Bearing False Witness: Truth, Love, and the Ninth Commandment
Exodus 20:16 reads:
“You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.”
Other translations say: do not testify falsely, give false evidence, or bear false testimony. In what sort of context do we often hear this language of “testimony,” “testify,” “witness,” “evidence? A courtroom. And that is exactly what this verse is about. So here we get to our first section, immediate context. If you take the words of the ninth commandment at face value, they prohibit the crime of perjury.
Immediate Context: Perjury
Perjury: the offense of willfully telling a lie in a court after having taken an oath.
Think about the word “witness.” Where do we hear it most often? In a court of law. You might take an oath: “I swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.”
The ninth commandment forbids perjury: giving false testimony that harms others or allows the guilty to escape.
Proverbs 19:28 and Exodus 23:1 describe the perjurer as malicious and worthless. Even the court of law today recognizes this at a state and federal level. If someone commits perjury on the trial of an indictment for a capital crime, the punishment is prison for life.
Proverbs 19:28 “A worthless witness mocks at justice, and the mouth of the wicked devours iniquity.”
Exodus 23:1 “You shall not spread a false report. You shall not join hands with a wicked man to be a malicious witness.”
Now if I was the sole witness, the verdict kind of lies in my hands, and false accusations could happen all the time. But God’s law is wise and gracious. In biblical times, God’s wisdom provided a safeguard:
Deuteronomy 19:15-20 “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. If a malicious witness arises to accuse a person of wrongdoing, then both parties to the dispute shall appear before the Lord, before the priests and the judges who are in office in those days. The judges shall inquire diligently, and if the witness is a false witness and has accused his brother falsely, then you shall do to him as he had meant to do to his brother. So you shall purge the evil from your midst. And the rest shall hear and fear, and shall never again commit any such evil among you.”
So we learn that in a Jewish court of law, only on the evidence of two or three witnesses, is testimony legally permissible. You need confirmation to substantiate a claim. Multiple witnesses reduce the likelihood of false accusations, as it’s less probable for multiple individuals to have the same false observation or to conspire in lying.
Now, what’s the big deal with this? It’s just a little lie, right? At the micro level, your neighbor’s reputation, possessions, and potentially life are at stake. At a more macro level, what happens to a society when evil doers are set free and the innocent are put to death? That’s when you know a society is morally collapsing (Isaiah 59:14 addresses the sins of the people of Judah and describes a societal moral collapse “Justice is turned back, and righteousness stands far away; for truth has stumbled in the public squares, and uprightness cannot enter.”) Public squares were where often judicial proceedings took place: public trails, dispute resolution, execution of punishment. During a time where there was no forensic sciences, no fingerprints to investigate, no blood samples to analyze, no security cameras to rewind, no phone text messages to examine, the word of witnesses held significant weight. Not many of us have or will commit perjury in our lifetime. But as we have been learning, much more is implied than what has been stated.
Theological Significance: God is Truth
The ninth commandment isn’t just about morality—it points to a fundamental truth about God and our relationship with Him.
God is Light and Truth
1 John 1:5 “This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all”
One of the essential properties of light is that it exposes that which is hidden in darkness; it shows things as they really are; it shows us reality or in other words TRUTH. So in the scriptures, light and truth are often synonymous and used interchangeably When we say God is light. We are in essence saying that God is truth. He defines reality. This metaphor teaches us about God’s character. That he is absolute, unchanging, that his words are sincere, straightforward, reliable, he is faithful to keep His promises, etc.
God Cannot Lie
1 Samuel 15:29 “And also the Glory of Israel will not lie or have regret, for he is not a man, that he should have regret.”
Titus 1:2 “in hope of eternal life, which God, who never lies, promised before the ages began”
Hebrews 6:18 “so that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us.”
Sometimes we hear things like “God is god! He can do all things. There is nothing He can’t do. Nothing is impossible for Him!” I get the sentiment, but it’s biblically inaccurate. Some things are impossible for God. Lying is one of them. (Hebrews 6:18; Titus 1:2; Revelation 5:1) From Old to New Testament, we understand that God cannot lie. This inability of God should not be seen as a “limitation” or “weaknesses” but rather as affirmations of God’s true, perfect, and unchanging nature. This is one of the reasons why we can have such strong confidence and assurance in God’s promises.
God Hates Lying
Proverbs 6:16-19 “There are six things that the Lord hates, seven that are an abomination to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make haste to run to evil, a false witness who breathes out lies, and one who sows discord among brothers.”
You can know a lot about a person by what they love or hate because a person’s character is closely tied to their loves and hates. If only we had a list of things that God hates…A lying tongue, shedding innocent blood, false witness who breathes out lies, sowing discord among brothers (surest way to do that is to lie). At least two, arguably four are all about lying! 57% of what God hates is lying. What are abominations to you? What do you hate? Do we love what God loves and hate what God hates?
Lying is of the Devil
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 context of this passage is part of a dialogue between Jesus and the Pharisees, and He accuses them of being slanderous false witnesses. Lying is the Devil’s native language. Who was the first being in the bible to bear false witness about God? Who in the Bible is called the Father of Lies? (Genesis 3:1-5; John 8:44). Who is our Father? The adage “Like Father, Like Son” rings true even in the spiritual realm. We are ambassadors, you are witnesses, you are representatives of God. When we call ourselves Christians, we bear the name of Christ. We are little “Christ”s. Let us not bear false witness about our Father by lying. When we lie, we mar God’s image.
Living Truthfully in Daily Life
The ninth commandment touches more than court oaths; it shapes how we speak, interact, and reflect God’s character.
What is Prohibited?
Gossip
unconstrained conversation or reports about other people, typically involving details that are not confirmed as being true; hearsay; spreading of rumors (Proverbs 16:28)
Proverbs 16:28 A dishonest man spreads strife, and a gossip separates close friends.
Proverbs 18:8 The words of a gossip are like choice morsels; they go down to the inmost parts.
Proverbs 26:20 Without wood a fire goes out; without a gossip a quarrel dies down.
The spread of unverified information that can erode the foundations of trust and friendship. “Hey have you heard? I don’t know if it’s true but…” “I saw so and so at this place at this time with this person. What do you think was happening?” And if you’ve ever played the game of telephone, you know that truth has a tendency to get grossly distorted from person to person. A particularly insidious form of gossip is disguised as concern for others: “Prayer request gossip”. We must check our hearts, check our facts.
Slander
Leviticus 19:16 You shall not go around as a slanderer among your people, and you shall not stand up against the life of your neighbor: I am the Lord.
Saying negative things about someone that are false. Compared to gossip, slander is usually more intentional and direct that gossip. This could be misquoting someone, putting words in their mouths, misrepresenting someone, taking one out of context, etc. Biblical examples includes Potiphar’s wife who accuses Joseph of sexual assault in Genesis 39.
Flattery
So Flattery is Slander’s evil twin sister. Saying positive things that are false. In either case you are bearing false witness about your neighbor for often selfish reasons.
False Oaths
Swearing by God’s name to something that is untrue or promising to do something without the intention of fulfilling it
Leviticus 19:12 You shall not swear by my name falsely, and so profane the name of your God: I am the Lord.
Recall the Pharisees and their loopholes:
Matthew 5:33-37 “Again you have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform to the Lord what you have sworn.’ But I say to you, Do not take an oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. And do not take an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. Let what you say be simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything more than this comes from evil.
James 5:12 But above all, my brothers, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or by any other oath, but let your “yes” be yes and your “no” be no, so that you may not fall under condemnation.
This is condemning the flippant use of God’s name or a sacred object to guarantee the truth of what is spoken
Other Forms
- Working with finances or data: “Fudging the numbers”
- Salesman who stretches the truth to sell their product
- Forgery, impersonation of someone’s identity
- Bearing false witness about myself (speaking too highly of yourself or too meanly of yourself)
- Examples of Artificial intelligence, deep fakes video/audio
What is Required?
Delight in Truth
1 Corinthians 13:6 “it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth”
Love is glad when truth is spoken. True love does not want to cover up sin with lies or sweep things under the rug. True love celebrates truth and justice and righteousness, just as God does. Is this the attitude that we carry about truth?
Speak Truth in Love (Ephesians 4:15, 25, 29)
Ephesians 4:15 “Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ”
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.”
Ephesians 4:29 “Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.”
There is an unloving way to speak truth (“these are the facts. They don’t care about how you feel. The truth hurts man. Deal with it. Goodbye”) There is a untruthful way to show love (comforting people with lies, boosting people’s egos with lies, ignoring and not calling out sin in the name of love)
Defend the Innocent
Don’t be disingenuous. In such a legal context where your testimony could ensure justice or rectify a wrong. The consequence of choosing silence over testimony is that the individual bears guilt for their omission. But the caveat here is that it does not mean a Christian is obliged to never withhold true information; does not mean a Christian is obliged to share something we know with someone who wants to know (e.g. Talebearing busybody demanding you tell them information)
Ecclesiastes 3:7 “…a time to keep silence, and a time to speak”
Applications
Regulate Your Speech
Proverbs 18:21 “Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits.”
James 3:8 “but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.”
Matthew 12:36-37 “I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak, for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”
Proverbs 25:18 “A man who bears false witness against his neighbor is like a war club, or a sword, or a sharp arrow.”
The bible tells us that our tongues are like double edged swords, capable of being used for great good or great evil. Think about how you speak: about or to family members, friends, strangers, coworkers, church members, governing authorities, etc. Think about the context of your speech: courtroom, public, private, online behind a veil of anonymity, when your name becomes detached from your words,
Peel back the layers of lies and deceit When there are lies and deceit, there are always other sins around. Like cockroaches, you see one, there are more around.
Consider the biblical examples:
- Adultery/Murder (David)
- Fear/Unbelief (Abraham/Isaac)
- Covetousness (Potiphar’s Wife)
- Jealousy/Envy (Cain/Joseph’s brothers)
- Hatred (Haman)
- Greed (Ananias/Sapphira)
You are always under oath
Matthew 5:37 Let what you say be simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything more than this comes from evil.
Speak in such a truthful way, where you habitually say what you mean and mean what you say and have no need to make frivolous oaths to get people to believe you. In many ways, we are always under oath to tell the truth before God.
Become Who You Are in Christ
Colossians 3:9-10 “Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.”"
Our habitual practice of lying and deceit are dead in Christ. We are new creations. Don’t be like a dog returning to its vomit or a washed pig returning to wallow in the mud.
Consider Christ
Consider Christ’s love for us. If you’ve ever been falsely accused of something you know how terrible it feels. You feel deep indignation at the injustice. Consider Christ who was falsely accused not by one, two, or three witness but by dozens and dozens of them! And he opened not his mouth but entrusted all things to the Father because he had a mission fueled by his love for us.
Further Reflection
- White lies: a harmless or trivial lie, often told to avoid hurting someone’s feelings or toavoid minor inconveniences
- Parents telling their children about Santa or the Tooth Fairy
- The temptation to tell a white lie when your wife might ask you, “Do I look fat in this dress?”
- Exaggeration/embellishment
- Examples: Fuel pride (deep desire to be liked) or gain sympathy (overstate wrong done to you)
- Deceitful jokes
- Proverbs 26:18-19 ‘Like a madman who throws firebrands, arrows, and death is the man who deceives his neighbor and says, “I am only joking!”’
- Even the ancient Greek storyteller, Aesops, knows this. In aesop’s fables “The Boy who Cried Wolf”
- “Noble/benevolent” lies: situations where good comes out of lies
- Situational ethics
- Biblical examples
- Rahab (Joshua 2) hiding and saving the spies, which eventually led to the conquest of Jericho
- Hebrew Midwives (Exodus 1) who feared God and did kill the Israelite sons
- The ends don’t justify the means. God cares about the ends. God cares about the means
- Sinclair Ferguson: “The fact that good follows a lie is no more a justification of a lie than that the blessing of God that resulted from Joseph’s brothers selling him as a slave to Egypt and him ending up as the prime minister. We can’t argue backwards from what God does in His providence to justify everything that we or other people do.”
Prayer
Our Father, you are a God of truth, justice, and righteousness. You delight in truth, you delight in truth tellers, you abhor all falsehood. Please help us to be resolutely committed to not bearing false witness every time we open our mouths to speak. We want to reaffirm our commitment to the ninth commandment, to live lives marked by counter-cultural honesty and integrity. Amen.