{"id":23799,"date":"2025-07-15T18:56:23","date_gmt":"2025-07-15T18:56:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.matsati.com\/?p=23799"},"modified":"2025-07-15T18:56:25","modified_gmt":"2025-07-15T18:56:25","slug":"are-we-making-god-a-liar-a-hebrew-greek-breakdown-of-a-truth-hidden-in-1-johns-warning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.matsati.com\/index.php\/are-we-making-god-a-liar-a-hebrew-greek-breakdown-of-a-truth-hidden-in-1-johns-warning\/","title":{"rendered":"Are We Making God a Liar? A Hebrew &amp; Greek Breakdown of a Truth Hidden in 1 John\u2019s Warning"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe title=\"Are We Making God a Liar? A Hebrew &amp; Greek Breakdown of a Truth Hidden in 1 John\u2019s Warning\" width=\"696\" height=\"392\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/0u8lmYKZJko?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Are We Making God a Liar? A Hebrew &amp; Greek Breakdown of a Truth Hidden in 1 John\u2019s Warning <\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>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: <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><em>\u201cIf we say that we have not sinned, we make him a k\u014dzev, and his word is not in us.\u201d<\/em><\/span> Here the translator chose to use the word k\u014dzev rather than the more common biblical term sheqer meaning: <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><em>\u201clie,\u201d \u201cfalsehood.\u201d<\/em><\/span> 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 <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><em>\u201cto utter what is untrue.\u201d<\/em><\/span> It is predominantly used as a noun: <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><em>\u201ca lie\u201d<\/em><\/span> such as in Proverbs 12:22. On the other hand, k\u014dzev written in the Hiphil form here means <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><em>\u201cto cause something\/someone to become false\u201d<\/em><\/span> 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 <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><em>\u201cif we say\u2026 we deceive\/are falsifying,\u201d<\/em><\/span> which does not merely mean <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><em>\u201cwe lie.\u201d<\/em><\/span> Translating pseusometha with k\u014dzev preserves the verbal force\u2014to render God\u2019s word into something false\u2014rather than simply labeling it <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><em>\u201ca lie.\u201d<\/em><\/span> Sheqer would have forced the noun to mean <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><em>\u201ca lie,\u201d<\/em><\/span> but would not have captured the nuance of <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><em>\u201cactively making Him look false.\u201d<\/em><\/span> The theological and stylistic emphasis in the word k\u014dzev is in the active deception which highlights one&#8217;s role in <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><em>\u201cmaking\u201d<\/em><\/span> God a false witness. It\u2019s a performative act. This is contrasted with God\u2019s truth later in the verse we read <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><em>\u201cand his word is not in us.\u201d<\/em><\/span> The twin pairing\u2014making him false and excluding his word\u2014echoes a thematic contrast between deception (k\u014dzev) and truth. We note the context of 1 John 1 in which John insists <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><em>\u201cGod is light\u201d<\/em><\/span> with <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><em>\u201cno darkness\u201d<\/em><\/span> in Him. Using a more forceful term k\u014dzev 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\u2019s dynamic sense\u2014we make His testimony appear false\u2014not merely to call it <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><em>\u201ca lie.\u201d<\/em><\/span> This deepens the warning: denying our sin isn\u2019t an innocent slip of speech but an active rebellion that rejects God\u2019s word from our hearts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Note, by tracking the delicate shades between k\u014dzev 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\u2014it actively sets God\u2019s trustworthiness and His word aside. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/redirect?event=video_description&amp;redir_token=QUFFLUhqbllTS3dqUXVFdUE3U2NUTFhLRk4xQ19NNk5Ed3xBQ3Jtc0tselJwWVlOOHVVZEVpYVBsalhsVTlHN29jTUU3QlpjRTI3TlczVUpGVkw0amJ4MVdvRUxteDB0ek1DX3hpQW5qWEZXRFZNUDd4bXQtSzFYZlJsQ1NXbkxKNUFrUmYxd0hYZzNtZXpNOFp0S3FCZV85UQ&amp;q=Http%3A%2F%2Fwww.matsati.com%2F&amp;v=0u8lmYKZJko\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Http:\/\/www.matsati.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Are We Making God a Liar? A Hebrew &amp; Greek Breakdown of a Truth Hidden in 1 John\u2019s 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: \u201cIf we say that we have not sinned, we make [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":23801,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-23799","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-greek-hebrew-insights"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.matsati.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23799","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.matsati.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.matsati.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.matsati.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.matsati.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23799"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.matsati.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23799\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23800,"href":"https:\/\/www.matsati.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23799\/revisions\/23800"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.matsati.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23801"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.matsati.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23799"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.matsati.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23799"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.matsati.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23799"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}