Confusion

A state of perplexity, bewilderment or disorder. Confusion may be brought about by God to cause the schemes of the wicked to fail and opposition to his people to prove ineffective. Confusion over spiritual truth is the natural state of humanity; believers, too, may be perplexed by God's purposes or thrown into confusion by false teaching.

Examples of people in confusion

2 Samuel 18:29; Esther 3:15; Luke 21:25–26; Acts 17:8, Acts 19:32

God sends confusion as judgment

The righteous ask God to confuse their enemies

Psalm 35:26 See also Psalm 40:14, Psalm 55:9, Psalm 70:2

May those who gloat in my distress be ashamed and confounded; may those who exalt themselves over me be clothed in shame and reproach.

God sends confusion on Israel's enemies

Exodus 23:27 See also Deuteronomy 7:23; Psalm 71:24

I will send My terror ahead of you and throw into confusion every nation you encounter. I will make all your enemies turn and run.

Israel, too, may experience confusion

Deuteronomy 28:20 See also Deuteronomy 28:28; 2 Chronicles 15:5–6; Jeremiah 51:34

The LORD will send curses upon you, confusion and reproof in all to which you put your hand, until you are destroyed and quickly perish because of the wickedness you have committed in forsaking Him.

Examples of God sending confusion

Genesis 11:7–9 at the tower of Babel; Joshua 10:10 on the Amorites; 1 Samuel 14:20 on the Philistines; 2 Chronicles 20:22–23 on Jehoshaphat's enemies

Spiritual confusion is humanity's natural state

Isaiah 57:20–21 See also Isaiah 41:29; 1 Corinthians 1:18, 1 Corinthians 2:14; 2 Corinthians 4:3–4

But the wicked are like the storm-tossed sea, for it cannot be still, and its waves churn up mire and muck. “There is no peace,” says my God, “for the wicked.”

Confusion relating to Jesus Christ

Confusion among the Jews

John 6:52; Acts 2:6–7 See also Matthew 12:23–24 parallels Mark 3:22, Luke 11:15; Luke 9:7–9 parallels Matthew 14:1–2, Mark 6:14–16; John 3:4; Acts 2:12; 2 Corinthians 3:14

At this, the Jews began to argue among themselves, “How can this man give us His flesh to eat?”

And when this sound rang out, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard them speaking his own language. Astounded and amazed, they asked, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans?

Confusion among Jesus Christ's disciples

Matthew 8:27 parallels Mark 4:41, Luke 8:25 See also Mark 9:5–6 parallels Matthew 17:4, Luke 9:33–34; Mark 16:8; Luke 24:22–25; John 6:60, John 16:17–19

The men were amazed and asked, “What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the sea obey Him!”

Further examples of believers in confusion

Confusion over God's purposes

2 Corinthians 4:8 See also Psalm 73:12–14; Ecclesiastes 7:15; Isaiah 21:3–4; Daniel 4:19; Habakkuk 1:2–4; 2 Corinthians 7:5; Galatians 4:19–20

We are hard pressed on all sides, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair;

Confusion over doctrine

Galatians 1:6–7 See also Galatians 4:9, Galatians 4:17, Galatians 5:10

I am amazed how quickly you are deserting the One who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel — which is not even a gospel. Evidently some people are troubling you and trying to distort the gospel of Christ.

Remedies for confusion

Confusion dispelled by asking God for understanding

Jeremiah 33:3 See also James 1:5

Call to Me, and I will answer and show you great and unsearchable things you do not know.

Confusion dispelled by the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit

John 14:26 See also John 16:13; 1 Corinthians 2:9–10, 1 Corinthians 2:13

But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have told you.

until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God, as we mature to the full measure of the stature of Christ. Then we will no longer be infants, tossed about by the waves and carried around by every wind of teaching and by the clever cunning of men in their deceitful scheming.