We all love high-profile trials.  Whether real or fictional, we can’t get enough.  Nothing spells “ratings” like the televised proceedings of a sensational trial.  Recently it was the ‘Murdaugh murders.’  A generation ago it was the O. J. Simpson case.   Even the Trump impeachment proceedings and the January Sixth Commission hearings turned the interminable boredom of CSPAN into Nielson gold.  

What rivets our attention to the drama of a trial?  Is it knowing the stakes for both the accused and the accusers?   Will celebrity litigators dazzle us with technical wit and articulate witticisms?   Will witnesses crack under pressure?   Will the defendant sit stone-faced – cold and unemotional?  Or will his countenance give inadmissible testimony of guilt?  Or maybe it is simply our desire to know the truth and see justice done? 

We have watched enough courtroom drama to be familiar with the swearing in of witnesses.  They must swear to tell “the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.”  To lie on the stand is itself criminal.  Perjury carries stiff penalties for the perjurer.  But carries an even higher cost for the innocent when justice is perverted.   We rightly view a false witness with utter contemp.

But how concerned are we about bearing false witness in the larger arena of our work, our relationships, our commitments, and our financial dealings?  What is our responsibility regarding truth outside of the courtroom?   What does the Bible require regarding truth-telling?  How much truth must we tell?  Who has a right to hear the truth from us?  Is there ever a time when we may conceal the truth?  Or a time when the Bible allows, condones, or affirms explicit lying?

These questions seem simple on the surface. But when we examine in Scripture the actions of many heroes of the faith and God’s response to their prevarication, we wrestle with legitimate questions regarding God’s nature and character, Christian ethics, and what is required by the Ninth Commandment.

Abraham shaded the truth in regard to his wife because he feared unbelievers.   Rahab lied to the king of Jericho to save the lives of the Israelite spies.  The Hebrew midwives appear to have lied to Pharaoh and then received God’s blessing.   How to we come to grips with these passages and reconcile them to the ethical demands of a Holy God who calls His people to holiness?

The Ninth Commandment says simply, “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.”  Like every other command, however, this one is paradigmatic.  In condemning false testimony, it gives the worst-case-scenario and by implication includes every other form of falsehood and inductively instructs us to love and promote truth.   Everywhere in scripture God is declared to be a God of Truth.   And Jesus is, himself The Truth.  While the Holy Spirit is called the Spirit of Truth.  Truth is important to God.  And as Christians we are called to imitate our Heavenly Father, ‘as dearly loved children.’   The Ninth Commandment is about much more than avoiding perjury.  The Westminster Shorter Catechism expresses it concisely, but completely.

77. What is required in the ninth commandment? The ninth commandment requireth the maintaining and promoting of truth between man and man, and of our own and our neighbor’s good name, especially in witness bearing.

78. What is forbidden in the ninth commandment? The ninth commandment forbiddeth whatsoever is prejudicial to truth, or injurious to our own or our neighbor’s good name.

Westminster Shorter Catechism

Join us as we examine the Ninth Commandment in Exodus 20:16 and consider what the Scripture says about truth-telling.  We meet on the square in Pottsville, right next to historic Potts’ Inn at 10:30 am for worship.  Get directions here or contact us for more info.  Or join us on Facebook Live @PottsvilleARP or YouTube.