The 9th Commandment
Today we are
going to zoom in and take a look at the 9th
commandment.
The 9th
Commandment is “do not give false testimony against others” which
carries with it a sense of appearing in a court of law before a
judge. For practical purposes, the command is often taught as “do
not lie” which seems a lot more applicable to our everyday lives…
a simple principle we can begin teaching to even the youngest
children. And we do find the short and sweet admonition “do not
lie” elsewhere in scripture – Col 3:9 and Lev 19:11 for example.
The commandment
itself does not
contain everything there is to be said on
truthfulness but as mentioned previously its purpose is to establish
the overarching principle of TRUTH as a way of life. How that plays
out in the life of the individual and ideally in society at large
will be expanded upon in the books of the law, the psalms, the
proverbs… really everywhere in scripture.
Truth is a core
value of the Kingdom of God… it will be the bedrock of society
during the 1000 year rule of Christ on earth… and is fundamental to
the personal character of those who are born into the universe ruling
family of God.
Rev 21:27 liars
are excluded from the KOG / Rev 21:8 liars are permanently destroyed
in lake of fire
The basic evil of
deception is that its against (or the opposite of) the character of
God… the bible throughout teaches that God does not lie, all His
actions are just and faithful to His promises, His word is truth and
furthermore… its is a truth that endures throughout eternity…
God does not waver like a human… what is true today is true
tomorrow and was true yesterday.
By contrast Satan
is not only a liar… he is the one who began the practice of
deception and continues to this day to the point where he has
deceived the whole world… all suffering, trial and turmoil began
with a lie.
So how big a deal is lying compared to other sins?
I believe many in
our world consider lying to be a relatively minor sin compared with
murder or stealing for example… I mean no one really gets hurt,
lying is just words after all… I have even talked with people
unfamiliar with the bible who were surprised it’s one of the
commandments.
Lying and deceit
is a destroyer like no other sin… lying and lies breakdown our
connection with reality… lying and lies breakdown our relationships
with one another. Referring back the beginning humanity’s
relationship with God is damaged because they were told and followed
a lie… and as long as a person is willing to listen to and believe
a lie how is repentance and restoration possible? But that’s too
philosophical… what about:
The effect lying & deception has on human relationships?
Good human
relationships are built on mutual confidence. Imagine someone finds
out you have lied to them… will they ever completely trust you ever
again? No matter how many times you tell the truth they will always
wonder if what you say is true. Your relationship will always be
tainted with doubt. Even if you only lie infrequently… tell a
hundred truths for every lie… who will know which is which?
What is lying?
To lie is to
recognize the truth, intellectually conceive of an alternate reality,
and to attempt to convincingly sell that alternative reality to
someone else... to consciously purpose to deceive. And there are many
ways to deceive, to avoid truth and to undermine truth.
Slanderous
gossip, breaking contract, swearing falsely in God’s name…
You can lie
without words: to stand among a group who are slandering another
person and act as if you agree or let others think you agree is to
participate in the slander itself
You can lie
with true words: quoting another person out of context to trick
others as to the original meaning… or perhaps you are able to craft
your words in such a way as to make yourself appear to be in
agreement with them when in fact you are not.
To exaggerate is
to lie… hypocrisy is a lying as a way of life… to say one thing
and do another… to not follow through on your promises.
We lie to avoid
pain and punishment, to increase our status and feed our vanity, and
to get things we want but haven’t earned or don’t deserve…
which for some probably seems like an excellent list of reasons why
selective lying is ok… Lying is OK when I do it because… well…
I have my reasons… but I expect you to be honest with me… but if
everyone thought like that, then everyone will lie… and the only
way to get anything done in this world will be by brute force…
social chaos.
Zechariah 8:1-17
Truthfulness is a
core value of the Kingdom of God… honesty and a clear vision of
reality will be the bedrock of society during the 1000 year rule of
Christ on earth… and is a fundamental character trait of those who
will with Christ as a king and priest under Him. Without truthfulness
there would not be justice nor righteousness in millennial rule of
Christ… the human heart longs for justice but finds the way there
blocked or confused by the deceitfulness of our own hearts.
Which brings us
back to the commandment “do not give false testimony against
others”… where personal honesty is addressed in the public
context of a court of justice… the law of God is very concerned
about justice… and justice is built on the foundation of personal
integrity… but when personal integrity fails or is absent… then
truth must be upheld by others who have that personal integrity and
the authority to back it up… which leads us back to the court, the
judge… and as we shall see the church.
The statutes and
examples related to the 9th commandment express the
principle of truthfulness in terms of personal character (lying
slander etc) but also in terms of judgment… how we judge matters in
public or in private… are we honest in our judgments? Are we fair?
Are we judging based on how we wish things were rather than how they
truly are… do we speak the truth.
Are we preparing
ourselves through our own personal conduct the smallest of matters to
be righteous judges in the very largest of matters in the Kingdom of
God?
Exodus 23:1-9 Case Studies in Truthfulness & False Testimony
Verse 1
Forwarding gossip… you hear something bad about a person, then you
repeat it to someone else (perhaps to appear in the know)… but you
don’t really know if the matter is true or not… it could be true
but you don’t know… aren’t you in effect judging that person?
Don’t help someone who may be slandering another by passing it
along.
Verse 2
builds on the previous point… if enough people pass it along it
becomes assumed to be true because “everyone is saying it”.
Agreeing to a matter because of the sheer number of others who are
saying it does not make a matter true. You’re in a larger group…
everyone is saying nasty things about Peggy-Sue… some might be true
some might be false… you say nothing and thereby appear to agree to
the groupthink going on all around you… are you not passing
judgment on Peggy-Sue?
Verse 3 &
6 to favor or disfavor a person because of their class or status
is to let personal feelings come before truth… prejudice means to
pre-judge… to have a judgment in mind even before you consider the
facts of the matter at hand…
What about the
donkey? Verse 4-5
-
An example of personal honesty related to property – use the example of a lost wallet you find
-
A situation or example included to illustrate the concept of even handed treatment of people… do what is right even to people that you hate (don’t like).
Verse 7-8
a bribe is merely prejudice for hire… can your testimony be bought?
– use the example of a purchasing agent… can people buy more
favorable treatment from you through the use of appropriate gifts
(use example of teacher)
To live an honest life is part of holiness
Lev 19:11-16
in context of holiness, loving your neighbor as yourself verse 18
Deut 19:15-19
there are always people willing to break the rules to get ahead even
to lie about a matter before others. To pre-empt a false testimony
more than one witness is required:
-
it would be just that much harder to get two people willing to both give false testimony
-
It would be just that much harder for two liars to keep their stories straight and not be found out
Matt 18:16
– principle of two witnesses in church
I Corinthains
6:1-9 – judgment within the church is expected.
You are training right now to be a judge
You and I are not
rulers and judges in this world. We have no authority and no power to
condemn or declare innocent. But we do have the small acts of
judgment in our personal life… are we truthful in how we treat
others… do we pass judgment on others without bothering to get to
the truth of the matter? Do we let our prejudices clou our judgment…
do we allow gifts and special treatment sway our decisions?
We also have the
opportunity for judgment and a very limited degree of enforcement
within the church. We are expected to judge certain matters and to
judge them rightly.
And all of this
is part of our training to be a righteous judge in the Kingdom of
God.
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