The term catches the notion of pretending, and so is used in the context of actors in a play. In real life it speaks to a dishonesty between what you are thinking on the one hand and what you are saying or doing on the other. Peter had said in 1 Peter 1:22 that his readers had “purified [their] souls…for a sincere brotherly love,” an event caused by their having been “born again…of imperishable [seed].” Given that reality, there was no place for pretence in their lives, even as there is no pretence in the God of the imperishable seed. It is to be noted that God’s own people in Jesus’ day were masters in hypocrisy (Matthew 6:1–2; Matthew 6:16–18; Matthew 7:5; Matthew 23:13–15).