No False Witness (Testimony)

“Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.” (Exodus 20:16, KJV).

The ninth commandment could be called the law against false witness (misrepresenting what one has seen or been an eye-witness to), false testimony (as in a court of law or other legal procedure), or lying (failure to tell the truth in normal speech of everyday life). The underlying principle of this commandment is that truth is expected. Anything less is too little. Dr. Page H. Kelley observed that nothing threatens the fabric of a nation more than disregard for the truth in the law courts of the land. Jeremiah the prophet spoke out very firmly about false testimony and other sins covered by the commandments relating to horizontal relationships (man-to-man) and vertical relationships (man-to-God): “Will you steal and murder, commit adultery and perjury, burn incense to Baal and follow other gods you have not known, and then come and stand before me in this house, which bears my Name, and say, ‘We are safe’—safe to do all these detestable things? Has this house, which bears my Name, become a den of robbers to you? But I have been watching! Declares the Lord.” (Jeremiah 7:9-11, NIV).

We need to remember that words spoken cannot be called back or cancelled. Dishonest reports (like income tax, for example), slander (speaking untruths about another), exaggerating the truth (boasting) and other sins of the tongue distort the character both of the teller and of those about whom he bears false witness.

To establish and insure justice, society must be able to believe the words of its constituents. Dr. B. Davie Napier in commenting on this commandment noted: “The sense of the ninth commandment as summation is clear: in no way whatsoever may one falsify his witness, his report, even his causal conversation, about another. To do so is to violate that which a man is, and it is therefore a violation not only of the two-member, man-man relationship, but of the three-member, God-man-man community.” Jesus said, “Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.” (John 8:32). Paul added his sound advice on the subject of speaking truth: “Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into Him who is the Head, that is, Christ; From him the whole body joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.” (Ephesians 4:14-16 NIV).

c Ethelene Dyer Jones; Friday, August 13, 2010