Taking Off Lying to Put On Truth (1)

It’s interesting, and extremely significant, that the sin of lying is listed first. Why? For two reasons. First, because, as we’ll see, lying is the most prominent sin of mankind. Lying permeates our being and our society. Lies are told to cover up other sins, making lying the “catch all,” so to speak. Second, because, as we’ll also examine, Truth is the most essential characteristic of Christianity, and therefore the Christian life. The reason we do not lie is because we cherish the Truth.

As I studied this principle in great depth, I was profoundly touched by it. Lying is, far more than people realize, so imbedded in our being, and therefore so entrenched in our practical living, that it takes the very power of God alone to break its hold. We will, therefore, take more time than usual to deal with it (six installments). I pray that what follows will truly shake us to the marrow of our bones, that we will see how essential Truth is and that it must never be shaded or tinted by a lie.

The Greek behind lying is pseudos, where we get our English “pseudo,” as in “pseudonym” (a false name). It occurs “in Greek from the time of Homer” (8^th–7^th Century B.C.) and means “the antithesis of truth, alethei,” which, as we’ve seen several times speaks of that which is not concealed, that which is absolute, incontrovertible, irrefutable, incontestable, unarguable, and unchanging. 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” (I Jn. 2:21). There is not even the slightest bit of truth in a lie, no “gray areas” as is commonly believed. Even the smallest lie negates the truth.

A lie, therefore, is defined as, “A statement that is contrary to fact offered with the intent to deceive.” There are, of course, two parts to this definition. A statement that is contrary to fact is not necessarily a lie. For example, if I tell someone that I will meet them at a certain time but then 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 would be late, then 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.

Even more significant is the fact that a lie doesn’t have to be spoken. We can lie without uttering a single word. We can lie by allowing something to be said that we know to be untrue and therefore be in complicity with it. We can even lie with a look, a gesture, or even the most subtleness facial expression.

Further, a lie travels fast and permeates everything it touches. As Spurgeon put it, “A lie travels around the world while Truth is putting on her boots.” Further still, The destructive power of lying is incalculable. Ralph Waldo Emerson was right when he said, “Every violation of truth is not only a sort of suicide in the liar, but is a stab at the health of human society.”

Think back to the years leading up to World War II. How on earth could a gutter rat who lived in a home for tramps in the slums of Vienna, a man who had failed at everything he’d ever tried, rise to lead Germany in the horrors that she would inflict upon the world? The answer is: through lies. Taking advantage of the bungled “Treaty of Versailles” that ended World War I, the economic misery of the people caused by paying war reparations and the devalued German mark, followed by the worldwide Depression of the 1930s, Adolph Hitler came to power through animal magnetism, fanatical speeches, political intrigue, and violence. And what were his two underlying arguments, the two basic lies that ultimately resulted in the deaths of an estimated fifty-five million people, both military and civilian of all countries, plus another six million in the Holocaust? First, that European Jews were to blame for all of Germany’s problems and had to be removed, and second, the preaching of Lebensraum (“living space”), the belief that Germany had to expand her territory if she were to survive. In Mein Kampf Hitler wrote, “The great mass of people . . . will more easily fall victim to a big lie than to a small one.” We’ll continue this important subject next time.