You Shall Not Bear False Witness (Part 2)

15 “A single witness shall not suffice against a person for any crime or for any wrong in connection with any offense that he has committed. Only on the evidence of two witnesses or of three witnesses shall a charge be established.

English Standard Version Chapter 18

8 The words of a whisperer are like delicious morsels;

they go down into the inner parts of the body.

This week we’re continuing our look at the 9th commandment, “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.” In our last time, we began by considering the nature and scope of the 9th commandment. We asked the question, “Why is bearing false witness wrong?” or “Why is lying wrong?” Our goal was to get at the heart of the 9th commandment, to understand it from a fundamental level. To see that lying isn’t merely wrong because it hurts other people, but that it’s wrong, fundamentally, because God is truth. That the 9th commandment is rooted in the very character of God himself, therefore to violate the 9th commandment is to violate his character. As a result, the 9th commandment teaches us to uphold the sanctity of truth.

Furthermore, as I pointed out in our last time, it’s important for us recognize that when we lie we’re attempting to play God by fabricating our own reality. That a child who claims to have brushed their teeth when they really haven’t, has not only lied, but fabricated their own reality to suite their own desires. And, of course, we see this on a far more dangerous scale, in our day, with transgenderism, where women pretend to be men and men pretend to women, or whatever else they imagine themselves to be. And when they fabricate their own reality, they lie, and they attempt to play God. Or when the Supreme Court of the United States thinks they can redefine the institution of marriage to include homosexual relationships. You see, this only works if there is no God above us who’s designed the world in a certain way, the problem is, there is and he has. We do not have the right or authority to fabricate a reality contrary to what God has made. Therefore, the 9th commandment prohibits us from living by lies, that lying is not only a violation of God’s character, but an affront and overthrow of God’s authority.

Bearing false witness

Now, this week, my aim is to build on that foundation and look more closely at specific applications of the 9th commandment, “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.” As I pointed out in our last time, bearing false witness is a severe example of violating the sanctity of truth. The reason being, is that bearing false witness is specifically tied to the context of the courtroom where the stakes of lying are usually far greater than lying to your mother about whether you brushed your teeth or not. Now, don’t get me wrong, to those children who are listening, it does matter a great deal whether you lie to your parents or not. Why? Because it’s within the context of the home that you’re intended to learn the importance of telling the truth, and if you fail to take lying seriously then you’ll likely fail to take lying seriously as an adult, when the stakes are much higher.

Often a great deal hangs in the balance when a case is being adjudicated within a court of law. As a result, bearing false witness puts the innocent at risk of being unjustly punished and criminals left unchecked. You see, bearing false witness aids and abets the breaking of the other commandments, it puts marriages, property, life, and reputations at risk. Bearing false witness has the ability to destroy the integrity of a nation’s entire justice system if left unchecked. Which is precisely why this commandment, along with the others, were fundamental to Israel’s founding as a nation in the land of Canaan. You see, the prohibition against bearing false witness against their neighbor was intended to protect their marriages, property, life, and reputations.

For example, in Acts 6-7, Stephen became the church’s first martyr as a result of false testimony, we read in Acts 6:11-13,

English Standard Version Chapter 6

11 Then they secretly instigated men who said, “We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God.” 12 And they stirred up the people and the elders and the scribes, and they came upon him and seized him and brought him before the council, 13 and they set up false witnesses who said, “This man never ceases to speak words against this holy place and the law, 14 for we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and will change the customs that Moses delivered to us.”

Or Jesus who was put to death on the basis of false testimony in Matthew 26:59-61, where we read,

Matthew 26:59–61 ESV

Now the chief priests and the whole council were seeking false testimony against Jesus that they might put him to death, but they found none, though many false witnesses came forward. At last two came forward and said, “This man said, ‘I am able to destroy the temple of God, and to rebuild it in three days.’ ”

Two or three witnesses

This is also why the mosaic law required the evidence of at least two or more witnesses to establish a charge against another person, to guard against anyone who might bear false witness against their neighbor. We read in Deuteronomy 19:15,

Deuteronomy 19:15 ESV

“A single witness shall not suffice against a person for any crime or for any wrong in connection with any offense that he has committed. Only on the evidence of two witnesses or of three witnesses shall a charge be established.

This principle of two or three witnesses was intended to uphold the truth, and to mitigate against false testimony. You see, the corroboration of testimony was intended to protect others from false accusation or false testimony, because we all know that it’s very easy to lob an accusation against our neighbor even without much evidence to substantiate our claim. It’s easy to falsely accuse our neighbor, but it’s much more difficult to find two or three others willing to make the same false accusation, or to give false corroborating testimony.

Presumption of innocence

This is the foundation from which the presumption of innocence is built, that you’re innocent until proven guilty. Of course, the presumption of innocence can be exploited by criminals to evade punishment, but it’s far more important that our justice system be governed by principles that are fundamentally built on the aims to uphold the truth, mitigate against false testimony, and protect the innocent, otherwise our justice system will be inevitably hijacked to pervert justice at every level without restraint.

The importance of this biblical principle, of having two or three witnesses to establish a charge, became especially evident from 2017-2018 here in the United States after the social media hashtag #MeToo went viral. The phrase was originally coined for a campaign to support survivors of sexual violence (particularly women), however, in 2017 and 2018 the movement converged with justice system debates which lead to the slogan “always believe women”. In other words, the MeToo campaign, in its effort to bring awareness to sexual violence against women, ultimately found itself demanding that all accusations of sexual violence against women be accepted without corroborating testimony.

This resulted in a witch hunt against the then Supreme Court Justice nominee Brett Kavanaugh in 2018. A woman by the name of Christine Blasey Ford accused him of sexual assault from when they were in high school. Kavanaugh denied the allegations, but much of the public, however, advocated for "believing women" despite an FBI investigation that found no corroborating testimony or evidence.

Hijacking sympathy to pervert justice

Now, what’s important for us to recognize is that during that time, it was very tempting to believe and sympathize with Christine Blasey’s testimony without any corroborating evidence. You see, we all recognize that sexual violence is wicked, therefore we immediately sympathize with anyone who’s been a victim of it. However, what we witnessed in 2018 was a movement that was seeking to leverage that sympathy to undermine our justice system, a movement that allegedly cared so deeply for women that they were willing, at the drop of a single accusation, to condemn the accused, without any corroborating testimony or evidence.

This is because the world always demands immediate justice. You see, to the unbeliever, if justice is only meted out in this life, then they have no hope of justice. Therefore, unbelievers are inclined to demand immediate justice, even if it means condemning their neighbor on the testimony of only a single witness. They would rather risk condemning the innocent if it means they get their pound of flesh now. However, this isn’t the case for Christians, for we know that no injustice will go unpunished. That our neighbor’s sin was either covered by the blood of Christ on the cross, or that it will be punished when Christ returns to judge the whole world, both the living and the dead.

Protecting you neighbor’s reputation

Now, in light of the 9th commandment’s concern with protecting the innocent, I want us to consider more closely the positive instruction of the 9th commandment. I’ve already pointed out that at it’s foundation the 9th commandment is concerned with the sanctity of truth, but in the more specific context of bearing false witness against our neighbor, it follows that we’re commanded to protect our neighbor’s reputation, or to put it another way, to protect our neighbor’s good name.

Gossip

This is why gossip, for instance, is a violation of the 9th commandment, because gossip is idle talk, usually about your neighbor’s personal life, idle talk that spreads rumors and shares information about your neighbor’s private affairs without their knowledge or consent. Gossip fundamentally violates the 9th commandment by harming your neighbor’s reputation. The Apostle Paul described this behavior when he wrote to Timothy in 1 Timothy 5:13 and described the temptation of young widows to be idle busybodies, he wrote,

English Standard Version Chapter 5

13 Besides that, they learn to be idlers, going about from house to house, and not only idlers, but also gossips and busybodies, saying what they should not.

Now, we can break gossip down into a few basic components. First, gossip spreads unsubstantiated reports (i.e. rumors), speculations, conjecture, and half-truths about its neighbor. Second, gossip also spreads true but private reports. You might be tempted to justify sharing information about your neighbor so long as you’re certain the information is true, but if that information is private it remains gossip. Which leads us to number three, we’re tempted to share secrets because gossip enjoys violating its neighbor’s privacy. You see, gossip is motivated by feasting on secrets. Proverbs 18:8 puts it like this,

English Standard Version Chapter 18

8 The words of a whisperer are like delicious morsels;

they go down into the inner parts of the body.

By nature we enjoy discovering secrets that we’re not permitted to know, but you’re not authorized to know what goes on between your neighbor and his wife or your neighbor and his children within the confines of their own home, unless they share it with you. You see, knowing the secrets of other people makes us feel superior to them, or that we have the upper hand in our neighbor’s hidden life. Secrets are tasty because they make it feel like we’re in control.

And number four, gossip is fundamentally insincere talk that you would never utter in front of your neighbor. Gossip is insincere talk because it doesn’t have its neighbor’s good in mind. Therefore, one of the best aids in discerning whether we’re engaging in gossip is to ask ourselves, “Am I seeking my neighbor’s good?” or “Am I guarding my neighbor’s good name?” However, many of us have become proficient in cloaking our gossip under the guise of so-called concern for our neighbor, so we must be vigilant to avoid trafficking secrets or rumors about our neighbor.

Furthermore, we must be careful to avoid listening to gossip, lest we be complicit in it. It isn’t enough to avoid spreading gossip. This means we’ll have to take steps to avoid hearing it; we might have to awkwardly stop a conversation when we realize we’re listening to gossip, to avoid becoming complicit in damaging our neighbor’s good name.

Slander

And if gossip is left unchecked it can quickly turn into slander. Slander is making deliberately false and damaging statements about your neighbor, with a deliberate intent to harm their reputation. Now, slander can come in many forms, because we often look for indirect forms of slander in order to cloak our motives. For example, we might twist someone’s words by taking what they said out of context, strategically omitting some of what they said, or presenting their words with a certain tone in order to curate what they said to suite our desires. Which is precisely what the devil was doing in the garden when he asked Eve, “Did God really say?”

For instance, whenever I watch the news or read a news story my first question is usually, “What information about the story did they decide to leave out?”, because one of the easiest ways to mislead your audience or to paint a person in a negative light is simply to leave out certain bits of information. And, likewise, many of us have a habit of doing this whenever we tell someone about the events in our lives, carefully curating the details to paint ourselves in a good light and to paint our neighbor in a negative light, to make ourselves look like the victim and our neighbor like the enemy, when in fact we’re slandering their reputation.

Assuming motivations

Slander also doesn’t give people the benefit of the doubt, slander likes to assume the worst possible motives about its neighbor. Many of us are prone to reach all sorts of conclusions about our neighbor’s intentions or motivations based on very little information, but the 9th commandment teaches us that we don’t get to assume our neighbor’s motives. For instance, the women in my family have informed me that women are very prone to make much of another woman’s facial expressions, that women are especially prone to reach all sorts of conclusions based, sometimes, exclusively on the look another woman gave them, but I can’t emphasize enough how dangerous and potentially slanderous this is. One mustn’t reach the conclusion that another person is angry at them solely on the basis of how you perceived the looked they gave you. Frequently, my children will hastily assume the motivations of their siblings with little to no evidence, and expect me act accordingly. So, I’ll usually remind them of all the evidence they have and ask them, “If it were you, would like me to convict you on the basis of such little evidence?”

Flattery

Another form of slander that we don’t often think about is flattery. Now, while flattery also lies to its neighbor, the intention is instead to gain its neighbor’s favor or influence in order to receive something from them or to achieve a particular goal. You tell them lies you think they want to hear in order to get something in return. Maybe you want their approval, to protect your job, to get a raise, to influence them, etc. As Alistair Begg put it, “flattery is saying to a person’s face what we would never say behind his back”. However, the irony of flattery is that if it doesn’t accomplish its desired effect then we usually, almost immediately, resort to slander. If telling our neighbor sweet little lies doesn’t work, then we will usually resort to slandering them behind their back.

Speaking frankly with your neighbor

Instead the 9th commandment instructs us to speaking frankly with our neighbor, to speak honestly and directly with him, not to lie about him behind his back in secret. We read this in Leviticus 19:17-18,

Leviticus 19:17–18 ESV

“You shall not hate your brother in your heart, but you shall reason frankly with your neighbor, lest you incur sin because of him. You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.

Notice how the text contrasts hating your brother with reasoning frankly with him, and how reasoning frankly is connected to loving your neighbor as yourself. This is also why Jesus would say much later in Matthew 18:15,

Matthew 18:15 ESV

“If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother.

You see, when your neighbor sins against you or offends you, your knee jerk reaction won’t likely be to approach him about it, but instead you’ll be prone to harbor hatred for him in our heart, to bear a grudge against him, to gossip and slander him behind his back, and to damage his good name. Whereas Scripture admonishes you and I to reason frankly with our neighbor, and if he sins against us, to go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone, so that you might gain your brother. Now, the truth is, this isn’t easy, this is difficult, but this is what is required of us. Otherwise, you will create the conditions within your heart that will foster hatred, grudges, and slander.

Exaggeration

Now, in addition to our responsibility to protect our neighbor’s reputation, I want to point out briefly two other areas of application and some of the dangerous consequences associated with lying. The first is exaggeration, while there’s certainly a place for hyperbole, we must recognize that there’s a deference between the use of hyperbole and being someone who lies. Hyperbole is a deliberate exaggeration or overstatement used to emphasize a particular point, in other words, when you employ hyperbole you do so deliberately with the express intent for everyone to know that you’re exaggerating to make a point. In fact, you’re exaggerating in order for your audience to more clearly understand your point. Whereas, the type of exaggeration that violates the 9th commandment is one that hides the truth in order to make everyone believe something untrue. We usually do this when we want to inflate ourselves, or to make ourselves look better than we actually are. This type of exaggeration is usually rooted in pride.

Keeping our word

Another area of application is simply to keep your word. Whether it’s not showing up to work when you said you would or breaking an agreement you’ve made with your neighbor, the 9th commandment teaches us that we should be a people of our word. For example, Moses writes in Numbers 30:2,

English Standard Version Chapter 30

2 If a man vows a vow to the LORD, or swears an oath to bind himself by a pledge, he shall not break his word. He shall do according to all that proceeds out of his mouth.

We’re intended to keep our word, because God always keeps his. In fact, this is why you see oaths and vows all throughout Scripture, because oaths and vows were intended to aid men in keeping their word. Now, the Pharisees would later develop a system of oaths an vows in order to escape their responsibility to keep their word, which was why Jesus would tell his disciples in his Sermon on the Mount to, “Let what you say simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; [because] anything more than this comes from evil.”, but his point was the same, keep your word.

Consequences of lying

And this is vitally important, because not only is lying an offense against God, but there are often major consequences in this life as a result of lying. First, lying is a slippery slope, as Alistair Begg put it, “It’s not difficult to tell one lie, but it is difficult to tell only one lie.” In other words, once you start lying you start having to lie to cover up your prevous lies, until eventually you’re so tied up in knots that you can’t keep your lies straight. I actually have some memories as a child that I wonder if they’re true or not, because as a child I made up so many stories that I told my parents.

Second, while it takes years to acquire a good name or good reputation, a good name can be lost in a single day. One lie, one accusation can destroy a person’s reputation that took them a lifetime to build. What’s more, it will be difficult, if not impossible to recover your good name. In fact, people may not want to come near a person who’s lost their good name, lest their bad reputation become contagious.

And as I was thinking about this I was reminded of a book series that some of my children have read, and in it there’s an incident where an old piece of moldy cheese is found on the school playground. No one knows how long it’s been there, so everyone gives it a wide birth, until one day a boy named Darren Walsh, who, during a game of tag, touches the cheese. After Darren touches the cheese, he becomes the first person to get the “Cheese Touch”, and the “Cheese Touch” is thought to be contagious, so anyone who touches the cheese, or comes in contact with someone who has they too become infected with the “Cheese Touch”. As a result, the curse of the “Cheese Touch” lead to Darren being socially ostracized, and everyone avoids him. It’s a parable of what can happen to a person who’s lost their good reputation, and it’s also a reminder of the damage that can be caused when we bear false witness against our neighbor.

Just and lawful deception

Lastly, this morning, I want to wrap up with one final point, a point that one of you asked me about after part one of our look at the 9th commandment. What about the various biblical accounts of lying which Scripture seems to commend? Is it ever lawful to lie? Well, the short answer is yes. I do think we find a biblical category for just and lawful deception. But before I explain, let’s look at a couple of examples from biblical history. Turn with me to Exodus 1:15-21,

Exodus 1:15–21 ESV

Then the king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, one of whom was named Shiphrah and the other Puah, “When you serve as midwife to the Hebrew women and see them on the birthstool, if it is a son, you shall kill him, but if it is a daughter, she shall live.” But the midwives feared God and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but let the male children live. So the king of Egypt called the midwives and said to them, “Why have you done this, and let the male children live?” The midwives said to Pharaoh, “Because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women, for they are vigorous and give birth before the midwife comes to them.” So God dealt well with the midwives. And the people multiplied and grew very strong. And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families.

Then turn with me to Joshua 2:1-7

Joshua 2:1–7 ESV

And Joshua the son of Nun sent two men secretly from Shittim as spies, saying, “Go, view the land, especially Jericho.” And they went and came into the house of a prostitute whose name was Rahab and lodged there. And it was told to the king of Jericho, “Behold, men of Israel have come here tonight to search out the land.” Then the king of Jericho sent to Rahab, saying, “Bring out the men who have come to you, who entered your house, for they have come to search out all the land.” But the woman had taken the two men and hidden them. And she said, “True, the men came to me, but I did not know where they were from. And when the gate was about to be closed at dark, the men went out. I do not know where the men went. Pursue them quickly, for you will overtake them.” But she had brought them up to the roof and hid them with the stalks of flax that she had laid in order on the roof. So the men pursued after them on the way to the Jordan as far as the fords. And the gate was shut as soon as the pursuers had gone out.

Now, later, in the Book of Hebrews we’re told in chapter 11, verse 31, that,

Hebrews 11:31 ESV

By faith Rahab the prostitute did not perish with those who were disobedient, because she had given a friendly welcome to the spies.

And then again in James 2:25 that

James 2:25 ESV

And in the same way was not also Rahab the prostitute justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way?

Now, there are other less prominent examples like these, but the first point I want to make is that these texts, I think, are unavoidable; that the Bible clearly carves out a category for just and lawful deception. Now, there are many good theologians that differ on this issue. For instance, Augustine and Calvin argued that it’s never lawful to lie even in the circumstances of the Hebrew midwives or Rahab, that while they were commended by Scripture, that their commendation could not have included their acts of deception, but only their faith and intentions to save life. In other words, they believed that it’s necessary to condemn every kind of deception because God is Truth. And while I respect their zeal for the truth, the Bible, however, doesn’t seem to find it necessary to make this distinction. In other words, the biblical authors don’t seem to be concerned that their readers might conclude that certain types of deception are lawful, but instead, it seems more likely that we should conclude that there are categories of lawful deception.

Now, if Scripture does provide us with a category of lawful deception, then how do we square this with our concept of truth. If God is Truth then how does that square with a category of lawful deception. First, I think we need to recognize that truth is a person, not merely a concept or a principle. Jesus is the truth (John 14:6). Jesus is the source and measure of truth. As Professor Allen Verhey, put it, “God is Truth, but truth is not a [another] god—just as love is no god, though "God is Love.” In other words, we’re not fundamentally committed to truth for truth’s sake, but to truth for God’s sake. Just as we’re not committed to love for love’s sake, but to love for God’s sake. This is why Rahab, the prostitute, was justified by her works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way, or why the Hebrew midwives in Egypt were commended by God for fabricating an excuse to save Hebrew children, or why the prophet Samuel was told by God to conceal his intentions from Saul to anoint a new king in Israel, or why God commanded the Israelites to lay in ambush at the city the of Ai in order to deceive their enemy in battle. To put it another way, fidelity to truth boils down to fidelity to God.

Let me ask you a question, is it wrong to pass along gossip, even if it’s true? But aren’t you just telling the truth? Now, you might say that it’s only wrong because you don’t have the person’s permission to share the information, that it’s wrong to pass along information that’s private. Okay, well, let me ask you another question then, if you knew something to be true about your neighbor that they wanted kept private would it be okay if you asked them about it out loud, in front of others? Of course not, because you don’t have the right to violate their privacy, so would you fault them for lying to you in front of everyone in order to protect their privacy? Probably not, but why? Because you don’t get to exploit their privacy by holding them hostage to tell the truth. Just because we’re commanded to be truthful doesn’t mean we’re obligated to answer any question our neighbor or enemy might might ask us, therefore in extreme circumstances we might be permitted to lie in order to protect our privacy, a covenant we’ve made with someone else, another’s life, etc.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer once gave this helpful example, “[A] teacher asks a child in front of the class whether it is true that his father often comes home drunk. It is true, but the child denies it." Bonhoeffer goes on to argue that the child is not wrong to lie, but instead that it’s the teacher who is at fault, that it’s the teacher who is abusing their relationship with the child, and holding the child hostage to the expectation that he must tell the truth. In other words, the teacher exploits the child’s obligation to tell the truth in order to reveal his father’s sin to the classroom. The teacher is asking the child to violate his relationship to his father. Or as Bonhoeffer later puts it, “The truthfulness of the child’s answer does not depend on whether he speaks the factual truth, but on whether he speaks what is true in the context of his relationship to his father and the teacher’s unjust demand.”

Conclusion

Prayer

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