Greek word · G5582

ψεῦσμα

pseusma

falsehood

A lie, a falsehood, a piece of deception; by extension falseness or untrueness of character or conduct.

Appears once in the Greek New Testament. ·

What it means

ψεῦσμα, -τος, τό

(ψεύδω), [in Aq., Th.: Job 34:6, Proverbs 23:3; in Sm.: Job 13:4, al. ;]

a lie, falsehood: Romans 3:7 (Plat., Plut. al.).†

(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 Romans 3:7

Range of meaning

A lie, a falsehood, a piece of deception; by extension falseness or untrueness of character or conduct.

Against the English

KJV/ESV/WEB 'lie' suggests one spoken untruth. BSB/YLT 'falsehood' is a little broader. NLT 'dishonesty' moves toward a character trait. None makes clear that the word here stands for unfaithfulness to God.

How it drifted

In English, 'my lie' calls up a single act of verbal deceit. Paul's argument uses the word as a counterpart to God's 'truth', so it means human failure to be true to God.

Used elsewhere in the period

This is the only use of the noun in the New Testament. In Hellenistic Greek it means a lie or falsehood (BDAG). It deliberately echoes pseustēs, 'liar', in v. 4, where Paul quotes Ps 116:11 (LXX 115:2): 'every human being is a liar.'

Where it appears

Romans · 1

  1. Romans 3:7 ψεύσματι lie

    However, if my falsehood accentuates God’s truthfulness, to the increase of His glory, why am I still condemned as a sinner?

    Here: 'My lie' or 'my falseness'. It echoes 'every human a liar' in v. 4 and stands for human untrueness to God in general (the 'unfaithfulness' of v. 3, the 'unrighteousness' of v. 5), not one spoken untruth.

Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.