We should even be careful about saying what is true. We may even break the ninth commandment by speaking truth!

James Durham (1622-1658) was minister in Glasgow for only eleven years but left a considerable number of writings. One of the co-authors of ‘The Sum of Saving Knowledge’, he is best known for writing what is still regarded as the classic Reformed work on church unity, division and schism, ‘A Treatise Concerning Scandal’ as well as a highly sought after commentary on the Book of Revelation.

Pervasive dishonesty has a corrosive effect on society. Trust in interpersonal relationships demands that the stories we share with and about our friends are accurate, and we expect that when reports come from news broadcasting organisations they are factually correct. Over the past decade, however, we have needed to be less trusting when it is reported on the BBC that women have committed certain crimes (when in fact it was men calling themselves women), or that children can achieve happiness only through trying to become the opposite sex. We need a lot of scepticism when stories are repeated against Jewish people and even when crimes are alleged against the state of Israel. It has also been exposed that footage from two separate messages by Donald Trump was spliced together to make it seem that he was saying the opposite of what he really said. One of the ten commandments forbids “bearing false witness against our neighbour.” God takes enough interest in our neighbour’s reputation to forbid us from speaking falsehoods and demand us to speak the truth. He is the God of truth and as part of the moral law, the obligation to be truthful is not only for Christians but for everyone everywhere at all times. When James Durham started to explore the ninth commandment, he set out the many ways that it can be broken. The following updated extract is unflinching in exposing the many ways we can sin against God’s requirement to speak the truth and earnestly warns us away from dishonesty in all its forms.

The ninth commandment, “Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour,” requires truth in our words, both as to what we say and the manner in which we say it. Whether our words are only spoken words, or also put in writing, it’s in our words that our conformity (or lack of conformity) to the truth is most clearly apparent.

There are different kinds of lies.

Lies are commonly divided into three sorts, according to their intended purposes.

There is mendacium perniciosum, a malicious or pernicious lie, when it is intended to bring hurt to someone else. These were the lies of those who bore witness against Christ, and the lies which Ziba told against Mephibosheth.

There is officiosum mendacium, or an officious lie, when it is for a good end. Such was the midwives’ lie (Exodus 1:9). The denying of a thing to be, even when the granting of it would infer hurt and damage to another, is contrary to truth, and we ought not to do evil in order that good may come of it. It overturns the end for which speaking was appointed, when we declare a thing to be otherwise than we know or think it to be. As no one can lie for himself for his own safety, so he cannot lie for another’s safety. To lie even for God is a fault, and accounted to be talking deceitfully and wickedly for Him, when, to avoid what we think is dishonourable to Him, we will assert that He may or may not do a certain thing, when yet the contrary is true (Job 13:4, 7).

There is jocosum mendacium, when it is for fun, to make others laugh. As it is sinful in itself, it cannot be a matter of lawful entertainment.

We may add one more, and that is mendacium temerarium, when people lie for no particular reason, but, through inadvertency and habitual carelessness, they speak otherwise than the thing is. This is called “the way of lying” (Psa. 119:29), and is certainly sinful. For example, when Amnon was killed, they told David that all the king’s sons were killed, but they were too hasty in jumping to a conclusion before checking the facts.

Lying causes different kinds of harm.

Consider three ways in which people are wronged by lying.

1. By false reports, speaking what is in reality untruth.
2. By vain reports, which have a tendency to shame our neighbour. This commandment is repeated in Deuteronomy 5:20 in the words, “Thou shalt not take up any witness (as it is in the original) against thy neighbour.”
3. By malicious reports. Whether they be true or false, the intention behind them is that our neighbour would lose his good name.

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