We’ve been working our way through the Ten Commandments. We’ve found out that the Ten Commandments are not just for the Old Testament, but that they apply today.
The FIRST Commandment, “You shall have no other gods before Me” (Exodus 20:3), before the God of Scripture, was quoted by Jesus in
Matthew 4:10 (ESV) … You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only shall you serve …
The SECOND Commandment, “You shall not make an idol to bow down to it” (Exodus 20:4-6) is found in:
1 John 5:21 (ESV) Little children, keep yourselves from idols …
The THIRD Commandment, “Do not take the name of God in vain” (Exodus 20:7) is in:
1 Timothy 6:1 (ESV) … the Name of God and the teaching may not be reviled
We found every commandment but ONE, the FOURTH Commandment, repeated in the New Testament. As Christians we realize some still keep the Sabbath, whereas others celebrate Christ on FIRST DAY, the day He rose from the grave. We are told in Romans 14:5-6 that we are not to judge one another on what day we celebrate the Lord. The Sabbath was a shadow (Colossians 2:16-17) that was fulfilled in Christ’s first coming.
As long as the believer sets one day aside to worship the Lord our God, whether Saturday or Sunday, we have fulfilled the FOURTH Commandment.
The first FOUR Commandments deal with our relationship with God, but the next SIX deal with our relationship to our fellow man. We are to honor our parents (5th Commandment, Exodus 20:12). We are not to murder (6th Commandment, Exodus 20:13). We are not to violate the sanctity of marriage (7th Commandment, Exodus 20:14). We are not to steal (8th Commandment, Exodus 20:15). Tonight we come to the NINTH Commandment:
Exodus 20:16 Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.
The Commandment Does NOT Say You Shall NOT LIE
The Ninth Commandment is often mis-stated as “You shall not lie”. That’s not what it says. It says, “You shall not lie ABOUT YOUR NEIGHBOR”. The Ninth Commandment is to humanity as the Third Commandment is to God. In the Third Commandment we are told:
Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain
(Exodus 20:7)
One commentary notes:
“In the Old Testament, bringing dishonor on God’s name was done by failing to perform an oath or vow taken in His name (Leviticus 19:12). The man who used God’s name to legitimize his oath, and then broke his promise, would indicate his lack of reverence for God as well as a lack of fear of His holy retribution. It was essentially the same as denying God’s existence. … There is a larger sense in which people today take the Lord’s name in vain. Those who name the name of Christ, who pray in His name, and who take His name as part of their identity, but who deliberately and continually disobey His commands, are taking His name in vain. Jesus Christ has been given the name above all names, at which every knee shall bow (Philippians 2:9-10), and when we take the name “Christian” upon ourselves, we must do so with an understanding of all that signifies. If we profess to be Christians, but act, think, and speak in a worldly or profane manner, we take His name in vain. When we misrepresent Christ, either intentionally or through ignorance of the Christian faith as proclaimed in Scripture, we take the Lord’s name in vain.”
We take God’s Name in vain when we misrepresent Him. When we misrepresent our neighbor, bearing false witness against them, then we have violated the Ninth Commandment.
Though some say “Thou shalt not lie” is the Ninth Commandment, it is really “Thou shalt not lie ABOUT ANOTHER HUMAN”.
Though the Ninth Commandment does not say “Thou shalt not lie”, the Bible is very clear that we as Christians are to “speak the Truth in love” (Ephesians 4:15). We are to be truth tellers, just as our God is. The Bible says in:
Proverbs 6:16-19 (ESV) There are six things that the Lord hates, seven that are an abomination to him: 17 haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, 18 a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make haste to run to evil, 19 a false witness who breathes out lies, and one who sows discord among brothers.
God hates “a lying tongue” as well as “a false witness who breathes out lies”. God says:
Proverbs 12:22 (ESV) Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord, but those who act faithfully are his delight.
Proverbs 13:5 (ESV) … The righteous hates falsehood …
And God’s standard within the Church is:
Ephesians 4:25 Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another.
The lying tongue is a mark of the lost person. The WOKE crowd lies when it looks at a man, and say’s “that’s a woman”. No, that’s a lie. The WOKE crowd says “men can have babies”. No, that’s a lie. The WOKE crowd says “marriage is two consenting adults, regardless of their biological sex”. No, that’s a lie. The WOKE crowd says “sex is a cultural construct. You can determine your sex by how you feel.” No, this is a lie.
Lies belong to the lost, because the father of lies is Satan. Jesus told the Pharisees – who often slandered Him – that:
John 8:44 You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.
The Devil, that fallen Angel called Lucifer and Satan, is “a liar and the father of lies”. It is Satan that first lied in the Garden of Eden, telling Adam and Eve:
“If you eat of the forbidden tree, YOU WILL NOT SURELY DIE. God knows that the day you eat of this tree, your eyes will be opened, AND YOU WILL BE LIKE GOD HIMSELF, knowing good and evil.” (Genesis 3:4-5, AP)
Adam ignored the truth that God spoke (The Sum of Your Word is TRUTH, O Lord, and EVERY ONE of Your RIGHTEOUS RULES ENDURES FOREVER – Psalm 119:160) and listened to Satan. Doing so, he plunged the world and his progeny into spiritual death. Since Adam brought sin into the world “and DEATH BY SIN” (Romans 5:12-21) humans have played with the truth to their detriment. The HEART OF THE WOKE MOVEMENT is found in Paul’s description in:
Romans 1:24-28 (ESV) Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, 25 because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen. 26 For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; 27 and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error. 28 And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done.
They “exchanged the truth about God for a lie”. They rejected God’s Bible, His clear teachings. They rejected the Messiah, refusing to repent and turn to Him in faith. Lies belong to the lost. The Bible says to the Christian:
Colossians 3:9 (ESV) Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices
and again:
Psalm 58:3 (ESV) The wicked are estranged from the womb; they go astray from birth, speaking lies.
Those who are saved by faith in Christ should NOT lie. Who will be not in Heaven, but cast into the Lake of Fire on judgment day? The Bible says:
Revelation 21:8 But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.
God does not condone lying – and particularly does not want you lying about your neighbor.
The Ninth Commandment Says You Shall Not Lie ABOUT Your Neighbor
Exodus 20:16 Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.
When in American Law you make a false statement and present it as a fact about someone, you can damage someone’s reputation. The person you hurt can bring a defamation lawsuit. One commentary notes:
“Libel is an untrue defamatory statement that is made in writing. Slander is an untrue defamatory statement that is spoken orally. The difference between defamation and slander is that a defamatory statement can be made in any medium. It could be in a blog comment or spoken in a speech or said on television. Libelous acts only occur when a statement is made in writing (digital statements count as writing) and slanderous statements are only made orally.”
Among God’s Old Testament believers the Lord had a simple method for dealing with false witnesses. We are told in:
Deuteronomy 19:15-21 (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. 16 If a malicious witness arises to accuse a person of wrongdoing, 17 then both parties to the dispute shall appear before the Lord, before the priests and the judges who are in office in those days. 18 The judges shall inquire diligently, and if the witness is a false witness and has accused his brother falsely, 19 then you shall do to him as he had meant to do to his brother. So you shall purge the evil from your midst. 20 And the rest shall hear and fear, and shall never again commit any such evil among you. 21 Your eye shall not pity. It shall be life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.
The often misquoted “Eye For An Eye And Tooth For A Tooth” was not about vengeance, but about false witnesses. If someone committed a crime in Israel, and it went before the Ruling Council or the Priests, if a false witness was discovered “then you shall do to him as he had meant to do to his brother. So you shall purge the evil from your midst”. In short, the false witness got the EXACT PUNISHMENT that would have went toward the accused. If the accused was going to die, the false witness would die. If the accused was in danger of losing property, the false witness would lose the same amount of property. God said, “Do not pit them … life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot”. God made an example of the false witness, and purged evil out of Israel.
“A true witness delivers souls, But a deceitful witness speaks lies” (Proverbs 14:25).
“A false witness will not go unpunished, And he who speaks lies shall perish” (Proverbs 19:9).
God does not want us as believers telling falsehoods about those around us. If we do not know the truth, we should not “speculate” or “postulate”, but hush. What we say about others matters. There is never a time when bearing false witness against another will be blessed by God.
Are There Any Times When Lying Is Permissible?
There is never a time when we can legitimately bear false witness about a neighbor, but it is permissible to speak a lie when saving lives. For instance, in Exodus 1 Pharaoh commands that the Hebrew mid-wives:
Exodus 1:16 (AP) … if it is a son {being born}, kill him, but if it is a daughter {being born} let her live …
When the mid-wives didn’t do this and the Pharaoh asked why, they lied. They said “the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women, for they are vigorous and give birth before the midwife comes to them”. God honored the mid-wives for NOT killing the baby boys, though God did not address the lie. Later in Israel’s history when Joshua sent spies into the land of Canaan, the King of Jericho …
Joshua 2:3-7 (ESV) … 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.” 4 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. 5 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.” 6 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. 7 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.
Rahab purposefully lied to the King of Jericho in order to save the lives of the spies. Though the Bible does not address her clear lie, it commends Rahab for protecting the lives of the spies:
Hebrews 11:30-31 (ESV) By faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they had been encircled for seven days. 31 By faith Rahab the prostitute did not perish with those who were disobedient, because she had given a friendly welcome to the spies.
James 2:24-25 (ESV) You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. 25 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?
Rahab feared God, and protected the lives of God’s spies. She knew where the spies were hidden, and told the soldiers who hunted for them that they had left the city whereas they were hiding on Rahab’s rooftop. She lied to save lives. Rahab was honored for her faith, and is actually in the lineage of Christ (Matthew 1:5).
Lying to save others lives may be necessary, but be aware there is no where in Scripture where God praises a lie. We need to understand that our God is the God of Truth. Jesus said in John 8:32, “you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” If you tell a lie, you have to remember the lie you told, or else you’ll be tripped up in time. During World War II Corrie Ten Boom as part of the Dutch Resistance helped hide Jews from Nazi soldiers, knowing that these people would be murdered if found. When discovered, Corrie and her family were put in concentration camps. Her entire family died to save the lives of innocent people.
I want to end with this note from one commentary:
“Our goal should never be to wiggle our way around the truth or search for an ethical loophole. When the psalmist describes the person who is privileged to “sojourn” in God’s tent and to “dwell” on his holy hill (Ps. 15:1–5), among the qualities cited is speaking “truth” in his heart, refusing to “slander with his tongue,” and being the sort of person “who swears to his own hurt and does not change.” “He who does these things,” David insists, “shall never be moved.”
May God touch your hearts with His Word. Amen.
bibleteacher.org 