Have you ever played the game of gossip? You whisper your information about someone in the ear of another and continue until it makes the full circle. The story is never the same after it has made its rounds. Because we all view things differently and listen differently, the story becomes distorted. The ninth commandment deals with gossip, slander, innuendos, rumors, backbiting, or any actions or words that cause someone to question or assume something bad about the character of another. All of this comes back to our tongue. That little member that James says it is like a fire, it starts with a little spark but has the capacity to destroy much. James 1:26 also says that if the person does not control their tongue they are deceiving themselves. This one little member of the body can wreak havoc in a very short time. Our verse today deals with lying or deceiving our neighbor.
Exodus 20:16 “Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.”
This forbids speaking falsely in any way against them. Lying is speaking an untruth spoken about someone. Saying something you know is not true. This is a little easier to detect and deal with than other methods of breaking this commandment because it makes statements that are expressed as facts and can usually be checked out.
We are clever in our methods of violating this verse. We sometimes speak without speaking. It is not just in the words we say but in the way, we say it. When something is said, and we raise our eyebrows or roll our eyes we are saying volumes without opening our mouths.
Slander is another means of disobeying this command. It is defined as spreading rumors or lies about a person to cause damage on purpose. In legal terms, it is called libel. In Colossians 3:8, the word blasphemy in the original text is slander. In James 4:11, we are not to speak evil of one another, (slander). Ephesians 4:31 “Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice.” I Peter 2:1 “So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander.” Over and over we are warned not to slander anyone! Yet, when someone is talking about someone else it triggers our sinful nature to want all the details. It feeds our insecurities and we think that by exposing someone else’s faults we will raise our own reputation because we are not as bad as them.
It is a shame that this must be addressed with Christians. We, more than anyone should understand the damage we are doing when we repeat something that would injure the character of another. We should be lifting one another up in high esteem. I’ve had people tell me things and preface them with, “this is the truth.” Let me make it perfectly clear, it does not matter if the information is false or true. We are not to try to defame the reputation of anyone else. If your brother or sister has a problem, go to them with a loving heart and offer to help them.
We should never spread information that would damage that person’s character. When we do so we are damaging the body of Christ. The black mark is not just on them but on the body of Christ. To a lost and dying world, we become a reproach to the Christian faith.
As a little girl, my Mom would tell me, “if you can’t say something good then don’t say anything at all.” Very simple, but very good advice. I wonder how much further along the body of Christ would be as a light in the darkness if we handled all of our conversations this way?
