  Foundations of the Faith
By Robert P. Mills The Presbyterian Layman July/August, 1999 Foundations of the Faith explores and explains the fundamental doctrines of our Christian faith. |
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As we reach the end of the 1990s, Americans have watched their president look them in the eye and lie about his deeds. And Presbyterians have heard a seminary president tell them that reaching her ecclesiastical objectives may require of her and of her like-minded colleagues “making statements that are untrue” (Barbara Wheeler, “An Auburn Affirmation: Reflections for a 75th Anniversary,” www.covenantnetwork.org). In the light of recent history, we may learn from a statement made more than seven centuries ago by Thomas Aquinas, who observed that people “could not live with one another if there were not mutual confidence that they were being truthful to one another.” We may learn even more by looking even farther back, to the biblical imperative on which Aquinas was commenting, the ninth commandment, “You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.” False testimony “False testimony,” in Hebrew ed sheqer, is language drawn from Israel’s judicial process, where cases were decided not on crime scene fingerprints, surveillance video tapes or DNA evidence but on the testimony of witnesses. Ed, which means “evidence” or “testimony,” conveys the sense of a repeated account, an answer given as evidence during a trial. Sheqer, meaning “lying, deceiving, false, fraudulent,” is used of words or activities that are false in the sense that they are groundless, without basis in fact or reality. Idols are often described in this way, as in Jer. 10:14-15, which calls idols “a fraud (sheqer); they have no breath in them. They are worthless.” The verb derived from this root is often used in relation to covenant breaking (Gen. 21:23; I Sam. 15:29; Ps. 44:17; 89:33-34; Isa. 63:8). The importance of being a truthful witness is a theme that runs throughout the Old Testament, where to break the ninth commandment was to undermine a basic characteristic of God’s covenant with his chosen people: faithfulness. If successful, false testimony would lead to false punishment. Even if unsuccessful, it would slander and defame the neighbor’s character. As Peter Craigie comments, this commandment “emphasizes the integrity and honesty required within the community of God. … A God of faithfulness, who did not deal deceitfully with his people, required of his people the same transparency and honesty in personal relationships.” As God’s covenant people, Christians obey the ninth commandment by “speaking the truth in love” so that “we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is Christ.” To accomplish this, every one of Christ’s disciples “must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbor, for we are all members of one body” (Eph. 4:15, 25). The father of lies Scripture is graphic about the fate of those who lie: “No one who practices deceit will dwell in my house; no one who speaks falsely will stand in my presence” (Psalm 101:7). Jesus told his disciples, “For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks. The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him. But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken. For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned” (Matt. 12:34b-37). |
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| Scripture also leaves no doubt as to the origin of
false testimony. Jesus told Jews who accused him of being
demon-possessed, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I
came from God and now am here. … You belong to your father, the
devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desire. He was a
murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no
truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a
liar and the father of lies” (John 8:42-44). ‘I am … the truth’ God’s love of truth and intolerance of lying is rooted in his very nature. God is the source of all truth. His word is truth (John 17:17), his law is truth (Rom. 2:20), and his “faithfulness continues through all generations” (Ps. 119:90). “I am … the truth” Jesus told his disciples (John 14:6). In Revelation 3:14 Jesus identified himself to the church at Laodicea as “the Amen, the faithful and true witness.” The Catechism of the Catholic Church outlines what lying is and what impact it has: “Lying is the most direct offense against the truth. To lie is to speak or act against the truth in order to lead into error someone who has the right to know the truth. By injuring man’s relation to truth and to his neighbor, a lie offends against the fundamental relation of man and of his word to the Lord.” Lying also affects another person’s “ability to know, which is a consideration of every judgment and decision. It contains the seed of discord and all consequent evils. Lying is destructive of society; it undermines trust among men and tears apart the fabric of social relationships.” The preservation of the truth And yet, despite the damage lying does to our relationships with God and one other, human beings – Christians included – are plagued by the propensity to give false testimony, in less euphemistic language, to lie. That, as J. Douma observes, is because “Lying lives deep. We struggle not simply with a vice, but against our entire old nature caught in the net of lying.” Considering our personal conflicts, it is not surprising that the church experiences “a constant struggle to preserve the truth.” Yet, Douma exhorts, “we cannot effectively battle the vice of lying if we let the church’s vision of the truth be obscured. How can we live in the world as people of integrity if we make room in the church for truth and falsehood to live side by side? Fighting for the pure gospel means fighting for the preservation of the truth [the fourth of the Great Ends of the Church (Book of Order, G-1.0200)] among people. This is why ‘lying in the church’ must be fought with all our might, and this is why every church reformation, which exposes such lying, constitutes a blessing for society.” We are God’s witnesses to the world. It would be of inestimable value – to the world, the Church, our neighbors and ourselves – if those of us committed to the reformation of the Church were to recommit ourselves to distinguishing truth from falsehood, to preserving the truth, and to obeying God’s command “You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.” |
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