in there. You cannot push it out or flush it out or blow it out or explain it out. The only real effective means to get rid of darkness is to simply introduce light and then let light do what it does best. That may require that we have to get out of the way of the light so that it can better illuminate what is around us. But better yet, we can become reflectors of light to pass it on to others when we focus the mirrors of our hearts on the only real Source of light.

When we choose to spend our time and effort on knowing the Source of all truth instead of trying to figure out what is wrong with error, we will find that our job has suddenly become much more simple. Truth does not need multiple layers of backup theories to prop it up like deceptions do. Truth does not have to fall back on alternative suggestions when the first one fails to stand up to testing and it does not resort to fear and force to prop itself up. Truth is usually very simple and basic in nature, though it is also very complex in that it is tightly interconnected with all other truth in connection with what is real. Truth is simply the explanation of how God created the universe and the principles that govern all of reality that is in perfect harmony with itself.

On the other hand, deception is constantly under revision as it fails to stand the test of exposure to the light of truth. Deception depends on darkness and ignorance or even fear to make it appear credible. Deception uses all sorts of means for communication to create a massive system of false reality that is so familiar to us who have lived in this system all of our lives that we assume that it is all there is to reality. But much truth cannot be discovered by the scientific method which requires that everything has to pass through the filters of our narrow and biased standards and our preconceived assumptions from the past.

The only way we will ever enter fully into the realm of real truth is to realize that it must be accepted and embraced on the basis of the credibility of the only One who knows what truth is because He started it all. Truth is something that comes by revelation as much or more than by deduction. God has certainly equipped our minds with tools whereby we can cooperate with Him in understanding truth more easily. But when we try to divorce the Source of truth from our investigations to discover truth we have just fatally handicapped our efforts to understand reality in its true context.

Being wise in what is good also involves choosing to be innocent or simple in relationship to understanding evil. It is not necessary that we know and understand evil in order to expose it or oppose it. The most effective means to getting rid of darkness is to introduce light. And likewise, the best way to deal with deception and evil is not by exploring it or explaining everything that is wrong about it but to dwell in the truth, saturate our minds and hearts with truth and most importantly, have a vital connection with the Author and Creator of all that is true and real.

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