The Greek dolos (G1388) originally referred to bait used to lure and trap fish or animals. It came to denote deceit, guile, or treachery — the use of cunning and deception to trap or manipulate others.
Dolos appears in crucial theological contexts. Most significantly, Jesus is described as the One 'who committed no sin, and no dolos was found in his mouth' (1 Peter 2:22, quoting Isaiah 53:9). Christ's mouth — no deceit, no manipulation — stands as the standard for Christian speech and the proof of his perfect fitness to be our substitute. Paul lists dolos among the catalog of human wickedness in Romans 1:29.