The human agents for these demonic teachings are now introduced by means of the preposition en, which in this context can mean either “by” or “through.” The expression the pretensions of liars most likely means “pretentious liars.” The word for pretensions is the same word for “hypocrisy” (so New Revised Standard Version), that is, double-faced, or appearing to be what one is not, hence “deceitful” (Good News Translation). Liars are of course naturally “deceitful.” So in some languages such an expression as “deceitful liars” may sound forced, repetitive, or unnatural. In such cases one may say, for example, “double-faced (or, hypocritical) liars,” “deceitful people who habitually lie,” or figuratively “liars with smooth faces and the hearts of tigers,” or even “liars who greet you sweetly but deceive you behind your back.” This is an area of language normally full of figurative expressions or idioms, and translators should try to find a vivid one that matches this Biblical phrase. Hypocrites are of course liars, and these liars are described as people whose consciences have been seared. This is of course a figure of speech and not to be taken literally. Conscience is a Greek term that describes a person’s ability to be sensitive to what is right or wrong, to judge between what is acceptable and what isn’t, based on certain accepted standards. (See also 1.5 for a more detailed discussion on conscience.) The Greek word for seared is the word from which the verb “cauterize” is derived. There are at least two ways of understanding this whole expression:

1. These liars have lost the use of their consciences, and they are no longer aware that their actions are wrong. This is so because their conscience is “cauterized,” that is, burned to such a degree that it has become completely ineffective. People with “cauterized” consciences have reached a point in their life where their conscience no longer bothers them, and who therefore live and act as if their conscience does not exist at all. This is the position taken by Good News Translation, “whose consciences are dead, as if burnt with a hot iron” (compare New Revised Standard Version “seared with a hot iron,” Phillips “whose consciences are dead as seared flesh”). Following this interpretation one may also express this clause as “whose hearts that decide between right and wrong are dead, as if…” or “they have completely lost their ability to decide between right and wrong, as if a hot iron (or, something very hot) has seared their minds.”

2. The word seared can also mean “branded.” Taken in this sense it means that these liars have lost the use of their consciences because they have been branded by the Devil, to whom they now belong and whose will they now obey. This position is represented by Translator’s New Testament, “whose consciences are branded with the devil’s own mark.”

Some translations simply retain the metaphor without explanation. But this Handbook recommends that translators follow interpretation 1.

An alternative translation model for this verse is:
• Hypocritical (or, two-faced) liars are the ones who spread (or, teach) these false teachings. Their hearts, which decide between right or wrong, are dead, as if a hot iron had burned (or, seared) them.

Quoted with permission from Arichea, Daniel C. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Paul’s First Letter to Timothy. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1995. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .