"Thou
shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor" (Exodus 20:16).
Take
these words simply at their face value and they prohibit only the horrible
crime of perjury or the giving of false testimony in a court of law. But as with the previous Commandments, so it is here: much more is implied and inculcated than is
specifically stated. As we have so often pointed out, each of the Ten
Commandments enunciates a general principle, and not only are all other sins
forbidden which be allied to the one named and prohibited, together with all
causes and tendencies thereto, but the opposite virtue is definitely required,
with all that fosters and promotes it. Thus, in its wider
meaning, this ninth commandment reprehends any word of ours which would injure
the reputation of our neighbor, be it uttered in public or in private. This
should scarcely need any arguing, for if we restrict this commandment to its
literal terms it would have no bearing on any save that small minority who are
called upon to bear witness in a court of justice.
In its
widest application this commandment has to do with the regulation of our speech, which is one of the
distinguishing and ennobling faculties that God has bestowed upon man. Scripture
tells us that "death and life are in the power of the tongue"
(Proverbs 18:21), that "a wholesome tongue is a tree
of life" (Proverbs 15:4), and that an unbridled one is "an unruly
evil, full of deadly poison" (James 3:8). That our words are not to be
uttered lightly or thoughtlessly is made clear by that unspeakably solemn
utterance of our Lord’s:
"But
I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak,
they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. For by thy words thou
shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned" (Matthew
12:36, 37).
O how
we need to pray,
"Set
a watch, O Lord, before my mouth; keep the door of my lips" (Psalm 141:3).
The
duties concerning our tongues may be summed up in two words: our speech must
always be true and
spoken in
love (Ephesians
4:15). Thus, as the eighth commandment provides for the
security of our neighbor’s property, so this one is designed to preserve his
good name by our speaking the truth about him in love.
Negatively,
this ninth commandment forbids all false and injurious speeches respecting our
neighbor; positively, it inculcates the conservation of truth.
"The end of this Precept is that because God, who is Truth
itself, execrates a lie, we ought to
preserve the truth without the least disguise" (Calvin).
Veracity
is the strict observance of truth in all our communications. The importance and
necessity of this appears from the fact that almost all
that mankind knows is derived from communications. The value of those
statements which we accept from others depends entirely on their verity and
accuracy. If they are false, they are worthless, misleading, and evil. Veracity
is not only a virtue, but it is also the root of all other virtues and the
foundation of all right character. In Scripture, therefore,
"truth" is often synonymous with "righteousness. The godly man
is "he that speaketh truth in his heart" (Psalm 15:2). The man that
"doeth truth" (John 3:21) has discharged his duty. It is by the truth that the Holy Spirit sanctifies
the soul (John 17:17).
The
positive form of this ninth commandment is found in these
words:
"Speak
ye every man the truth to his neighbor" (Zechariah 8:16).
Thus
the first sin prohibited therein is that of lying. Now a lie, properly speaking, consists of three
elements or ingredients: speaking what is not true;
deliberately doing so; and doing so with an intent to deceive. Every falsehood
is not a lie; we may be misinformed or deceived and sincerely think we are
stating facts, and consequently have no design of misleading others. On the
other hand, we may speak that which is true and yet lie in so doing, as in the
following examples: we might report what is true, yet
believe it to be false and utter it with an intention to deceive; or we might
report the figurative words of another and pretend he meant them literally, as
was the case with those who bore false witness against Christ (Matthew 26:60).
The worst form of lying (between men) is when we maliciously invent a falsehood
for the purpose of damaging the reputation of our neighbor, which is what is more especially in view in the terms of the ninth
commandment.
How
vile and abominable this sin is appears from the following considerations. It
is a sin which makes a person most like the Devil. The Devil is a spirit, and
therefore gross carnal sins do not correspond to his
nature. His sins are more refined and intellectual, such as pride and malice,
deception and falsehood. "He is a liar and the father of it" (John
8:44), and the more malice enters into one composition of any lie, the more
nearly one resembles him. It is therefore a sin most contrary to the nature and
character of God, for He is "the Lord God of truth" (Psalm 31:5), and
therefore we are told that
"lying
lips are an abomination unto the Lord" (Proverbs 12:22).
As
Satan is a liar and the father of lies, and as God is the Lord God of Truth, so
His children resemble Him therein,
"seeing
they are My people, children that will not lie (Isaiah 63:8).
God
has threatened a most fearful punishment upon them;
"all
liars shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and
brimstone" (Revelation 21:8).
Alas,
to what fearful heights has this sin risen. It has become so common that few
indeed have any conscience thereon, until we have to
lament that "truth is fallen in the street" (Isaiah 59:14). First,
truth has departed from the pulpits. A whole century has passed since the lie
of evolution captivated the scientific world and then was taken up by thousands
of unregenerate preachers—a lie which strikes at the very foundations of Truth,
for it repudiates man’s fall, and sets aside his need both of redemption and regeneration. For the same length of time the so-called
"higher criticism" of German neologians has been peddled throughout
the English-speaking world by thousands of godless ministers, who wish to be
looked up to as men of superior intellectuality. Once Truth departed from the
pulpits it was not long before it departed from the halls of legislation and the
marts of commerce, until we now live in a world where
confidence between nations is nonexistent, and where the word of our fellows is
no longer to be relied upon.
How
deeply important it is, then, that a sacred regard for the truth should be
constantly pressed upon the young and that they should be
taught that lying is the inlet of all vice and corruption. Equally important is
it that those who have charge of the young, particularly their parents, should
set before the little ones a personal example of what they teach, and not
neutralize the same by making promises to them that they fail to fulfill or by
uttering threats that they never carry out. It is the part of wisdom and prudence that each of us should be very slow in
making an unconditional promise; but once it is made it must be kept at all
costs, unless the keeping of it compels us to sin against God. The prohibition
of bearing false witness against my neighbor equally forbids me to bear false
witness about myself, which is done when I pose as being holier than I am or
when I pretend to be more humble or more anything else
than is actually the case.
It
remains for us to point out that we may violate this ninth commandment even when
we speak the truth, if we speak it unnecessarily and from improper motives.
"We injure the character of our
neighbor when we retail his real faults without any call to divulge them, when we relate them to
those who have no right to know them, and when we tell them not to promote any good end but to make him
lose his estimation in society.... Nay, we transgress this precept when we do not speak at
all, for by holding our peace when
something injurious is said of another we tacitly give our assent, and by
concealing what we know to the
contrary" (John Dick).
Flattering
a person is another form of violating this precept. To
compliment another merely for the sake of pleasing him or gratifying his vanity
is to perjure your soul and imperil his safety. So also to give a false
testimony of character or to recommend a friend to another when we know him to
be unworthy of the testimonial is to bear "false witness." The
following directions, through the grace of God, may be helpful in preserving one from these common sins.
(1) Be not swayed by party spirit if you would be kept from slandering
others. The spirit of sectarianism begets prejudice, and prejudice makes us
unwilling to receive and to acknowledge good in those who walk not with us, and
ready to believe the worst of them. How of. ten writers
are guilty here. Denominational bigotry has caused many a man to misinterpret
one who differs with him and to impute to him errors which he does not hold.
(2) Be not busy in other men’s affairs; attend to your own business
and leave others for God to attend to.
(3) Reflect much upon your own sinfulness and weakness. Instead of being so ready to behold the
sliver in your brother’s eye, consider the plank in your own.
(4) Shun the company of talebearers and tattlers;
idle gossip is injurious to the soul.
(5) If others slander you, see to it that you have a conscience void
of offense toward God and man, and then it matters not what others think or say
about you.