The second chapter of 2 Thessalonians contains one of the most theologically troubling statements in the New Testament. Writing about the end times and the coming "man of lawlessness," the apostle Paul declares that God will actively send deception to ensure that certain people believe lies and are condemned for it.1 The passage is not describing God's passive withdrawal or human self-deception; it describes God as the active agent who sends delusion for the explicit purpose of condemnation. This raises profound questions about divine justice, moral responsibility, and the compatibility of deliberate divine deception with a perfectly good God.
What the text says
The passage in question appears in Paul's second letter to the Thessalonians, in a section discussing eschatological events. After describing the coming of the "man of lawlessness" and his deceptive signs and wonders, Paul writes:
"The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. Therefore 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 had pleasure in unrighteousness." 2 Thessalonians 2:9-12 (English Standard Version)1
The structure of the passage is significant. Verse 10 states that people are perishing "because they refused to love the truth." Verse 11 begins with "therefore" or "for this reason" (Greek: dia touto), indicating that what follows is a consequence or divine response to this refusal.2 What follows is God's action: sending a powerful delusion. Verse 12 then states the purpose: "so that" (Greek: hina) all will be condemned who have not believed.3 The Greek conjunction "hina" indicates purpose or result, meaning the condemnation is either the intended purpose or the direct result of God's sending the delusion.4
The Greek terminology
The Greek text leaves little room for interpretive softening. The phrase "God sends them" is "pempei autois ho theos" (πέμπει αὐτοῖς ὁ θεός).5 The verb "pempei" is an active present indicative form of "pempo," meaning "to send" or "to dispatch."6 God is the grammatical subject performing the action of sending. This is not a passive construction suggesting God merely allows delusion; it is an active statement that God sends it.7
The object being sent is "energeian planes" (ἐνέργειαν πλάνης), translated "powerful delusion" in the ESV or "strong delusion" in other versions.1 The word "energeian" (from energeia) refers to working, operation, or power—the root of the English word "energy."8 The word "planes" means wandering, error, delusion, or deceit.9 Together, the phrase denotes an active, powerful working of deception or error.7
The purpose is stated clearly: "eis to pisteusai autous to pseudei" (εἰς τὸ πιστεῦσαι αὐτοὺς τῷ ψεύδει), literally "unto the to believe them the lie."5 The construction "eis to" with an infinitive indicates purpose: "in order to make them believe the lie."4 The ultimate result or purpose follows in verse 12: "hina krithōsin" (ἵνα κριθῶσιν), "so that they may be judged" or "condemned."3 The passive verb "krithōsin" is from "krinō," which in this context means to judge or condemn.10
The grammatical structure creates a clear chain of divine causation: God sends a powerful working of delusion, in order to make people believe the lie, so that they will be condemned.7 While some translations attempt to soften this by rendering "hina" as describing result rather than purpose, the distinction does little to resolve the moral problem. Whether God intends the condemnation or merely causes it, He remains the active agent who sends the deception that leads to it.11
Context in 2 Thessalonians
The passage appears in a larger discussion of eschatological judgment. Paul is addressing concerns in the Thessalonian church about the day of the Lord, apparently responding to false teaching that it had already arrived.12 He describes a sequence of events: a rebellion must occur, the "man of lawlessness" will be revealed, and this figure will perform deceptive signs and wonders through Satan's power.1
Verse 10 identifies the victims of this deception as "those who are perishing" because they "refused to love the truth and so be saved."1 The text presents their refusal to love the truth as the reason they are perishing. However, verse 11 immediately states that God responds to this refusal by sending them further delusion to ensure they believe lies and are condemned.1 This creates a troubling dynamic: people who have already refused to believe truth are then given a divine delusion that makes them believe lies, and then they are condemned for believing those lies.
The broader context of 2 Thessalonians emphasizes divine judgment against unbelievers. Chapter 1 describes Jesus returning "in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel," who "will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction."13 The theme of divine judgment runs throughout the letter, and the sending of delusion in 2:11 fits this pattern of God actively ensuring that the wicked receive condemnation.14
How translations handle the passage
Different Bible translations handle the passage with varying degrees of directness, but none can entirely eliminate the attribution of deceptive action to God.
2 Thessalonians 2:11 across translations1, 15, 16, 17
| Translation | Rendering |
|---|---|
| ESV | "God sends them a powerful delusion" |
| NIV | "God sends them a powerful delusion" |
| NRSV | "God sends them a powerful delusion" |
| KJV | "God shall send them strong delusion" |
| NASB | "God will send upon them a deluding influence" |
All major English translations agree that God is the one who sends the delusion. The Greek permits no other reading.5 Some translations use "delusion," others "strong delusion" or "deluding influence," but all preserve God as the active subject. The only variation is whether "hina" in verse 12 is rendered as indicating purpose ("so that they will be condemned") or result ("with the result that they are condemned"), but this distinction does little to mitigate the moral problem.11
A broader biblical pattern
The sending of delusion in 2 Thessalonians is not an isolated text. The Bible repeatedly attributes deceptive action directly to God, particularly in contexts of judgment.
In 1 Kings 22, the prophet Micaiah describes a vision of God's heavenly council deliberating how to entice King Ahab to his death. A spirit volunteers to be "a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets," and God commissions this deception:
"And the LORD said, 'You are to entice him, and you shall succeed; go out and do so.' Now therefore behold, the LORD has put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these your prophets; the LORD has declared disaster against you." 1 Kings 22:22-23 (English Standard Version)18
Here God not only permits but actively commissions a lying spirit to deceive Ahab's prophets. The text presents this as a deliberate divine strategy to bring about Ahab's death in battle.18 The parallel to 2 Thessalonians 2 is clear: in both cases, God sends deception to accomplish judgment.
Ezekiel 14 contains an even more explicit statement of divine deception. God declares through the prophet:
"And if the prophet is deceived and speaks a word, I, the LORD, have deceived that prophet, and I will stretch out my hand against him and will destroy him from the midst of my people Israel. And they shall bear their punishment—the punishment of the prophet and the punishment of the inquirer shall be alike." Ezekiel 14:9-10 (English Standard Version)19
God states in the first person: "I, the LORD, have deceived that prophet." The Hebrew verb "pathah" (פָּתָה) means to deceive, entice, or seduce.20 God then declares that both the deceived prophet and those who consult him will be punished. The prophet is punished for speaking deceptive words that God himself caused, and the people are punished for believing those words.21 The moral problem is identical to 2 Thessalonians 2: God sends deception, people believe it, and then God punishes them for believing what He caused them to believe.
The hardening of Pharaoh's heart presents a similar pattern. Exodus repeatedly states that God hardened Pharaoh's heart to prevent him from releasing the Israelites.22 In Exodus 4:21, before Moses even confronts Pharaoh, God tells Moses: "I will harden his heart, so that he will not let the people go."23 After Pharaoh's heart is hardened, God punishes Egypt with plagues, culminating in the death of every firstborn.24 God hardens Pharaoh to ensure disobedience, then punishes the disobedience He caused.
Isaiah 6 records God commissioning the prophet to preach a message that will prevent understanding and repentance:
"And he said, 'Go, and say to this people: "Keep on hearing, but do not understand; keep on seeing, but do not perceive." Make the heart of this people dull, and their ears heavy, and blind their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.'" Isaiah 6:9-10 (English Standard Version)25
God instructs Isaiah to preach in such a way as to prevent repentance. The purpose clause "lest they... turn and be healed" indicates that God wants to prevent their healing.26 Jesus himself quotes this passage to explain why he teaches in parables: "so that they may indeed see but not perceive, and may indeed hear but not understand, lest they should turn and be forgiven" (Mark 4:12).27 Both the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament present God as deliberately obscuring truth to prevent repentance and ensure judgment.
Common apologetic defenses
Theologians have offered various explanations to mitigate the moral difficulties these passages present. Each defense warrants examination.
The "God merely permits delusion" defense
Some interpreters argue that "God sends" in 2 Thessalonians 2:11 means only that God permits or allows delusion, not that He actively causes it. On this reading, people who reject truth become vulnerable to Satan's deceptions, and God simply withdraws His protection and allows them to be deceived.28
This defense cannot be sustained from the text. The Greek verb "pempei" (sends) is active, not passive.6 God is the subject performing the action of sending. If Paul meant that God merely allows or permits delusion, he could have used different constructions available in Greek. Instead, he chose active language attributing the sending of delusion directly to God.7
Moreover, the word "energeian" (working, operation, power) suggests active divine involvement, not passive permission.8 The phrase "energeian planes" describes a powerful working of error, an active force, not the mere absence of truth. The language parallels verse 9, which describes "the activity of Satan" (energeian tou satana)—active supernatural intervention, not passive permission.29
The "judicial abandonment" defense
A related argument suggests that God's sending of delusion represents "judicial abandonment"—God giving people over to the consequences of their own choices. Since they refused to love the truth, God abandons them to their self-chosen delusion. This is presented as God respecting human free will rather than forcing belief.30
This interpretation has some support in Romans 1, where Paul three times states that God "gave them up" to various forms of sin and degradation (Romans 1:24, 26, 28).31 The concept of divine abandonment to natural consequences differs from active deception. However, 2 Thessalonians 2:11 goes beyond abandonment. God does not merely withdraw and let people follow their own delusions; He actively sends "a powerful working of error" to make them believe lies.7 The text describes an active divine intervention that causes belief in falsehood, not a passive withdrawal that permits it.
Furthermore, the purpose clause in verse 12 undermines the free will defense. If God's action has the purpose or result that people will be condemned, then the condemnation is not simply the natural consequence of their free choice to reject truth. It is the divinely orchestrated result of a delusion God sent to ensure they would believe lies and be condemned.11
The "result, not purpose" defense
Some commentators argue that the "hina" clause in verse 12 should be understood as indicating result rather than purpose. On this reading, condemnation is the consequence of God's sending delusion, but not necessarily His intended goal. God sends delusion in response to their rejection of truth, and condemnation results, but God does not actively intend the condemnation.32
While the Greek conjunction "hina" can occasionally indicate result rather than purpose, it most commonly indicates purpose or intent, especially in the writings of Paul.4 Even New Testament scholars who favor the result interpretation acknowledge that the distinction makes little practical difference in this context.33 Whether God intends condemnation or merely causes it through sending delusion, He remains morally responsible as the active agent who sends the deceptive force that produces the condemned belief.11
Moreover, the text states that God sends delusion "so that they will believe the lie" (verse 11) and "so that all will be condemned" (verse 12).1 Both clauses use purpose language. If the first "so that" indicates purpose (making them believe lies), it is difficult to argue that the second "so that" indicates mere result. The most natural reading is that both believing the lie and being condemned are either intended purposes or direct results of God's action in sending delusion.7
The "they were already hardened" defense
Another common defense argues that the people in view had already definitively rejected truth before God sent the delusion. Verse 10 states they "refused to love the truth," and verse 12 describes them as those "who have not believed the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness."1 On this view, God's sending of delusion is a response to their settled, culpable rejection of truth. They are condemned for their original rejection, not for the subsequent delusion God sends.34
This defense reduces but does not eliminate the moral problem. Even if people have already rejected truth, the question remains: why would a perfectly good God respond by making their situation worse through active deception? If the goal is justice, it would seem more just to continue offering truth, not to send delusion that ensures they remain in error and are condemned.35
Furthermore, the text connects the delusion directly to the condemnation. Verse 11 says God sends delusion "so that they will believe the lie," and verse 12 says "so that all will be condemned" who have not believed.1 The delusion appears to serve the purpose of ensuring condemnation, not merely confirming a condemnation already merited. The language suggests that God actively works to guarantee their condemnation through deceptive means.11
Theological implications
The passage in 2 Thessalonians 2:11-12 raises fundamental questions about the nature of God, justice, and moral responsibility. If God sends delusion to make people believe lies in order that they will be condemned, several theological problems emerge.
First, it appears to undermine human moral responsibility. Traditional Christian theology holds that people are morally responsible for their beliefs and actions because they freely choose them.36 But if God sends a powerful working of error that causes people to believe lies, in what sense are they responsible for believing those lies? They did not choose the delusion; God sent it. They did not choose to believe lies in a vacuum; they believed lies because of a divinely caused delusion. How then can they justly be condemned for beliefs God caused through deception?37
Second, it appears incompatible with divine goodness. Christian theology typically affirms that God is perfectly good, truthful, and just, and that God cannot lie (Titus 1:2, Hebrews 6:18).38, 39 Yet 2 Thessalonians 2:11 presents God as sending deception—actively causing people to believe what is false. While one might argue that God does not personally lie but rather sends a "working of error," the moral distinction seems minimal. If a perfectly truthful being deliberately causes others to believe falsehoods for the purpose of condemning them, it is difficult to see how this differs morally from lying.40
Third, it creates tension with biblical descriptions of God's desire for human salvation. First Timothy 2:4 states that God "desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth."41 Second Peter 3:9 declares that God is "not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance."42 These statements appear incompatible with God sending delusion to ensure that people believe lies and are condemned. If God desires all to be saved and come to knowledge of truth, why would He send a powerful working of error to prevent people from believing truth and ensure their condemnation?43
Divine sovereignty and divine goodness
The tension in 2 Thessalonians 2:11-12 reflects a broader theological tension between divine sovereignty and divine goodness. If God is absolutely sovereign and all events occur according to His will, then God bears ultimate responsibility for all outcomes, including human damnation.44 If God is perfectly good and desires all to be saved, then some events, including human damnation, must occur contrary to God's will, limiting His sovereignty.45
Calvinist theology embraces strong divine sovereignty, teaching that God has decreed all things, including who will be saved and who will be damned (double predestination).46 On this view, God's sending of delusion in 2 Thessalonians 2:11 is consistent with His sovereign decree to pass over certain individuals and leave them in sin. God actively hardens some to display His justice, just as He shows mercy to others to display His grace.47 The moral problem is addressed by appealing to divine sovereignty: God has the right to do as He pleases with His creatures, and His ways are beyond human judgment (Romans 9:19-21).48
Arminian theology emphasizes human free will and God's universal salvific will. On this view, God genuinely desires all to be saved and provides sufficient grace for all to respond to the gospel.49 Passages like 2 Thessalonians 2:11 are interpreted as describing God's response to settled, culpable human rejection of grace—a "giving over" to the consequences of free choice rather than an absolute decree.50 However, this approach struggles with the active language of the text, which describes God sending delusion, not merely permitting its consequences.
Open theism takes a more radical approach, suggesting that God does not exhaustively determine or foreknow all future events, including human free choices.51 On this view, God works within genuine human freedom and genuine contingency, and biblical language attributing deception or hardening to God reflects divine accommodation to human language rather than literal divine action.52 However, this approach requires significant reinterpretation of numerous biblical texts that explicitly attribute such actions to God.
Moral questions
Beyond theological systems, 2 Thessalonians 2:11-12 raises basic moral questions. If a human authority deliberately deceived people to make them believe lies in order to punish them for believing those lies, we would recognize this as unjust. Entrapment—inducing someone to commit an offense they would not otherwise have committed in order to prosecute them—is considered a violation of due process in most legal systems.53 Yet the passage describes God doing something analogous: sending delusion to make people believe lies in order to condemn them for believing those lies.
The question of proportionality also arises. According to traditional Christian theology, the consequence of believing "the lie" described in 2 Thessalonians 2 is eternal conscious torment in hell.54 Even if one grants that refusing to love the truth is culpable, does it warrant God actively ensuring eternal condemnation through divinely sent deception? The punishment seems disproportionate to the offense, and the divine action in sending deception seems to compound the injustice rather than serve it.55
Additionally, there is the question of collateral damage. If God sends a powerful delusion that makes people believe lies, what about those who might otherwise have believed truth but were prevented by the divinely sent delusion? The text does not suggest that the delusion affects only those who had already made a final, irrevocable rejection of truth. It describes a powerful working of error sent to a group described in general terms as "those who are perishing because they refused to love the truth."1 This could include people at various stages of belief and unbelief, some of whom might have eventually believed truth if not for the divinely sent delusion.
Implications for understanding God
The text of 2 Thessalonians 2:11-12 presents a portrait of God that is difficult to reconcile with many common theological claims about divine goodness, justice, and truthfulness. According to the passage, God actively sends a powerful working of error to make people believe lies so that they will be condemned. This is not Satan's deception that God merely permits; it is God's own deceptive action. This is not a neutral withdrawal that allows natural consequences; it is an active intervention that causes false belief for the purpose of ensuring condemnation.
Readers must decide what to make of this portrait. Some may conclude that the passage reflects Paul's theological understanding rather than eternal truth about God's character—that it represents early Christian eschatological speculation rather than divine self-revelation. Others may accept the text at face value and revise their understanding of divine goodness to accommodate a God who deceives for judgment. Still others may find creative interpretive strategies to soften the text's claims, though the Greek offers little support for such softening.7
What the text does not support is the claim that God never deceives, that God only permits but never causes false belief, or that people are condemned solely for their own free choices independent of divine causation. The Greek is explicit: God sends a powerful working of error to make people believe the lie so that they will be condemned. Whether such a God is worthy of worship, and whether such divine action is compatible with perfect justice and goodness, are questions each reader must answer for themselves.