The ethics of lying
Saturday, 20 March, 2004
The topic of lying came up in Bible study this week but I don't remember how. I remember that I was saying something about the people who hid Jews in the basement and lied to the Nazis when they came to the door and how they were right to do that. One girl said emphatically, “I think that's wrong; I wouldn't have lied.” This quickly led to a discussion about lying and I think I upset a couple of girls in the group by saying that Jesus lied (well he did! Read on to find out where in the Bible this shocking event occurs!) But because I didn't get to address the topic properly (as we were in the middle of Bible study and it was tangential), I emailed some of the girls afterwards. I thought you might like to read what I wrote, lest you think me a condemned heretic:
Update: Ben has turned what I wrote into an article which expresses much better what I was trying to say.
(Email begins here.)
To continue the discussion on lying outside of Bible study, I thought I would email you both about it since I didn't really expand on my thoughts on the matter during last weeks' study due to time constraints and the fact that it was pretty off-topic.
I wanted to quote to you the bit on lying in The How and Why of Love: An Introduction to Evangelical Ethics by Michael Hill but unfortunately I do not own the book and the Chaplaincy doesn't have a spare copy either. (I should really purchase it since I refer to it so much.) Michael Hill is a lecturer at Moore College and he wrote the book to accompany the course on ethics that he teaches there. Anyways, from memory, what he spends the first half of the book establishing is an evangelical hermeneutic (ie. way of understanding the world). Like I said last Thursday, whereas the world emphasises the needs of the community over the needs of individuals, or the needs of individuals over the needs of the community, as Christians we are to do both. Michael Hill establishes this concept which he calls “mutual love relationships” which is just an expression of that. He said that the goal at all times is to maintain these mutual love relationships and therefore this is the governing principle when it comes to ethics in all sorts of different areas (he explores some of these areas in his book: divorce, homosexuality, abortion, etc.)
How does this relate to lying? Well, firstly lying in the Bible is not simply saying something that isn't true. The command in Exodus 20:16 is “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor” (reiterated in Deuteronomy 5:20). It's not simply bearing false witness. It's an action done against your neighbour which will break the mutual love relationship. Paul repeats this in Colossians 3:9: “Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices.” (my emphasis added).
It is interesting the Jesus (and later Paul) emphasises that the second greatest commandment is to “Love your neighbour as yourself.” Jesus says this in Matthew 22:35-40, Mark 12:31 and Luke 10:27, and Paul reiterates this in Romans 13:9-10 and Galatians 5:14. This command, to love your neighbour as yourself, is not explicitly spelled out in the list of commandments in Exodus 20 or Deuteronomy 5 but it does sum up and encapsulate the last five commandments.
Now, many people will claim that Jesus never lied and that lying is a sin. I don't want to seem like a heretic by saying that lying is not a sin but I would say that it depends on the lie. There are instances in the Bible where lying is a good thing. For example, the midwives in Exodus 1:15-21:
Then the king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, one of whom was named Shiphrah and the other Puah, [16] “When you serve as midwife to the Hebrew women and see them on the birthstool, if it is a son, you shall kill him, but if it is a daughter, she shall live.” [17] But the midwives feared God and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but let the male children live. [18] So the king of Egypt called the midwives and said to them, “Why have you done this, and let the male children live?” [19] The midwives said to Pharaoh, “Because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women, for they are vigorous and give birth before the midwife comes to them.” [20] So God dealt well with the midwives. And the people multiplied and grew very strong. [21] And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families.
The midwives feared God more than Pharaoh so God rewarded them by giving them husbands and children. Later, Rahab does the same thing (Joshua 2:1-6):
And Joshua the son of Nun sent two men secretly from Shittim as spies, saying, “Go, view the land, especially Jericho.” And they went and came into the house of a prostitute whose name was Rahab and lodged there. [2] And it was told to the king of Jericho, “Behold, men of Israel have come here tonight to search out the land.” [3] Then the king of Jericho sent to Rahab, saying, “Bring out the men who have come to you, who entered your house, for they have come to search out all the land.” [4] But the woman had taken the two men and hidden them. And she said, “True, the men came to me, but I did not know where they were from. [5] And when the gate was about to be closed at dark, the men went out. I do not know where the men went. Pursue them quickly, for you will overtake them.” [6] But she had brought them up to the roof and hid them with the stalks of flax that she had laid in order on the roof.
Rahab knew perfectly well where the men came from and where they had gone (or hadn't gone, in this case). She indicates as much in the following verses (9-13):
“I know that the Lord has given you the land, and that the fear of you has fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land melt away before you. [10] For we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea before you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon and Og, whom you devoted to destruction. [11] And as soon as we heard it, our hearts melted, and there was no spirit left in any man because of you, for the Lord your God, he is God in the heavens above and on the earth beneath. [12] Now then, please swear to me by the Lord that, as I have dealt kindly with you, you also will deal kindly with my father's house, and give me a sure sign [13] that you will save alive my father and mother, my brothers and sisters, and all who belong to them, and deliver our lives from death.”
And God rewarded her in the sense that he provided her with a husband (Salmon) and children (Boaz) and a descendent who became the greatest of all - Jesus. Not to mention she became part of the nation of Israel, God's chosen people.
In each case, the action of lying was taken to preserve the mutual love relationship. There are, obviously, many examples where lying destroys or damages the mutual love relationship. Cain lying to God (Genesis 4); Abraham lying to Pharaoh and Abimelech about Sarah being his wife (Genesis 12 and 20); Jacob lying to Isaac (Genesis 27); Laban lying to Jacob (Genesis 29); the sons of Jacob lying to the men of Shechem (Genesis 34); Tamar lying to Judah (Genesis 38) and that's in Genesis alone!
But there are lies that are sometimes told that do not damage or destroy the mutual love relationship. For example, Jesus in John 7:1-10:
After this Jesus went about in Galilee. He would not go about in Judea, because the Jews were seeking to kill him. [2] Now the Jews' Feast of Booths was at hand. [3] So his brothers said to him, “Leave here and go to Judea, that your disciples also may see the works you are doing. [4] For no one works in secret if he seeks to be known openly. If you do these things, show yourself to the world.” [5] For not even his brothers believed in him. [6] Jesus said to them, “My time has not yet come, but your time is always here. [7] The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify about it that its works are evil. [8] You go up to the feast. I am not going up to this feast, for my time has not yet fully come.” [9] After saying this, he remained in Galilee. [10] But after his brothers had gone up to the feast, then he also went up, not publicly but in private.
or Acts 23:6:
Now when Paul perceived that one part were Sadducees and the other Pharisees, he cried out in the council, “Brothers, I am a Pharisee, a son of Pharisees. It is with respect to the hope and the resurrection of the dead that I am on trial.”
(which wasn't 100% true) or 1 Corinthians 1:12-16 where Paul writes,
What I mean is that each one of you says, “I follow Paul,” or “I follow Apollos,” or “I follow Cephas,” or “I follow Christ.” [13] Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? [14] I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius, [15] so that no one may say that you were baptized in my name. [16] (I did baptize also the household of Stephanas. Beyond that, I do not know whether I baptized anyone else.)
(He might be lying there by accident; we don't know if he baptised anyone else! But he's being very vague there so it's possible he got it wrong.)
These are insignificant lies, but lies in the sense that they aren't telling the whole truth. But it doesn't matter that they aren't telling the whole truth as it doesn't affect anyone.
I am not saying that we should lie willy nilly and that lies don't matter. But I am saying that we should keep in perspective love relationships and what really matters. Sometimes, like in the case of the midwives and Rahab and the God-fearing Christians who hid Jews during the second World War, lying is the right thing to do.
Feel free to send me your thoughts on the matter.
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This is an incredibly tough issue for any christian. Everyone has their opinion on it, and its one of those issues that people are loath to change theres about. I feel moved to write something here, but I really dont kinow what. Let me explain.
Untill very recently I have been of the belief that all lieing is sin, and lived my life accordingly. However through some indepth discussions with a friend of mine, I came to the conclusion that lieing can cause great good. It really does depend on the audiance, the situation, and your reasons. a judgement must be made as to how to apply this tool. Im a truthfull, blunt person by nature, and it would take an extradinary set of circumstances to make we willing lie and believe I was doing the right thing.
In addition, depending entirely on what you define as a lie, everyone lies, subconciously, every day. By omission, by doubble meaning, anything that oculd mislead someone, even if its not conciously done, is suspect. I personally dont see this in the same category as blatently lieing. But having this pointed out to me was the first step in realising that its not just a cut-and-dry decision.
Anyway, I dont really know where Im going with this except to say that its an incredibly complicated issue. Far more so than most believe.
So Pray about it. God bless.
If you went around being truthful no-one would talk to you.
What do you mean by that. If you went arround speaking everyt thought that came into your head, then yes. Also noone would get a word in edgeways, and youd get a really sore throat.
Ever read Robert Jordan? The Aes Sedia go arround speaking only the truth, the othe extreme interpretation, everything that say is true, and everything they say is so misleading it can be taken 7 ways.
Theres another vector even in always speaking the truth. I cant quite lay a finger on it, its something about how much of the truth you speak.
I love this discussion! Quick comments: agree with ‘preserving love relationship’ and would add that we need to link godly motivation to action. ie. is my desire to preserve the love relationship in the best interest of the other person/people, or is it about self-preservation?
Also, there’s a great story in one of the Corrie Ten-Boom (sp?) books about a family who hid a Jewish family in a room accessed by a trap door under the kitchen table. When the family had a surprise visit by local Nazi officials who asked where they were hiding the Jews, the youngest child of the family answered, “Under the table!” The officials checked under the table and failed to see the trapdoor.
The child had obviously been well-versed on ‘do not lie’ and obeyed. It’s always helpful to remember that God is sovereign and will honour godly motivation whether we understand the whys and wherefores of hermeneutical reasoning or not!
Thanks.