Are We Making God a Liar? A Hebrew & Greek Breakdown of a Truth Hidden in 1 John’s Warning
Understanding the Scriptures is imperative for our confessing the truth. In the Hebrew New Testament, we read the following according to 1 John 1:10 which states: “If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a kōzev, and his word is not in us.” Here the translator chose to use the word kōzev rather than the more common biblical term sheqer meaning: “lie,” “falsehood.” The nuance and significance are found in the semantic range of the two Hebrew root words. Sheqer denotes a false statement or outright lie. It often carries moral condemnation such as “to utter what is untrue.” It is predominantly used as a noun: “a lie” such as in Proverbs 12:22. On the other hand, kōzev written in the Hiphil form here means “to cause something/someone to become false” This conveys the act of deception, of making someone or something untrustworthy. This word has an Aramaic flavor in post-exilic Hebrew, often stressing the process of falsifying or deluding. We note how this matches the underlying Greek behind the text. The New Testament Greek states poumen pseusometha meaning “if we say… we deceive/are falsifying,” which does not merely mean “we lie.” Translating pseusometha with kōzev preserves the verbal force—to render God’s word into something false—rather than simply labeling it “a lie.” Sheqer would have forced the noun to mean “a lie,” but would not have captured the nuance of “actively making Him look false.” The theological and stylistic emphasis in the word kōzev is in the active deception which highlights one’s role in “making” God a false witness. It’s a performative act. This is contrasted with God’s truth later in the verse we read “and his word is not in us.” The twin pairing—making him false and excluding his word—echoes a thematic contrast between deception (kōzev) and truth. We note the context of 1 John 1 in which John insists “God is light” with “no darkness” in Him. Using a more forceful term kōzev for falsifying underlines the seriousness of denying our sinfulness. The key takeaway of kozev versus sheqer is that the former stresses the act of falsification, the latter the content of a falsehood. The translation aims to mirror the Greek verb’s dynamic sense—we make His testimony appear false—not merely to call it “a lie.” This deepens the warning: denying our sin isn’t an innocent slip of speech but an active rebellion that rejects God’s word from our hearts.
Note, by tracking the delicate shades between kōzev and sheqer, we see how the Hebrew translation seeks both fidelity to the Greek and a sharper theological punch. Denying our sin is more than an untrue statement—it actively sets God’s trustworthiness and His word aside.
