through the hypocrisy of men who speak lies, branded in their own conscience as with a hot iron,
Parallel Translations
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through the hypocrisy of men who speak lies, branded in their own conscience as with a hot iron,
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of them which speake falce thorow ypocrisye and have their consciences marked with an hote yron
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Which speake lies through hypocrisie, and haue their cosciences burned with an hote yron,
Cross-references (17)
Passages linked to 1 Timothy 4:2 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Ephesians 4:19 They, having become callous, gave themselves up to lust, to work all uncleanness with greediness.
- Romans 16:18 For those who are such don’t serve our Lord, Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by their smooth and flattering speech, they deceive the hearts of the innocent.
- Acts 20:30 Men will arise from among your own selves, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them.
- Matthew 7:15 “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravening wolves.
- Matthew 24:24 For there will arise false christs, and false prophets, and they will show great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the chosen ones.
- Romans 1:28 Even as they refused to have God in their knowledge, God gave them up to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not fitting;
- 2 Timothy 3:5 holding a form of godliness, but having denied its power. Turn away from these, also.
- 2 Peter 2:1-3 But false prophets also arose among the people, as false teachers will also be among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, denying even the Master who bought them, bringing on themselves swift destruction. Many will follow their immoral ways, and as a result, the way of the truth will be maligned. In covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words: whose sentence now from of old doesn’t linger, and their destruction will not slumber.
- Revelation 16:14 for they are spirits of demons, performing signs; which go out to the kings of the whole inhabited earth, to gather them together for the war of that great day of God, the Almighty.
- Jeremiah 23:32 Behold, I am against those who prophesy lying dreams,” says Yahweh, “who tell them, and cause my people to err by their lies, and by their vain boasting; yet I didn’t send them or command them. They don’t profit this people at all,” says Yahweh.
- Ephesians 4:14 that we may no longer be children, tossed back and forth and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in craftiness, after the wiles of error;
- 1 Kings 13:18 He said to him, “I also am a prophet as you are; and an angel spoke to me by Yahweh’s word, saying, ‘Bring him back with you into your house, that he may eat bread and drink water.’ ” He lied to him.
- 1 Kings 22:22 Yahweh said to him, ‘How?’ He said, ‘I will go out and will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.’ He said, ‘You will entice him, and will also prevail. Go out and do so.’
- Daniel 8:23-25 “In the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors have come to the full, a king of fierce face, and understanding dark sentences, will stand up. His power will be mighty, but not by his own power. He will destroy awesomely, and will prosper in what he does. He will destroy the mighty ones and the holy people. Through his policy he will cause deceit to prosper in his hand. He will magnify himself in his heart, and he will destroy many in their security. He will also stand up against the prince of princes; but he will be broken without hand.
- Isaiah 9:15 The elder and the honorable man is the head, and the prophet who teaches lies is the tail.
- Jeremiah 5:21 ‘Hear this now, foolish people without understanding, who have eyes, and don’t see, who have ears, and don’t hear:
- Jeremiah 23:14 In the prophets of Jerusalem I have also seen a horrible thing: they commit adultery and walk in lies. They strengthen the hands of evildoers, so that no one returns from his wickedness. They have all become to me as Sodom, and its inhabitants as Gomorrah.”
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (17 sources)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain 2 Speaking lies in hypocrisy If these words refer…
2 Speaking lies in hypocrisy If these words refer to “demons,” then this word will mean men deceiving through the instigation of the devil. But we may also supply the words, “of men speaking.” He now descends to a particular instance, when he says that they “speak lies in hypocrisy,” and have their conscience seared with a hot iron And, indeed, it ought to be known that these two are so closely Joined together that the former springs from the latter; for consciences, that are bad and seared with the hot iron of their crimes, always flee to hypocrisy as a ready refuge; that is, they contrive hypocritical presences, in order to dazzle the eyes of God; and what else is done by those who endeavor to appease God by the mask of outward observances?
The word hypocrisy must therefore be explained agreeably to the passage in which it now occurs; for, first, it must relate to doctrine, and, next, it denotes that kind of doctrine which adulterates the spiritual worship of God by exchanging its genuine purity for bodily exercises; and thus it includes all methods contrived by men for appeasing God or obtaining his favor. The meaning may be thus summed up; first, that all who assume a pretended sanctimoniousness are led by the instigation of the devil; because God is never worshipped aright by outward ceremonies; for true worshipers
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“worship him in spirit and truth,” (John 4:24)
and, secondly, that this is a useless medicine, by which hypocrites mitigate their pains, or rather a plaster by which bad consciences conceal their wounds, without any advantage, and to their utter destruction.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain Whose conscience waxed so hard, that there grew an…
Whose conscience waxed so hard, that there grew an hard fleshiness over it, and so became to have a canker on it, and now at length required of very necessity to be burned with an hot iron.
Although heretics counterfeit holiness never so much, yet they have no conscience.
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For they will as it were practice the art of disguised persons and players, that we may not think they will lie lurking in some one corner, or keep any resemblance of shamefastness.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain 2 Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared…
2 Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron;
Ver. 2. Speaking lies in hypocrisy] It was grown to a common proverb, "A friar, a liar." One of them undertook to show a feather of the wing of the angel Gabriel. The pope, to honour and encourage Tyrone the rebel, sent him (but who will believe it?) a plume of Phoenix’s feathers. The poor people are persuaded to believe that the thunder of the pope’s excommunication hath so blasted the English heretics, that their faces are grown all black and ugly as devils; their eyes and looks ghastly, their breaths noisome and pestilent, that they are grown barbarous, and eat children, blaspheme God and all his saints.
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Having their consciences seared] There is more hope of a sore, than of a seared, conscience, a dead and dedolent disposition, Eph 4:17-20, a heart that hath contracted a kind of hoof.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain The words, as translated by us, are very difficult;…
The words, as translated by us, are very difficult; for the word which we translate
speaking lies, being the genitive case, will neither agree with spirits nor doctrines, in the former verse, they being both the dative: but neither is our translation agreeable to the Greek, which is thus: In or through the hypocrisy of such as speak lies, and of such as have a conscience seared with a hot iron; which doubtless is the sense; so the words explain the manner how they were seduced to apostacy, viz. through the hypocrisy or dissimulation of men that speak lies, and had consciences benumbed, and mortified, as it were cauterized and seared with a hot iron. By their hypocrisy he characterizes seducers, uncertain, false men, that regarded not what they said, but made a show and appearance of piety, when indeed they had no sense of piety in them. By men whose consciences were seared with a hot iron, he means persons so far from any sense of piety, that they were hardened to any degree of iniquity: and indeed by both terms he excellently expresseth such persons as generally they are who seduce others to false doctrine, they could not do it without some show or pretence of piety, they would not do it if they had any true sense of it; and by both terms he too well expresseth those that in our days seduce men to the doctrines concerning demons, and abstaining from marriage and meats, which are those doctrines he alone instanceth in.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain Speaking lies in hypocrisy,.... Or "through the hypocrisy of…
Speaking lies in hypocrisy,.... Or "through the hypocrisy of those that speak lies"; for the apostle is still speaking of the means by which the apostasy should rise, and get ground; and it should be by the means of persons that should deliver lying or false doctrine under the colour of truth, and make great pretensions to religion and holiness, which would greatly take with men, and captivate and lead them aside: and this plainly points at the abettors of antichrist, the Romish priests, who deliver out the lying doctrines of merit, purgatory, invocation of saints, fastings, pilgrimages, &c. and the fabulous legends of saints, and the lying wonders and miracles done by them, and all under a show of godliness, and the promoting of religion and holiness:
having their conscience seared with a hot iron; which exactly describes the above mentioned persons, whose consciences are cauterized and hardened, and past feeling; and have no regard to what they say or do, make no conscience of anything, but under a cloak of sanctity commit the most shocking impieties; and are men of the most infamous characters, and of the most enormous and scandalous lives and conversations; so that the metaphor may be taken either from the searing of flesh with an iron, or cauterizing it, whereby it grows callous and hard; or from the stigmas or marks which used to be put on malefactors, or such who have been guilty of notorious crimes.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain These will depart from the faith, by the hypocrisy…
These will depart from the faith, by the hypocrisy of them that speak lies, having their own consciences as senseless and unfeeling as flesh that is seared with an hot iron.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 2. Speaking lies in hypocrisy] Persons pretending, not…
Verse 2. Speaking lies in hypocrisy] Persons pretending, not only to Divine inspiration, but also to extraordinary degrees of holiness, self-denial, mortification, c., in order to accredit the lies and false doctrines which they taught. Multitudes of lies were framed concerning miracles wrought by the relics of departed saints, as they were termed. For, even in this country, Thomas a Becket was, deemed a saint, his relics wrought numerous miracles and his tomb was frequented by multitudes of pilgrims! However, as he works none now, we may rest assured that he never did work any. In 1305, King Edward I. was prevailed on by his clergy to write to Pope Clement V. to canonize Thomas de Cantelupo, bishop of Hereford, because a multitude of miracles had been wrought by his influence; In tantum, says the king, quod ipsius meritis et intercessionibus gloriosis, lumen caecis, surdis auditus, verbum mutis, et gressus claudis, et alia pleraque beneficia ipsius patrocinium implorantibus, caelesti dextra conferuntur. "Insomuch that, by his glorious merits and intercessions, the blind receive their sight, the deaf hear, the dumb speak, and the lame walk; and many other benefits are conferred by the right hand of the Divine Being on those who implore his patronage." And therefore he prays that this dead bishop may be added to the calendar, "that he and his kingdom may enjoy his suffrages and merit his patronage in heaven, who had the benefit of his conversation on earth." Nos attendentes, per Dei gratiam, fideles in Christo, nosque praecipue, et populum regni nostri, ejus posse suffragiis adjuvari, ut, quem familiarem habuimus in terris, mereamur habere patronum in caelis. Foedera, vol. i., p. 976. Edit. 1816.
Having their conscience seared with a hot iron] They bear the marks of their hypocrisy as evidently and as indelibly in their conscience in the sight of God, as those who have been cauterized for their crimes do in their bodies in the sight of men. It was customary in ancient times to mark those with a hot iron who had been guilty of great crimes, such as sacrilege, c. And the heathens supposed that even in the other world they bear such marks and by these the infernal judges knew the quantum of their vices, and appointed the degrees of their punishment. There is a saying much like that of the apostle in the invective of Claudian against Rufinus, whom he supposes to be thus addressed by Rhadamanthus, one of the infernal judges:-
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Quid demens manifesta negas? En pectus INUSTAE
Deformant MACULAE! vitiisque inolevit imago,
Nec sese commissa tegunt.
"Thou fool, why dost thou deny what is so manifest?
Behold the deep-burnt marks deform thy conscience;
the appearance of them has grown up with thy vices;
neither can the crimes which thou hast committed
hide themselves."
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain 1Ti 4:2. Speaking lies in hypocrisy — Greek, εν…
1Ti 4:2. Speaking lies in hypocrisy — Greek, εν υποκρισει ψευδολογων, by the hypocrisy of them that speak lies. This is a more literal, and at the same time a more just translation of the words than that given in our Bible, which represents the demons as speaking lies in hypocrisy, which could not be the apostle’s meaning, as it would not accord with what follows. Having their conscience seared, &c. — An expression which could not be intended of devils. The hypocrisy here mentioned is that reigned show of extraordinary piety and sanctity which the lying teachers were to put on, with an intention to gain the confidence of the multitude. Hence they are described as having the form of godliness, but denying the power, 2Ti 3:5. These hypocritical teachers are called liars, because of the gross fictions and frauds which they were to contrive for the purpose of establishing the worship of demons. How well the appellation agrees to the Romish clergy in the dark ages, any one may understand who is acquainted with the lies then propagated concerning the apparitions of angels, and of the ghosts of departed saints; and concerning the miracles done by them, and by their relics, and by the sign of the cross, &c., all preached by monks, priests, and even bishops; and committed to writing, in the fabulous legends of their saints, to render them objects of adoration. “It is impossible,” says Bishop Newton, “to relate or enumerate all the various falsehoods and lies which have been invented and propagated for this purpose; the fabulous books forged under the names of apostles, saints, and martyrs; the fabulous legends of their lives, actions, sufferings, and deaths; the fabulous miracles ascribed to their sepulchres, bones, and other relics; the fabulous dreams and revelations, visions, and apparitions of the dead to the living; and even the fabulous saints who never existed but in the imagination of their worshippers: and all these stories the monks, the priests, the bishops of the church, have imposed and obtruded upon mankind, it is difficult to say, whether with greater artifice or cruelty, with greater confidence or hypocrisy, and pretended sanctity, a more hardened face, or a more hardened conscience. The history of the church, saith Pascal, is the history of truth; but, as written by bigoted Papists, it is rather the history of lies.”
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain Speaking lies in hypocrisy - ἐν ὑποκρισει ψευδολόγων en…
Speaking lies in hypocrisy - ἐν ὑποκρισει ψευδολόγων en hupokrisei pseudologōn. Or rather, “by, or through the hypocrisy of those speaking lies. So it is rendered by Whitby, Benson, Macknight, and others. Our translators have rendered it as if the word translated “speaking lies” - ψευδολόγων pseudologōn - referred to “demons,” or, “devils,” δαιμονίων daimoniōn - in the previous verse. But there are two objections to this. One is, that then, as Koppe observes, the words would have been inverted - ψευδολόγων ἐν ὑποκρίσει pseudologōn en hupokrisei. The other is, that if that construction is adopted, it must be carried through the sentence, and then all the phrases “speaking lies,” “having their conscience seared,” “forbidding to marry,” etc., must be referred to demons. The preposition ἐν en, “in” may denote “by” or “through,” and is often so used.
If this be the true construction, then it will mean that those who departed from the faith did it “by” or “through” the hypocritical teachings of those who spoke lies, or who knew that they were inculcating falsehoods; of those whose conscience was seared; of those who forbade to marry, etc. The meaning then will be, “In the last days certain persons will depart from the faith of the gospel. This apostasy will essentially consist in their giving heed to spirits that lead to error, and in embracing corrupt and erroneous views on demonology, or in reference to invisible beings between us and God. This they will do through the hypocritical teaching of those who inculcate falsehood; whose consciences are seared,” etc. The series of characteristics, therefore, which follow, are those of the “teachers,” not of “the taught;” of the ministers of the church, not of the great body of the people.
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The apostle meant to say that this grand apostasy would occur under the influence of a hypocritical, hardened, and arbitrary ministry, teaching their own doctrines instead of the divine commands, and forbidding that which God had declared to be lawful. In the clause before us - “speaking lies in hypocrisy” - two things are implied, “first,” that the characteristic of those referred to would be that they would “speak lies;” “second,” that this would be done “hypocritically.” In regard to the first, there can be no doubt among Protestants of its applicability to the papal communion. The entire series of doctrines respecting the authority of the Pope, purgatory, the mass, the invocation of the saints, the veneration of relics, the seven sacraments, the authority of tradition, the doctrine of merit, etc., is regarded as false. Indeed, the system could not be better characterized than by saying that it is a system “speaking lies.” The entire scheme attempts to palm falsehood upon the world, in the place of the simple teaching of the New Testament. The only question is, whether this is done “in hypocrisy,” or hypocritically. In regard to this, it is not necessary to maintain that there is “no” sincerity among the ministers of that communion, or that “all” are hypocritical in their belief and their teaching. The sense is, that this is the general characteristic, or that this is understood by the leaders or prime movers in that apostasy. In regard to the applicability of this to the ministers of the Papal communion, and the question whether they teach what they know to be false, we may observe:
(1) That many of them are men of eminent learning, and there can he no reason to doubt that they Know that many of the Catholic legends are false, and many of the doctrines of their faith contrary to the Bible.
(2) Not a few of the things in that communion must be known by them to be false, though not known to be so by the people. Such are all the pretended miracles performed by the relics of the saints; the liquefying of the blood of Januarius, etc.; see the notes on 2Th 2:9. As the working of these tricks depends wholly on the priesthood, they must know that they are “speaking lies in hypocrisy.”
(3) The matter of fact seems to be, that when young men who have been trained in the Catholic Church, first turn their attention to the ministry, they are sincere. They have not yet been made acquainted with the “mysteries of iniquity” in the communion in which they have been trained, and they do not suspect the deceptions that are practiced there. When they pass through their course of study, however, and become acquainted with the arts and devices on which the fabric rests, and with the scandalous lives of many of the clergy, they are shocked to find how corrupt and false the whole system is. But they are now committed. They have devoted their lives to this profession. They are trained now to this system of imposture, and they must continue to practice and perpetuate the fraud, or abandon the church, and subject themselves to all the civil and ecclesiastical disabilities which would now follow if they were to leave and reveal all its frauds and impostures. A gentleman of high authority, and who has had as good an opportunity as any man living to make accurate and extensive observations, stated to me, that this was a common thing in regard to the Catholic clergy in France and Italy. No one can reasonably doubt that the great body of that clergy “must” be apprized that much that is relied on for the support of the system is mere legend, and that the miracles which are pretended to be performed are mere trick and imposture.
Having their conscience seared with a hot iron - The allusion here is doubtless to the effect of applying a hot iron to the skin. The cauterized part becomes rigid and hard, and is dead to sensibility. So with the conscience of those referred to. It has the same relation to a conscience that is sensitive and quick in its decisions, that a cauterized part of the body has to a thin, delicate, and sensitive skin. Such a conscience exists in a mind that will practice delusion without concern; that will carry on a vast system of fraud without wincing; that will incarcerate, scourge, or burn the innocent without compassion; and that will practice gross enormities, and indulge in sensual gratifications under the mask of piety. While there are many eminent exceptions to an application of this to the Papal communion, yet this description will apply better to the Roman priesthood in the time of Luther - and in many other periods of the world - than to any other “body of men” that ever lived.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Their conscience seared; hardened: a metaphor from the custom…
Their conscience seared; hardened: a metaphor from the custom of burning malefactors with a hot iron. (Witham)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain Rather translate, "Through (literally, 'in'; the element in which…
Rather translate, "Through (literally, 'in'; the element in which the apostasy has place) the hypocrisy of lying speakers"; this expresses the means through which "some shall (be led to) depart from the faith," namely, the reigned sanctity of the seducers (compare "deceivers," Tit 1:10).
having their conscience seared--Greek, "having their own conscience," &c., that is, not only "speaking lies" to others, but also having their own conscience seared. Professing to lead others to holiness, their own conscience is all the while defiled. Bad consciences always have recourse to hypocrisy. As faith and a good conscience are joined (Ti1 1:5); so hypocrisy (that is, unbelief, Mat 24:5, Mat 24:51; compare Luk 12:46) and a bad conscience here. THEODORET explains like English Version, "seared," as implying their extreme insensibility; the effect of cauterizing being to deaden sensation. The Greek, however, primarily means "branded" with the consciousness of crimes committed against their better knowledge and conscience, like so many scars burnt in by a branding iron: Compare Tit 1:15; Tit 3:11, "condemned of himself." They are conscious of the brand within, and yet with a hypocritical show of sanctity, they strive to seduce others. As "a seal" is used in a good sense (Ti2 2:19), so "a brand" in a bad sense. The image is taken from the branding of criminals.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 2. Speaking lies—In the Greek a single noun, lie-utterers.…
2. Speaking lies—In the Greek a single noun, lie-utterers. And the whole should read, giving heed to seducing spirits and teachings of demons, of (or by) those in hypocrisy, speaking lies, (to others,) being seared (or rather, branded) in their own conscience. The some are the followers, as the lie-utterers are the leaders of the apostasy, who are inspired by the seducing spirits, and their teachings are demoniac doctrines. The best commentators understand, not seared, by which the conscience is deadened, but branded, so marked and spotted with criminalities that they are conscious of their own guilt. It will be seen that the apostle’s charges of deep guilt fall much more heavily upon the leaders than upon the followers.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 2. speaking lies in hypocrisy] Rather, as R.V. through…
2. speaking lies in hypocrisy] Rather, as R.V. through the hypocrisy of men that speak lies, that is, the ‘false prophets,’ ‘many of whom,’ we read, by the time of the writing of 1Jn_4:1, ‘are gone out into the world’ as the scene of their activity; cf. Westcott’s note there. ‘The words point, as it appears, to the great outbreak of the Gentile pseudo-Christianity which is vaguely spoken of as Gnosticism, the endeavour to separate the ideas of the Faith from the facts of the historic Redemption.’
having their conscience seared] Lit. branded as to their own conscience, grown callous in their own case as flesh would with the branding of hot iron: the word is found nowhere else in N.T. Individually conscious of their own responsibility, they were like branded slaves who knew their guilt.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (2) Speaking lies in hypocrisy.—The Greek words here should…
(2) Speaking lies in hypocrisy.—The Greek words here should be translated, through the hypocrisy of men that speak lies. The lies that these men utter, refer to their teaching that it was pleasing to the eye of the All-seeing Creator for men and women to avoid certain meats, and to abstain from marriage. Their hypocrisy consisted in their assumption of a mask of holiness, which holiness they considered was derived from their false asceticism and their abstinence from things which the Apostle proceeded to show were lawful.
Having their conscience seared with a hot iron.—Better rendered, Branded in their own con-science as with a hot iron. The image is drawn from the practice of branding slaves and certain criminals on their forehead with a mark. “Qua nota turpitudinis non inusta tua vita est?” (Cic. Cat. i. 6.) These men tried to teach the efficacy of a substitution of certain counsels of perfection in place of a faithful loving life. They based their teaching on wild Oriental speculations about the evil nature of all matter. They were often themselves evil-livers, who, conscious of their own stained, scarred lives, strove with a show of outward sanctity and hypocritical self-denial to beguile and to lead astray others, and in the end to make them as vile as themselves.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Through the hypocrisy of men that speak lies for…
Through the hypocrisy of men that speak lies for speaking lies in hypocrisy, A.V; branded in their own conscience as with for having their conscience seared with, A.V Through the hypocrisy of men, etc. The construction is rather obscure, as the most obvious way of construing is that of the A.V, where yeudologwn must agree with daimoniwn. But then the clause, "having their conscience seared with a hot iron," does not suit "devils." It is therefore, perhaps, best to translate the clause as the R.V does, and to explain, with Bishop Ellicott, that the preposition ejn, which precedes uJpokrisei, defines the instrument by which they were led to give heed to seducing spirits, viz. the hypocritical preterites of the men who spake lies, and whose consciences were seared. If yeudologwn agrees with daimoniwn, we must conceive that St. Paul passes insensibly from the devils" to the false teachers who spake as they taught them. In the Gospels, the speech of the devils, and of those possessed by devils, is often interchanged, as e.g. Luk_4:33, Luk_4:34, Luk_4:41; gw); Mar_1:23, 24. Men that speak lies (yeudolo) only found here in the New Testament, but occasionally in classical Greek. Branded (kekauthriasmenwn); here only in the New Testament, but used in Greek medical and other writers for to brand," or cauterize;" kauthr and kauthrion, a branding-iron. The application of the image is somewhat uncertain. If the idea is that of "a brand," a mark burnt in upon the forehead of a slave or criminal, then the meaning is that these men have their own infamy stamped upon their own consciences. It is not patent only to others, but to themselves also. But if the metaphor is from the cauterizing a wound, as the A.V takes it, then the idea is that these men"s consciences are become as insensible to the touch as the skin that has been cauterized is. The metaphor, in this case, is somewhat similar to that of pwrow pwrwsiv. (Mar_3:5 6:52; Joh_12:40, etc.) The latter interpretation seems to suit the general context best, and the medical use of the term, which St. Paul might have learnt from Luke. The emphasis of thv ijdiav, "their own conscience," implies that they were not merely deceivers of others, but were self-deceived.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
B. W. Johnson 1891 · Public Domain 2. Speaking lies through hypocrisy. Rather, “Some shall depart…
2. Speaking lies through hypocrisy. Rather, “Some shall depart … through the hypocrisy of men, speaking lies.” (See Revision). Having their conscience. The liars just mentioned. The sensitiveness of their consciences is destroyed by the brand of the devil.
B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 4:2 Consciences that are dead either don’t function or…
4:2 Consciences that are dead either don’t function or function wickedly, rendering judgments that oppose the truth of the gospel (see also Titus 1:15; Rom 1:28-32).
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