The Sin Of Lying

LYING, FALSEHOOD, ERROR, DECEIT

I. Representative Biblical references.

A. Old Testament

Exod. 20:16 - "you shall not bear false witness against your neighbor."
Prov. 6:12 - "a worthless person, a wicked man,...one with a false mouth"
Prov. 12:22 - "lying lips are an abomination to the Lord"

B. Varying Greek words in New Testament.

1. Greek words pseudes, pseudomai, pseudos, pseustes - false, lie

Eph. 4:25 - "laying aside falsehood, speak truth, each one of you"

Col. 3:9 - "do not lie to one another...you have laid aside old self"

I Jn. 2:22 -"Who is the liar...the one who denies Jesus is the Christ"

2. Greek words apatao, apate, exapatao - deceive

Eph. 4:22 - "old man corrupted with lusts of deceit"

Eph. 5:6 - "let no one deceive you with empty words"

Gal. 6:3 - "if anyone thinks he is something...deceives himself"

C. Greek words plane, planos - deception, error

Matt. 24:4 - "see to it that no one misleads you"

Gal. 6:7 - "Do not be deceived, God is not mocked"

Eph. 4:14 - "trickery of men, craftiness in deceitful scheming"

D. Greek words dolios, dolioo, dolos, doloo - false, deceitful

Mk. 7:22 - "from heart of man proceed deeds of deceit"

II Cor. 11:3 - "as serpent deceived Eve..you might be led astray"

I Pet. 2:1 - "putting aside all guile (deceit) and hypocrisy


The Sin of Lying

The end of Revelation is a glorious climax to this book of prophecy as well as the Bible itself. Overwhelmed at the grandeur of a majestic God, John breathlessly describes the New Jerusalem, a glorious fortress made of clear jasper towering above a radically reshaped planet. In the midst of marveling the Apostle records three strong admonitions.

(1) In Revelation 21:8 John warns “But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.” In other words those who habitually practice such deeds will not inherit eternal life.

(2)Later, John describes the character of those unfit to enter the pearly gates in Revelation 21:26-27, “no one who practices abomination and lying, shall ever come into it.”

(3)Finally, in Revelation 22:15 John records the words of Jesus Christ who reminds the Apostle of the nature of those who do not reside in the heavenly city, “Outside are the dogs and the sorcerers and the immoral persons and the murderers and the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices lying.” Only one sin makes all three lists. It’s an iniquity which is not expressly manifest. It’s a sin which obscures the truth and can only be exposed by the light of truth. That sin is the sin of lying.

According to Webster’s to lie means: “to make an untrue statement with intent to deceive or to create a false or misleading impression.” Now this is something which we do all the time. For instance, many women lie about their age. A multitude of men tell tall tales about their athletic accomplishments way back in high school. Test taking high school students deceive their teachers by using cheat sheets. Tax payers misinform to the IRS about how much money they make. Children lie to their parents about why they didn’t get their chores done on time. Parents fib when attempting to excuse themselves for missing another ball game to their disappointed children.

Not convicted yet? How do you respond to the following question, “How are you feeling?” You may have a 104 fever, a tooth ache, and sciatic pain shooting down your spine but you grin and say “Great!” Why? - because you don’t want to trouble others with the details of your life. All of these examples constitute a purposeful distortion of the truth.

So what is the big deal in telling a little lie? Of all the sins in the world why does God pick on this one? Well there are a few answers to this question.

First of all, liars do not trust in God. Consider Abraham who lied to Abimelech by calling Sara his sister to “protect her” from harm. Bear in mind, God promised to bring about a great nation through his wife. Yet, instead of trusting in the promises of God, Abraham took matters into his own hands and told a lie.

The second reason God hates lying is because He is a God of truth. He is trustworthy and reliable in both word and deed. Therefore, if we are to be holy as He is holy (Lev. 19:2) we must emulate this attribute. For a Christian to lie is to distort the character of God which he represents to a fallen world.

A third reason why God hates liars is because they destroy the community of Christians. Proverbs 25:18 states “Like a club and a sword and a sharp arrow Is a man who bears false witness against his neighbor.” Trust is a fundamental virtue which must be manifested within every Christian community. We need to trust our small group as we disclose our struggles, we trust Jack to preach the Word with accuracy, and we trust volunteers to fulfill their promises to show up to ministry functions. But, when people lie and fail to fulfill their commitment the dandelions of distrust surface upon the green grass of the church. Distrust will result in the breakdown of the body of Christ. Love is replaced with suspicion, and dependence is substituted with a “do it myself” attitude.

A final reason why God takes lying seriously is that this sin enslaves the liar. Lies are like Lay’s potato chips — no one can have just one. When someone tells a lie, he must utter another fabrication to cover it up. With great speed the liar spins a tangled web of falsehood which envelops himself. Only the sharp sword of truth can cut him free.

God loathes lying for many reasons. Liars do not trust Him, they distort Him, they devastate the church, and they destroy themselves. Therefore, men and women of Calvary — take the truth seriously in all aspects of life and heed to the words of Thomas Watson, “He that will lie in his trade (profession, studies, marriage, etc.) shall lie in hell.”