The spiritual meaning of being deceitful is pretty close to the literal meaning: According to Swedenborg it means using false thinking and logic to attack and destroy true ideas, done on purpose and for evil intent. The biggest difference is that on a spiritual level the ideas being destroyed are spiritual ones, making deceit just that much worse than it is in ordinary life.
Some translations of the Bible, including the King James Version, use the word “subtil” to mean deceitful. This is essentially an archaic spelling of “subtle,” but seems to carry a more harshly negative meaning than its modern counterpart. More recent translations generally use “deceitful” or “cunning” instead.
Passages from Swedenborg:
Apocalypse Explained 581
[2] That serpents, in the Word, signify the craftiness and prudence of the sensual man, is evident from the following passages. In Moses:
“The serpent was more subtle than any wild beast of the field which Jehovah God had made” (Gen. iii. 1).
Here the serpent does not mean a serpent, but the sensual man, and in a general sense, the Sensual itself, which is the ultimate of the human understanding. The man and his wife, signify the Most Ancient Church, which fell away when the men of that Church began to reason concerning Divine things from sensual scientifics, and such reasoning is signified by their eating of the tree of knowledge (scientia); their craftiness in reasoning concerning Divine things from the Sensual, is described by the reasoning of the serpent with the wife of Adam, by which they were deceived. The reason why the serpent was said to be more subtle than any wild beast of the field, is that it is poisonous, and its bite therefore deadly, and that it conceals itself in hiding places. Poison signifies craft and treachery, and thence the bite of the serpent, deadly hurt; and the lurking places from which it bites, and in which it conceals itself, signify craftiness.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 4459
4459. ‘Jacob’s sons answered Shechem and Hamor his fatherdeceitfully means evil thought and intention regarding the truth and the good of the Church among the Ancients. This is clear from the representation of ‘Shechem’ as truth among the Ancients, or what amounts to the same, truth from the ancient Divine stock, dealt with in 4399, 4454; from the representation of ‘Hamor’ as the good from which that truth sprang, dealt with in 4399, 4431, 4447, 4454; and from the meaning of ‘deceit’ as evil thought and intention. In general deceit implies evil against another and against what he says and does, for the thought and intention of the one who is deceitful is different from that of the other person, as is also clear from the outcome of events described in this chapter. From this it is evident that ‘the sons of Jacob answered Shechem and Hamor his father deceitfully’ means evil thought and intention regarding the truth and the good of the Church among the Ancients.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 7467
7467. ‘Only do not let Pharaoh act deceitfully again in not sending the people away to sacrifice to Jehovah’ means provided that he does not deceive with lies and fail to leave, so that they may worship their God in freedom. This is clear from the representation of ‘Pharaoh’ as those who are steeped in falsities arising from evils and engage in molestation; from the meaning of ‘acting deceitfully’ as deceiving with lies; from the meaning of ‘sending away’ as leaving; from the representation of the children of Israel, [to whom ‘the people’ refers here,] as those who belong to the spiritual Church; and from the meaning of ‘sacrificing to Jehovah’ as worshipping their God, dealt with in 7393, 7452, 7458. Which must be done in freedom, see 7454, 7456. From all this it is evident that ‘only do not let Pharaoh act deceitfully again in not sending the people away to
sacrifice to Jehovah’ means provided that he did not deceive with lies and fail to leave, so that those belonging to the spiritual Church may worship their God in freedom.
Apocalypse Revealed (Rogers) n. 624
624. 14:5 And in their mouth was found no deceit. This symbolically means that they do not speak with cunning or with a purpose to persuade people of falsity and evil.
A mouth symbolizes speech, preaching, and doctrine (no. 452). And deceit symbolizes a persuasion to evil by means of falsity, especially with cunning and purpose. For someone who urges something with cunning or deceit also does so on purpose. Indeed, cunning or deceit proposes it to itself, conceals it, and acts on it when given the opportunity.
A lie in the Word symbolizes falsity and false speaking. Deceitsymbolizes each of these on purpose. Lying and deceit are both mentioned in the following passages:
(Jesus said of Nathanael,) “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no deceit!” (John 1:47)
The remnant of Israel shall…not speak a lie, nor shall a deceitfultongue be found in their mouth. (Zephaniah 3:13)
…He did no violence, nor was any deceit in His mouth. (Isaiah 53:9)
Her rich men are full of violence, her inhabitants speak falsehood, and their tongue is deceitful in their mouth. (Micah 6:12)
You shall destroy those who speak falsehood; Jehovah abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man. (Psalm 5:6)
Deliver my soul, O Jehovah, from lying lips and from a deceitfultongue. (Psalm 120:2, 3)
They have taught their tongue to speak lies…. Your dwelling is in the midst of deceit; through deceit they have refused to know Me. (Jeremiah 9:5,6)
Ephraim has encircled Me with lies, and the house of Israel withdeceit. (Hosea 11:12)
But if someone purposes to kill his neighbor by deceit, you shall take him from My altar and he will die. (Exodus 21:14)
Cursed is he who does the work of Jehovah deceitfully…. (Jeremiah 48:10)
And so on elsewhere, as for instance in Jeremiah 5:26, 27, 8:5, 14:14, 23:26; Hosea 7:16; Zephaniah 1:9; Psalm 17:1, 24:4, 35:20, 21, 36:3, 50:19, 52:2, 4, 72:14, 109:2, 119:118; Job 13:7, 27:4.
Deceitful people are symbolically meant in the Word by poisonous reptiles, such as crocodiles and vipers, and their deceit by the reptiles’ poison.