An Explanation of Luther's Small Catechism Part 15

BELIE him, that is, tell an untruth about him.

BETRAY. [Prov. 11:13+, Prov. 24:28] We must not abuse our neighbor's confidence by revealing his innocent secrets, and thus annoying or harming him. One who pretends to be another's friend, and yet betrays him, is acting a lie. We dare not, however, hide crime; and we must tell what we know about others if the court, or parents, or persons who have a right to know, inquire of us.

SLANDER NOR RAISE INJURIOUS REPORTS. [Exod. 23:1+, Lev. 19:16, Ps.

15:1-3] We must not invent nor repeat false reports concerning our neighbor. We must not say behind his back what we fear to say to his face. We must not magnify his faults, [Matt. 7:3-5] nor impute evil motives to him, nor make his words and conduct look as bad as possible.

The slanderer is worse than a thief and causes incalculable suffering and misery. [Prov. 25:18+, Jas. 3:5-8] We should remember that words once spoken live on for good or evil, and cannot be unsaid; and that we must give an account to G.o.d for every word we speak. [Matt. 12:36]

2. _Lying of Any Kind._ A lie is a conscious falsehood uttered with the purpose of deceiving. It may be acted as well as spoken. [Prov. 6:13] We must not deceive nor try to deceive others by telling an untruth, by hiding the truth or a part of it, by hypocrisy, flattery, boasting, broken promises, conventional lies, "white lies," "lies of necessity,"

guesses given as facts, etc.

II. WHAT IS COMMANDED.

1. _Truthfulness._ Truth is of G.o.d; [Deut. 32:4] lying is of the devil.

[John 8:44] As children of G.o.d we must be truthful. [Col. 3:9+] A liar is an abomination in G.o.d's sight. [Prov. 12:22, Prov. 17:15] If necessary, we should be ready to suffer and die for the truth.

2. _A Charitable Judgment of Others._ We should

APOLOGIZE FOR OUR NEIGHBOR, and defend him when his character is unjustly a.s.sailed. [Matt. 7:12, Prov. 31:8, 9] We must be careful, however, not to excuse or make light of sin. [Isa. 5:20+] We should

SPEAK WELL OF HIM whenever we can do so truthfully. We should speak of his virtues rather than of his faults. [Matt. 7:1, 2+, Jas. 4:11] If we cannot speak well of him, then, unless it is absolutely necessary, we had better not speak of him at all. We should

PUT THE MOST CHARITABLE CONSTRUCTION ON ALL HIS ACTIONS. [I Pet. 4:8+, I Cor. 13:4-7, Gal. 6:1] We should, as far as possible, make the best and not the worst of what our neighbor says and does. We should think and speak of him only in kindness.

QUESTIONS.--1. What a the object of this commandment? 2. What does it forbid? 3. What does it command? 4. What is the worst form of lying? 5.

What is included under false witness? 6. What is meant by belying our neighbor? 7. What is to be said about betraying him? 8. What is to be said about slander and the slanderer? 9. Define a lie. 10. In what ways do men speak and act lies? 11. Why should we be truthful? 12. What is to be said about apologizing for our neighbor? 13. What rule should we follow in speaking of others? 14. How should we think and speak of our neighbor?

SCRIPTURE VERSES.--Eph. 4:25. Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another.

Prov. 22:1. A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches, and loving favour rather than silver and gold.

Ps. 34:13. Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips from speaking guile.

Prov. 11:13. A talebearer revealeth secrets: but he that is of a faithful spirit concealeth the matter.

Exod. 23:1. Thou shalt not raise a false report: put not thine hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness.

Matt. 7:3-5. And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye.

Prov. 25:18. A man that beareth false witness against his neighbour is a maul, and a sword, and a sharp arrow.

Col. 3:9. Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds.

Is. 5:20. Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!

Matt. 7:1, 2. Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.

I Pet. 4:8. And above all things have fervent charity among yourselves: for charity shall cover the mult.i.tude of sins.

READING.--The False Witnesses against Stephen, Acts 6:8-15.

ILl.u.s.tRATIONS.--_False Witness_: Against Christ, Matt. 26:60; against Naboth, I Kings 21:10; against Paul, Acts 25:7. _Slander_: Absalom against David, II Sam. 15:1 seq.; _Lying_: Jacob, Gen. 27:19; Jacob's Sons, Gen. 37:32. _Betrayal_: Judas. _Speaking well_: Jonathan, I Sam.

19:4.

CHAPTER XIII.

THE NINTH AND TENTH COMMANDMENTS.

A RIGHT HEART.

Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house.

_What is meant by this Commandment?_

We should so fear and love G.o.d as not to desire by craftiness to gain possession of our neighbor's inheritance or home, or to obtain it under the pretext of a legal right; but be ready to a.s.sist and serve him in the preservation of his own.

Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maid-servant, nor his ox, nor his a.s.s, nor anything that is thy neighbor's.

_What is meant by this Commandment?_

We should so fear and love G.o.d as not to alienate our neighbor's wife from him, entice away his servants, nor let loose his cattle, but use our endeavors that they may remain and discharge their duty to him.

Both these commandments forbid coveting; hence, we may consider them together. They deal with the root and source of all sin; namely, the evil l.u.s.ts and desires of the heart. [Matt. 15:19+, Jas. 1:14, 15]

THE OBJECT of these two commandments is to emphasize the necessity of a right state of heart. [I Sam. 16:7+, Matt. 5:5] All the commandments must, indeed, be kept in thought as well as in word and deed. But by adding these two special commandments against coveting, G.o.d desires to impress upon us most strongly that wrong thoughts and desires make us guilty before Him. We are not keeping G.o.d's commandments unless we are free from the _desire_ to transgress them. As a man "thinketh in his heart, so is he." [Prov. 23:7]

THE HEART BY NATURE SINFUL. We are born with a sinful nature and a natural inclination to evil (Original sin), which we have inherited from our ancestors as a result of the fall into sin. [John 3:6+, Jer. 17:9]

This natural inclination to evil manifests itself in wrong thoughts and desires which arise in the heart. [Rom. 7:18, 19+] These wrong desires or l.u.s.ts are in themselves sinful: and if they are not subdued, they lead to sins of words and deeds. [Jas. 1:14, 15+]

These commandments _forbid_ us to covet anything that is our neighbor's.

They _command_ us to a.s.sist and serve him in retaining his own.

I. WHAT IS FORBIDDEN.

COVETING, To covet means to desire what we have no right to have. To wish to obtain something in a lawful way is not coveting. But we must not have

1. _An Unlawful Desire_ [Gal. 5:24+] for our neighbor's possessions, whether it be his property, wife, servants, cattle, or anything that is his. We must not envy him on account of them, nor begrudge them to him, nor wish that we had them in his stead. We must not make

2. _Any Attempt to Gratify such Unlawful Desires_ and TO GAIN POSSESSION OF OUR NEIGHBOR'S INHERITANCE OR HOME

BY CRAFTINESS, shrewdness, cunning, deceit and the like. [Prov. 15:6]