ψευδής

G5571, pseudḗs, is a Greek adjective for what is false, untrue, deceitful, or unworthy of trust. In its three New Testament occurrences it describes witnesses who testify falsely, people whose claimed apostleship is exposed as false, and people identified as liars. The adjective can modify testimony or characterize a claimant, so its focus is not merely that a sentence contains an error. In these passages, falsehood corrupts the relationship between speech, identity, and reality.

Acts 6 shows the social force of such falsehood. Witnesses are presented against Stephen, their testimony helps turn a hearing toward condemnation, and religious language gives the accusation an appearance of seriousness. Revelation 2 presents another setting: the church in Ephesus tests people who claim apostolic authority and discovers that the claim is false. Scripture therefore rejects both credulous acceptance of spiritual credentials and the manufacture of testimony against an accused person. Testing is necessary, but it must remain answerable to truth.

Revelation 21 places liars among those whose settled rebellion faces final judgment. That warning gives falsehood eternal seriousness, but it does not authorize careless labeling, humiliation, or punishment by suspicion. A church should distinguish mistake from deceit, disagreement from fraudulent authority, and allegation from established fact. Faithful discernment examines a claim against apostolic teaching, observable conduct, corroborated evidence, and fair process. The word exposes false testimony and false identity; it must never become a false accusation in the hands of the one using it.

G5571 moves from false testimony in a public accusation, to false claims of spiritual authority tested by a church, to the final judgment of those characterized by falsehood.