Exegetical Fallacies - D. A. Carson

(Figure 7-continued)
Faulty generalization is also partly at stake in another exchange I have had over the subject of
miracles. In the article to which I have already referred, I argued that the New Testament warnings about
misleading miracles are substantial, and insufficiently taken into account by many Vineyard leaders. Jesus
goes so far as to say that on the last day "many" will protest that they have cast out demons in Jesus' name
and performed miracles in his name, but Jesus will banish them from his presence as "workers of
iniquity" whom he has never known (Matt. 7:21-23). Indeed, elsewhere Jesus warns that great wonders
will be performed by false Christs and false prophets, "to deceive even the elect, if that were possible"
(Matt. 24:24). One interlocutor replied to the effect that the whole point of the latter passage is that the
elect are not deceived: the clear implication, surely, is that "if it were possible" means precisely that it is
not possible. Based not least on these considerations, he then argues at length that devout and honest
Christians who humbly seek the Lord's will and blessing will not be led astray in such natters.
I think I could have been clearer in what exactly I was inferring from that text. I wholeheartedly agree
that true believers will not %irial/v he deceived. Yet that they can for a time be deceived by all kinds of
things, miraculous and otherwise, is surely beyond dispute. For instance, according to Paul, Barnabas was
deceived, at least for a time, by Peter's questionable conduct (Gal. 2:11-14). More importantly, there are
many instances when people who are universally accepted as Christians in good standing are deceived,
some so badly that there is every reason to wonder if, finally, they were really Christians at all. Ananias
and Sapphira were deceived by the love of both money and a reputation for generosity, and consequently
they lied against the Holy Spirit. Five of the seven letters to the churches in Revelation 2-3 warn about
deception in the church, and suggest that if the members do not turn from the dangerous course ahead of'
them their church will be destroyed, while those members who prove discerning and faithful are the
"conquerors" who are rewarded at the last day. Certainly Paul foresaw a time when vicious wolves
would arise from within the Ephesian church, and warned the leaders of the church to prepare the people
for that time (Acts 20). In his last letter to come down to us, Paul sadly confesses that "all those in Asia"
have abandoned him (2 Tim. 1:15): doubtless this does not mean that all Christians there proved apostate,
but it certainly means that there was enough deception operating to lead the believers away from Paul.
More generally, it is hard not to see that huge swaths of the New Testament are written with the primary