Christians have been Deceived by Donald Trump

Donald Trump frequently identifies himself with Christianity and presents himself as a champion of Christian voters, most recently emphasising the strength of his Christian support.

Yet in New Testament terms, claiming the Christian identity is not the same as living the Christian life: faith is expected to become visible through humility, truthfulness, mercy, forgiveness, care for the vulnerable, repentance and love of neighbour and enemy.

The question, therefore, is not whether Trump calls himself a Christian, but whether his words and conduct consistently demonstrate those principles.

Where a public profession of Christianity becomes separated from the behaviour Christianity demands, the New Testament provides concepts such as hypocrisy, self-deception and being led astray to describe that contradiction. This does not allow us to judge Trump’s private relationship with God, but it does allow his publicly claimed Christian identity to be tested against the ethical standard that the New Testament itself establishes.

In New Testament terms, deception is more than simply telling a lie. It is the process of causing someone, including oneself, to move away from what is true while believing that what is false is actually true.

One of the principal Greek words makes this particularly clear:

• πλανάω (planaō) means to lead astray, cause to wander, mislead or deceive. The underlying image is somebody leaving the correct path and wandering onto the wrong one. It can describe doctrinal, moral or intellectual error.
• ἐξαπατάω (exapataō) is stronger, meaning to deceive thoroughly, delude or lead completely astray. It is used, for example, for the serpent’s deception of Eve and for people being deceived through persuasive speech.

That distinction is important because New Testament deception does not necessarily require the deceived person to recognise a lie. Quite the opposite. Successful deception produces a false understanding of reality which the person accepts as genuine.

There are several dimensions to it:

1. Deliberately misleading another person
   Someone presents something false or distorted in such a way that another person believes it. Romans 16:18 describes people using smooth speech to deceive others.
2. Leading someone away from truth
   This is the planaō idea. Jesus repeatedly warns about people being led astray, particularly through false teachers and false claims. Matthew 24 is a prominent example.
3. Self-deception
   This is perhaps the most interesting aspect. The New Testament explicitly recognises that the deceiver and the deceived can be the same person. 1 Corinthians 3:18 warns against deceiving oneself.
4. Deception through something that appears convincing
   Deception need not look obviously dishonest. Indeed, Romans 16 connects deception with smooth talk and flattery. The danger is precisely that the falsehood appears credible.

So I would reduce the New Testament concept to:

Deception is causing oneself or another person to accept a false representation of reality, resulting in movement away from truth.

And there is an important distinction from error:

Error: I believe something that happens to be wrong.

Lying: I know something is wrong and tell you it is true.

Deception: Something is presented, manipulated, concealed or believed in such a way that you are led into accepting what is false as true.

That last category is considerably broader than lying, which is why deception is such a significant concept in the New Testament. The central problem isn’t merely false statements. It is the corruption of someone’s ability to distinguish truth from falsehood.