occurs in Scripture only in the rendering of the word καυτηριάζω to brand ("sear with a hot iron"), in a tropical sense of the conscience (1 Timothy 4:2). To sear the flesh is to cauterize or burn it, and thus deprive it of the power of sensation. In 1 Timothy 4:2 the term denotes the effect of habitual sin, by which the conscience becomes so stupefied as to be insensible to the most enormous guilt and the most fearful threatenings of punishment. See burning.