δίλογος (dilogos)
dilogos
insincere
Quick Reference
- Language
- Koine Greek
- Testament
- New Testament
- Occurrences
- 1 verses
- Root
- —
Word Overview
The adjective dilogos describes a person who is double-tongued or insincere in their speech. It literally means "saying the same thing twice," but in practice it refers to duplicity—saying one thing to one person and something different to another with the intent to deceive. This word captures the essence of a divided loyalty expressed through inconsistent words.
It appears only once in the New Testament, in 1 Timothy 3:8, where Paul lists qualifications for deacons. He requires them to be "not double-tongued," contrasting this trait with the steady integrity expected of church leaders. The term suggests a character that cannot be trusted because its words shift depending on the audience.
The word combines the prefix di- ("double") with logos ("word" or "speech"). While similar to terms for gossip, dilogos emphasizes the active maintenance of conflicting narratives rather than just spreading information. It warns against the spiritual danger of a divided heart that manifests in contradictory speech.
Based on public-domain lexicons (Strong's, Thayer, Gesenius, Brown-Driver-Briggs and others).
What This Word Means for Your Faith
The word dilogos describes a person who is double-tongued or insincere in their speech. It literally means "saying the same thing twice," but in practice it refers to duplicity—saying one thing to one person and something different to another with the intent to deceive. This word captures the essence of a divided loyalty expressed through inconsistent words.
It appears only once in the New Testament, in 1 Timothy 3:8, where Paul lists qualifications for deacons. He requires them to be "not double-tongued," contrasting this trait with the steady integrity expected of church leaders. The term suggests a character that cannot be trusted because its words shift depending on the audience.
The word combines the prefix di- ("double") with logos ("word" or "speech"). While similar to terms for gossip, dilogos emphasizes the active maintenance of conflicting narratives rather than just spreading information. It warns against the spiritual danger of a divided heart that manifests in contradictory speech.
How it's translated
How this word is rendered word-by-word in the 1 verses where it appears, by frequency.
- double-tongued,1×
Forms in the text
The inflected forms of this word as they appear in Scripture, by frequency.
- διλόγους,1×
Key Verses
-
I Timothy 3:8
Servants, in the same way, must be reverent, not double-tongued, not addicted to much wine, not greedy for money,
Paul uses this rare term to establish that deacons must maintain consistent truthfulness across all audiences, rejecting the duplicity of saying different things to different people.