Greek word · G5422
φρεναπατάω
phrenapataō
to deceive
To deceive someone's mind, to delude, to lead astray in one's own thinking. It is built from φρήν ('mind, way of thinking') and ἀπατάω ('to deceive, cheat').
Appears once in the Greek New Testament. ·
What it means
φρεν-απατάω, -ῶ
(φρεναπάτης),
to deceive one's mind (Lft., deceive by fancies, see Ga., l.with): with accusative of person(s), Galatians 6:3.†
(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 Galatians 6:3
- Range of meaning
To deceive someone's mind, to delude, to lead astray in one's own thinking. It is built from φρήν ('mind, way of thinking') and ἀπατάω ('to deceive, cheat').
- Against the English
'Deceives himself' is accurate. The Greek compound is sharper and more pictorial: he cons his own mind, talking himself into a picture that is not real.
- Used elsewhere in the period
Galatians 6:3 is the first surviving use of the verb. The related noun φρεναπάτης, 'deceiver, one who leads minds astray', appears in Titus 1:10, and BDAG notes an earlier papyrus attestation of the noun. Later Christian writers pick up the verb, probably from Paul. Paul may have coined it or taken it from everyday speech; we cannot tell which.
Similar words
Where it appears
Galatians · 1
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Galatians 6:3 φρεναπατᾷ he deceives
If anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself.
Here: A vivid compound of 'mind' + 'deceive': he leads his own mind astray and fools himself. It appears only here in the NT and is not found in any earlier surviving Greek. Present tense: he goes on fooling himself as long as he holds the opinion.
Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.