What does ἀψευδής (apseudḗs) mean in the Bible?
Apseudes means truthful, free from falsehood, or unable to lie. Titus applies it uniquely to God, whose promise of eternal life precedes the ages.
Greek · G893
ἀψευδής
Veracious
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ἀψευδής G893
Pronunciation apseudḗs
What does ἀψευδής (apseudḗs) mean in the Bible?
Apseudes means truthful, free from falsehood, or unable to lie. Titus applies it uniquely to God, whose promise of eternal life precedes the ages.
Reader summary
Full entry for ἀψευδής (G893) · Open the biblical lexicon
Questions this entry answers
How does the BSB render G893?
The BSB source-word alignment has 1 aligned row for this entry. Common renderings include who cannot lie (1).
Where does ἀψευδής (apseudḗs) appear in Scripture?
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Titus 1:2. Its strongest book concentrations include Titus (1).
What This Word Actually Means
Apseudes means truthful, free from falsehood, or unable to lie. Titus applies it uniquely to God, whose promise of eternal life precedes the ages. Canonical witnesses likewise confess that God is not humanly fickle, that His oath and promise cannot deceive, and that He remains faithful because He cannot deny Himself. The adjective does not mean God is constrained by a power above Him; lying contradicts His holy and self-consistent nature.
Nor does divine truthfulness guarantee that every human interpretation, prediction, or claimed revelation is correct. Christian assurance rests on the character of the promising God, while Christian speech should imitate His truth through honest testimony, kept commitments, correction of error, and refusal to attach His name to unsupported claims.
How the Bible Uses It
Apseudes names God as free from falsehood. Eternal-life hope rests not on optimistic projection but on the truthful character of the God who promised before the ages.
- Num.23.19
God is not a man, that He should lie, or a son of man, that He should change His mind. Does He speak and not act? Does He promise and not fulfill?
Numbers 23:19 is canonical background, not a Greek lexical occurrence: God is not a man who lies or changes intention capriciously, so His spoken purpose stands.
- Titus.1.2
In the hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised before time began.
Titus 1:2 contains the New Testament occurrence, grounding hope of eternal life in the promise of the God who cannot lie before times eternal.
- Heb.6.18
Thus by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope set before us may be strongly encouraged.
Hebrews 6:18 supplies canonical support through God's unchangeable purpose and the impossibility of His lying, giving strong encouragement to those who take refuge.
- 2Tim.2.13
If we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself.
Second Timothy 2:13 supplies related support: even amid human faithlessness, God remains faithful because He cannot deny Himself.
Source Word Evidence
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders It who cannot lie 1× Titus 1:2
Show sample aligned rows
Usage map
A compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
First aligned row Titus 1:2
Aligned rows 1
Books represented 1
Titus 1
Source forms
ἀψευδὴς 1x apseudēs Titus 1:2
Parsing patterns
Adjective - Nominative Masculine Singular 1x Titus 1:2
Using This Word Well
Be careful not to...
- Do not use God's inability to lie to make a leader's interpretation, prediction, vision, or institutional statement immune from examination.
- Do not portray divine truthfulness as cold factual accuracy detached from covenant faithfulness, holy character, and saving promise.
Avoid claiming...
- Do not use God's inability to lie to make a leader's interpretation, prediction, vision, or institutional statement immune from examination.
- Do not portray divine truthfulness as cold factual accuracy detached from covenant faithfulness, holy character, and saving promise.
Evidence Summary
Greek word. veracious
Strong's G893
Lexical occurrences 1 verse Greek text appearances 1 time Word forms 1 form 1 reference Verse guides 0 guides
Source Gloss
veracious
Extended definition Source: STEPBible TBESG + Abbott-Smith
(ψεῦδος), [in LXX: Wis.7:17 * ;] free from false-hood, truthful: Tit.1:2.
Greek Text Appearances
Textus Receptus witness, full corpus Greek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
1 Greek text appearance shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
Titus 1:2 Adjective Nominative Singular Masculine
ἀψευδὴς ayeudhv
not guilty of falsehood, truthful
Read verseFull New Testament corpus: 260 chapters, 7,957 verses, 140,628 tokens. Data source: honza/textus-receptus (data only), with authority check against byztxt/greektext-textus-receptus.
Grammatical Forms
How this word appears across different grammatical cases and numbers.
This word appears as a noun across 1 case and number pattern. The form changes show how the word functions in a sentence; they do not change the basic lexical meaning by themselves.
Form patterns 1 Aligned forms 1 Case pattern Nominative (1) Number pattern Singular (1)
Verse guides are not available for this word yet, so verse references remain plain evidence markers.
Nominative · Singular · Masculine Titus 1:2 1×
Word Origins
ἀψευδής is built from these roots:
Part of These Phrases
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
For the Preacher and Teacher
Apseudes gives Christian hope a personal foundation: God does not merely possess accurate information; He is free from falsehood and faithful to Himself. Titus locates eternal life in a promise older than the present age, so assurance does not depend on changing circumstances or ministerial charisma. Hebrews similarly connects God's promise and oath with refuge for trembling heirs.
This truth produces trust but not credulity. Human speakers, churches, and teachers remain fallible and must not borrow God's inability to lie for their interpretations or private impressions. Communities shaped by the truthful God keep records honestly, correct mistaken claims, resist propaganda, and protect truthful witnesses. Confidence belongs finally to what God has actually promised in Christ, not to claims people wish He had made.
Anchor passage
Titus.1.2
Doctrinal connections
- Divine attributes: truthfulness belongs to God's holy, self-consistent nature.
- Covenant promise: eternal life rests on God's pretemporal purpose and faithful word.
- Assurance: heirs receive strong encouragement because God's promise cannot deceive.
- Christ and salvation: Titus's hope unfolds through the gospel manifestation entrusted to Paul.
- Human fallibility: no leader or interpreter inherits God's inability to lie.
- Speech ethics: God's people imitate truthfulness through honest testimony and corrected error.
Apseudes negates pseudes, false or lying. The adjective means without falsehood or not lying; in Titus it characterizes God rather than offering a general label for human certainty.
From Old to New Testament
God's reliable word anchors covenant history, while false prophets who speak presumptuously are judged. The contrast protects both assurance and careful testing.
Sources
MorphGNT Strong's Dictionary XML — CC0 1.0 Public Domain
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible (morphhb/OSHB) — CC BY 4.0
Open Scriptures Hebrew Lexicon — CC BY 4.0
Berean Standard Bible (BSB) source-word alignment - CC0 Public Domain