1 Timothy 4:2

From OpenWordBase

“Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron.”

Medical Science, Sociology

Cauterization, Conscience ^{(103) (104)}

This exactly describes persons whose consciences are cauterized and hardened, and past feeling; and have no regard to what they say or do, make no conscience of anything, but under a cloak of sanctity commit the most shocking impieties; and are men of the most infamous characters, and of the most enormous and scandalous lives and conversations; so that the metaphor may be taken either from the searing of flesh with an iron, or cauterizing it, whereby it grows callous and hard; or from the stigmas or marks which used to be put on malefactors, or such who have been guilty of notorious crimes.

Often, in war time, where there was no time for or means of sutures or surgery, open wounds were closed to stop bleeding by means of cauterization. This process would actually melt together or sear the skin. The effected area would scar or harden at the point of searing.