Wickedness of Lying
August 12, 2007
andrew travis pantazi
"Do not lie to one another, since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices, and have put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him— a renewal in which there is no distinction between Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and freeman, but Christ is all, and in all." (Colossians 3:9-11, NASB95)
It is clear that lying is considered an evil practice that was part of our old self before we were saved. In this particular passage, Paul is clarifying that we are now a new person who should not be lying to one another, instead we should be renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of God. The only identifying feature for ourselves is that we are shown as one who is renewed in Christ’s blood.
"There are six things which the Lord hates, Yes, seven which are an abomination to Him: Haughty eyes, a lying tongue, And hands that shed innocent blood, A heart that devises wicked plans, Feet that run rapidly to evil, A false witness who utters lies, And one who spreads strife among brothers." (Proverbs 6:16-19, NASB95) "Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord, But those who deal faithfully are His delight." (Proverbs 12:22, NASB95)
God hates lying. It is an abomination to God, so much so that when Solomon listed the seven things that are an abomination to God, he listed lying twice. In Matthew Henry’s commentary on Proverbs 6:16-19, he says, “There are seven things which God hates, and lying involves two of them; he hates it, and doubly hates it.”[1]
"But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, And your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear. For your hands are defiled with blood And your fingers with iniquity; Your lips have spoken falsehood, Your tongue mutters wickedness." (Isaiah 59:2-3, NASB95)
When Isaiah is listing the things that separated us from God, he lists both that our lips spoke falsehoods (or lies) and that our tongue mutters wickedness (including blasphemy, lies, curses, etc.). Isaiah knows personally what unclean lips does to a man’s integrity, before he was called as a prophet Isaiah had a problem with lying. "Then I said, “Woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, And I live among a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.” Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a burning coal in his hand, which he had taken from the altar with tongs. He touched my mouth with it and said, “Behold, this has touched your lips; and your iniquity is taken away and your sin is forgiven.” Then I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?” Then I said, “Here am
"“You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies. “But because I speak the truth, you do not believe Me." (John 8:44-45, NASB95)
Satan is the father of lies, lying is a part of his own nature. We are of our father so we want to do the desires of our father, and we make Satan our father. However, "“I speak the things which I have seen with My Father; therefore you also do the things which you heard from your father.”" (John 8:38, NASB95) Jesus does the things of His Father, which is that he speaks the truth and because we are so accustomed to lies that we do not believe someone who speaks truth.
"I hate and despise falsehood, But I love Your law." (Psalm 119:163, NASB95) In this Psalm with an unknown author, we find the author praising God for His Law and His Word. It talks of how the author hates falsehoods and asks God to be able to praise Him for His commandments are righteous. This shows that we as the saints should hate falsehoods in false religions and philosophies as well as within ourselves and in everyday speech, on the other side we must also love the Law of God. "A righteous man hates falsehood, But a wicked man acts disgustingly and shamefully." (Proverbs 13:5, NASB95)
In the New King James Version of Isaiah 63:8 it says, "For He said, “Surely they are My people, Children who will not lie.” So He became their Savior." (Isaiah 63:8, NKJV) Surely we are God’s people, we are children who will not lie. In context, the chapter is talking about God having judgment on those who have not accepted salvation and lived for God compared to the mercy that God has for His children who have faith in Him. God characterizes us as those ‘who will not lie’ yet too often we ignore this and still lie thinking that it is only a white lie or a white sin. That it is not that bad of a sin, instead the Bible tells us how God despises lies and treasures truth.
"How blessed is the man who has made the Lord his trust, And has not turned to the proud, nor to those who lapse into falsehood." (Psalm 40:4, NASB95) An easier and more blatant literal translation of this passage is the NET Bible’s, which says, "How blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord and does not seek help from the proud or from liars!" (Psalm 40:4, NET) Basically, we would be a fool to put our trust in the liars and proud over the Lord. We are blessed by trusting in the Lord, if not physically then spiritually. The Hebrew word for blessed means happiness that we get from security in the Lord, so if we trust in the Lord then we have security and are given happiness.
"My eyes shall be upon the faithful of the land, that they may dwell with me; He who walks in a blameless way is the one who will minister to me. He who practices deceit shall not dwell within my house; He who speaks falsehood shall not maintain his position before me. Every morning I will destroy all the wicked of the land, So as to cut off from the city of the Lord all those who do iniquity." (Psalm 101:6-8, NASB95) David wrote this Psalm not saying that we should be rude to all liars and anyone who has ever sinned (which would be everybody), instead he is saying that we must protect our hearts, homes, cities, and governments. We do this by punishing wrong doing, throughout this psalm, David talks of different things which he hates and will punish. In the beginning of v. 5, he says, "Whoever secretly slanders his neighbor, him I will destroy." (Psalm 101:5, NASB95) This is so that David can protect God’s people, God’s Kingdom.
The simplistic and easy-to-understand New Century Version puts Psalm 119:29 in this way: "Don’t let me be dishonest; have mercy on me by helping me obey Your teachings." (Psalm 119:29, NCV) This is a prayer that we should all have. We should pray that the Lord will keep us from falling into dishonesty and to help us to obey His commands.[3][4][5][6]
[1]Henry, M. (1996, c1991). Matthew Henry's commentary on the whole Bible : Complete and unabridged in one volume (Pr 6:12).
[2]Elwell, W. A., & Comfort, P. W. (2001). Tyndale Bible dictionary. Tyndale reference library (1085).
[3] The Everyday Bible : New Century Version. 2005.
[4] Biblical Studies Press. (2006; 2006). The NET Bible First Edition; Bible. English. NET Bible.; The NET Bible. Biblical Studies Press.
[5] The New King James Version. 1982.
[6] New American Standard Bible : 1995 update. 1995.
