Greek word · G1351
δίλογος
dilogos
insincere
'Two-worded'. The word is very rare. This verse is its earliest known use in the sense of 'saying different things to different people', so being two-faced or insincere in speech. (Older Greek has related forms meaning 'repeating'.)
Appears once in the Greek New Testament. ·
What it means
διλογος, -ον
(δίς, λέγω),
1. in sense of διλογεῖν, -ία (Xen.), given to repetition.
2. In NT, prob. (cf. δίγλωσσος, Proverbs 11:13, Sirach 5:9) double-tongued: 1 Timothy 3:8.†
(AS)
From G. Abbott-Smith, A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament (1922), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).
In depth
From the study of 1 Timothy 3:8
- Range of meaning
'Two-worded'. The word is very rare. This verse is its earliest known use in the sense of 'saying different things to different people', so being two-faced or insincere in speech. (Older Greek has related forms meaning 'repeating'.)
- Against the English
'Double-tongued' (KJV, ESV, BSB, WEB, YLT) is accurate but old-fashioned. NIV's 'sincere' turns the negative into a positive and loses the concrete picture of passing two versions of the story between people. NLT folds it into a general 'have integrity'.
- Used elsewhere in the period
Related Jewish wisdom vocabulary: diglōssos, 'two-tongued', in Sirach 5:9, 14 and 28:13, and Didache 2.4 ('you shall not be double-minded or double-tongued'). Polycarp, To the Philippians 5.2, uses dilogoi in his own list of deacon requirements, probably echoing this passage.
Where it appears
1 Timothy · 1
-
1 Timothy 3:8 διλόγους, double-tongued,
Deacons likewise must be dignified, not double-tongued or given to much wine or greedy for money.
Here: Literally 'two-word': telling one person one thing and another person something else. It is the reverse of a trustworthy go-between.
Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.