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You shall not give false
testimony against your neighbor. (Exodus 20:16, NIV)
Main Point:
Lies divide us, truth unites us. You
cannot love your neighbors while spreading lies
about them.
I. Understanding the commandment
This is the 9th commandment of the “Big Ten”
given to the Israelites in the desert. We usually think of this command
as "do not lie" rather than "do not give false testimony." Perhaps it is
a function of how we were raised or what we learned as a child in Sunday
School. However there is a distinction between these two that needs to
be delineated.
The 9th commandment strictly forbids one from
intentionally giving false testimony in a case. Why? To do
otherwise would render the justice system totally corrupt. Keep in mind:
A. The LORD is a Righteous Judge
Because God is righteous (Deuteronomy 32:4;
Isaiah 45:21) He judges righteously (Psalm 116:5, 7:11, 9:8).
Righteousness is His nature. In fact, it is God who defines
righteousness and not ourselves. Each of us has an opinion but God
has THE standard of righteousness that applies equally to all people.
Then the Lord said, "Look, I am setting a plumb line among my people
Israel; I will spare them no longer. (Amos 7:8, NIV)
God describes His righteous standard as a "plumb line" that He sets
before His people. A plumb line is used by builders to determine
whether a wall has been built perfectly straight. When God puts up
a plumb line on our lives, His righteousness reveals our crooked paths
plainly. His standard is His own perfect standard of
righteousness. Realizing the truth that you can never live up to
His perfect standard should send you running to the cross of the LORD
Jesus (see the Gospel of GRACE).
B. Righteousness Depends Upon Truth
The LORD's anger burned against Israel's leaders who lied. A
nation takes much time to build but leaders of a nation can destroy it
quickly through lying:
1Woe to the shepherds who are
destroying and scattering the sheep of my pasture!" declares the
LORD ... 14They commit adultery and live a lie. They
strengthen the hands of evildoers ... 32They tell them
and lead my people astray with their reckless lies (Jeremiah
23:1,14,32, NIV)
Leaders are accountable for more than their own actions. Any moral
failure of a leader emboldens others to do the same. As a
consequence of their responsibility for a whole group of people, a
leader who is caught lying should be required to give up his/her office.
A whole society is at risk when leaders lack integrity.
Righteousness depends upon truth.
C. Our Testimony Must Be True, Especially in Formal Proceedings
At the heart of Jewish law, based on the
commandments and principles provided in the Torah (first five books of
the Bible), is that in any formal proceeding there must be two or more
witnesses to establish the facts in a case:
15 One witness is not enough to convict
a man accused of any crime or offense he may have committed. A
matter must be established by the testimony of two or three
witnesses. 16 If a malicious witness takes the stand to accuse a man
of a crime, 17 the two men involved in the dispute must stand in the
presence of the LORD before the priests and the judges who are in
office at the time. 18 The judges must make a thorough
investigation, and if the witness proves to be a liar, giving false
testimony against his brother, 19 then do to him as he intended to
do to his brother. You must purge the evil from among you. 20 The
rest of the people will hear of this and be afraid, and never again
will such an evil thing be done among you. (Deuteronomy 19:15-20,
NIV)
This passage makes it clear that judicial
responsibility is to determine the truth. More than one person's
testimony is required to convict and that testimony must be truthful and
in agreement. If witnesses disagree, the judge must carefully
investigate to determine what is really true. If false witnesses are
exposed who intended harmful punishment to their neighbor, then the
punishment is to be inflicted on the false witness.
One should never be judged
guilty on the basis of one person's testimony. That is, in fact, the way
the American judicial system was established. This very biblical
principle is one of many incorporated into the framework our laws.
Though the judicial system sometimes fail - because it is run by people
who sometimes fail - the principles on which the system is built are
sound.
It should be obvious that a nation cannot
act justly without ensuring the integrity of witnesses.
15 " 'Do not pervert justice; do not show partiality to the poor
or favoritism to the great, but judge your neighbor fairly. 16 " 'Do not go about spreading slander among your people. " 'Do
not do anything that endangers your neighbor's life. I am the LORD.
(Leviticus 19:15-16, NIV)
From this commandment, comparing Scripture with
Scripture, we see these principles as necessary for people to live
together and sustain a coherent society.
II. Applying the Commandment
In a court case, are attorneys concerned with
exposing the truth? Based on the deceitful nature of people they
should be. Prosecutors, however, tend to focus on a guilty verdict.
They emphasize the truth that is favorable toward their case against the
accused. Defense
attorneys focus on a not-guilty verdict. So their course of action
is to try and disprove or discredit the prosecution's case and present
truth that is favorable toward the accused. In the course of the
trial we all hope that the judge and jury can accurately determine the
whole truth and nothing but the truth so a just verdict can be reached.
Q: What would our society look like if everyone
was a perpetual liar?
Clearly falsehood divides us and truth unites
us. In the New Testament, the Bible reveals the need for truth:
22You were taught, with
regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which
is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; 23to be made
new in the attitude of your minds; 24and to put on the
new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.
25Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak
truthfully to his neighbor, for we are all members of one body. (Eph
4:22-25, NIV)
Note that your "old self" - that is, the you
before you entered into a relationship with the LORD Jesus - is corrupt.
In fact, it is corrupted by "deceitful
desires" (Eph. 4:22, NIV). Our
nature without the LORD Jesus has lying at its core. Without the
LORD making you into a "new creation" (2
Cor. 5:17, NIV), your life would be
marked by deceit. Obviously, this makes it difficult to enact
justice when human beings have this tendency to lie to protect
themselves or to puff themselves up.
Q: Do you regularly evaluate your own
truthfulness, or lack of it?
- Getting a regular dose of God's Word every
day is vital to our integrity. It shines a bright light on our
thoughts, motives, words, and actions. Through regular study,
we can shed any deceit we find through the LORD's conviction of His
truth.
We are to be truthful witnesses in the formal setting of a court case
to be sure. But the Bible also says to "speak truthfully to
his neighbor" (Eph. 4:25, NIV). In both formal and informal
settings, there is no place for lying in the life of a believer.
Q: So the 9th commandment indicates that we must not bear false
witness in a formal sense, we need to tell the truth. Does this
commandment require absolute honesty at all times?
Consider the husband whose wife asks him, "Honey, does this dress
still make me look fat?" Now if he answers "Yes" then he is
telling his wife that she looks fat. Even if he answers "No," the
response could be construed that she looks fat without the dress.
The poor husband loses either way. In such a situation, it is
better to avoid the question with something like "You are just the most
beautiful woman I ever see - no matter what you are wearing!" Oh,
and husbands, be sure you are telling the truth when you say this!
Megan married an older man who "swept
her off her feet" as we say. The engagement period was short so she
did not realize that Jerry was a heavy drinker. When he came home
drunk, he was downright mean. At first, he verbally accosted Megan.
She seemed to think that somehow she had angered Jerry and tried
harder to please him. As his alcohol-induced mean streaks continued,
he began to use his fists to make his point. Megan was afraid of him
and ashamed for anyone to know. Eventually her neighbor, Betty,
found out and told her: "If he comes home drunk again, leave the
house immediately and take refuge here." It took some convincing but
Megan finally found the courage to run to her neighbor's house to
avoid the verbal and physical abuse. Jerry was enraged that she was
not home but had noticed her becoming chummy with the lady next
door. Suspecting she was hiding at her neighbor's house, he ran over
and pounded on the door, screaming for his wife to come out. Betty
cracked open the door, still latched, and started to ask him to
leave. "Is Megan in there?" he screamed.
Q: What should Betty say?
- No, she is not here.
- Yes, she is here but you cannot see her.
- Go away, I have called the police.
- Something clever like, "Did you try
calling her mother's house?"
Q: Does Betty break the 9th commandment if she
says Megan is not with her?
The main point of this commandment is not to
bear false witness against your neighbor as in a formal judicial sense.
Clearly, from the rest of Scripture and in particular the New Testament
commands to speak the truth in love, this commandment must be seen to
extend to a more universal application to avoid lying. Nevertheless,
not telling a lie is different from concealing the
truth (or part of it) from someone who has no right to demand
it. In this case, Betty was not required to speak the truth about
Megan's whereabouts to someone who was intent on causing her immediate
harm. While living in the world, we are to
"be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves"
(Matthew 10:16, NIV).
© 2010. Randy Lariscy.
All rights reserved.
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