Theology 101 No. 13

You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

What does this mean? We should fear and love God so that we do not tell lies about our neighbor, betray him, slander him, or hurt his reputation, but defend him, speak well of him, and explain everything in the kindest possible way.

In this Second Table of the Law we have seen that God gives and protects the gifts of authority, life, sexuality, and personal property. It is said that the Eighth Commandment protects our second greatest gift from God (next to life itself): Our good name and reputation. In this Commandment God seeks to protect us and our neighbor from defamation and slander.

In the Eighth Commandment God forbids us to make false statements about our neighbor (in court or in society), to lie to him or about him, nor are we to withhold a truth that might allow harm to come to him. We are not to praise him with our mouth when we do not mean it in our heart nor are we to reveal secrets about our neighbor he has either told to us or we may otherwise know concerning him that would bring harm to his reputation if revealed. We are not to speak badly about our neighbor, gossip about him, spread rumors (true or false) about him, nor are his faults to be a part of casual conversation (“Did you hear what so-and-so did . . . ?”).

We are also not to give ear to rumors or hearsay nor judge our neighbor because of them. “When [Jesus] says ‘Judge not, and you shall not be judged. Condemn not, and you shall not be condemned,’ it is not referring to the judging of an erring brother, which we should do according to God’s will; it rather refers to an officious [unnecessary and meddlesome] judging and condemning. . . .” (Koehler, p. 70) We are forbidden to render judgements against our neighbor based on suspicions, rumors, and imagining evil intent on his part without proof. We do not, however, defend or justify a wrong he has actually committed for this would be bearing false witness against God Himself.

Speech is a gift from God and He desires that we use it to praise Him, to pray to Him, and to use it properly concerning our neighbor. But the tongue has a problem. James writes in Chapter Three (vv. 5-12) of his letter: “The tongue is a little member and boasts great things. See how great a forest a little fire kindles! And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. The tongue is so set among our members that it defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire by hell. For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and creature of the sea, is tamed and has been tamed by mankind. But no man can tame the tongue. It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless our God and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the similitude of God. Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be so. Does a spring send forth fresh water and bitter from the same opening? Can a fig tree, my brethren, bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs?” (NKJ)

There are proper uses for the tongue. We are to use our tongue to take our neighbor’s side and shield him from false accusations. We speak well of our neighbor praising his good deeds and qualities insofar as it can be done in keeping with the truth. When true faults or accusations are raised, we are not to magnify or downplay them. We are also to put the best construction on his actions and interpreting them to his favor.

This Commandment is probably the most easily broken of them all, primarily because most do not take it seriously. “It’s just talk” many say, not realizing it is just as wrong to murder an individual as it is to murder their reputation. Gossip is a part of many casual conversations. People like “dirty laundry” because putting people down lifts them up (at least in their own eyes). And we find it far easier to complain than to offer solutions. But gossiping, slandering, rumor-mongering, plotting, scheming, lying and slanderous complaining about our neighbors is not Godly.

Christians are not to be a part of the “grapevine” but the vine Jesus describes in John 15:1-8. We are to use our tongues as He would want us to use any part of our body, be it our brain, our hands, our feet or any other member: To His praise and glory, for the spread of His kingdom, and the betterment of our neighbor. God grant us the strength and self-control to do so.