Lying

March 13

Lying

pseudos

While for decades well-meaning men have come up with various lists of "do’s and don’ts" for conduct, such lists are often legalistic and without authority. In contrast, Eph_4:22-29 is one of God’s lists. This passage lists the remnants of the old man. There are other such lists in Scripture—the one in Pro_6:16-19, for example, perhaps being the most exhaustive and all-encompassing—but the list here is unique in its specific application to the Christian. These sins are the sins most likely to creep back into the Christian’s life.

Because lying is the most prominent sin of mankind, and because truth is the most essential characteristic of Christianity, Paul mentions lying first. The Greek pseudos (G5579), where we get our English pseudo (as in pseudonym, a false name), occurs "in Greek from the time of Homer" and means "the antithesis of truth, alēthei." Writing from Ephesus, the apostle John wrote to churches in Asia Minor that they knew "the truth" and "that no lie is of the truth" (1Jn_2:21). There’s not even the slightest bit of truth in a lie, no "gray area" as is commonly believed. Even the smallest lie negates the truth.

A lie, therefore, is "a statement that is contrary to fact offered with the intent to deceive." There are, of course, two parts to that definition. A statement that is contrary to fact is not necessarily a lie. For example, if I tell someone that I’ll meet them at a certain time but am late due to car trouble, I didn’t lie because I wasn’t trying to deceive them. But if I said I’d be there at a certain time, knowing that I’d be late, that would be a lie.

Such things as kidding, fictional stories, figurative language, and not saying something out of politeness are not lying. There are many things, however, that are lying: blatant falsehoods, exaggerating or embellishing a story, cheating (because you’re saying you did something on your own when you didn’t), betraying a confidence, making excuses for wrong conduct, telling a half-truth, plagiarism, boasting, flattery, false humility, hypocrisy, false promises, and tragically much more. In short, when we say anything that is not true in its entirety, it’s a lie.

Indeed, lying is a universal vice, a part of man’s very core, and is a habit with which even the Christian will struggle. But God does give the victory.

Scriptures for Study: In Joh_8:44, who is the father of lies? Read Act_5:1-11. To demonstrate the seriousness of lying, what was the penalty for it?

 
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