Prof. Hanko is professor of Church History and New Testament in the Protestant Reformed Seminary.

The problem of lying has always been a subject of discussion and a source of disagreement in the church. This is not because Scripture is not clear on the fact that lying is wrong; even the person who has but a passing acquaintance with Scripture knows that the lie is condemned as being contrary to the will of God and unacceptable in the life of the sanctified child of God. The problem really arises out of the fact that Scripture itself records instances of lying which are not specifically condemned on the pages of Holy Writ; and this seems to suggest that, under certain circumstances, lying can be acceptable.

That lying is a problem of no little importance is evident from the fact that even among unbelievers attention is paid to this growing characteristic of modern life. A couple of years ago, in its February 23, 1987 issue, U.S. News & World Report devoted a feature article of eight pages to this subject under the title, “A Nation of Liars?” The subtitle read: “Government officials dissemble. Scientists falsify research. Workers alter career credentials to get jobs. What’s going on here? The answer, a growing number of social critics fear, is an alarming decline in basic honesty.”

To the list of lies which U.S. News & World Reportmentions could, of course, be added many more instances of lying. People lie in their income tax returns. Students lie in their applications for financial aid. Companies lie in their commercials aired over TV and radio. Doctors lie to their patients. Welfare recipients lie to social agencies. Criminals lie to judges, courts, and probation authorities. Lawyers lie in their defense of criminals in the courts. Students cheat on tests, exams, and homework. The list could go on and on. U.S. News & World Report even suggests the possibility that the prevalence of lying is rooted deeply in the changing social fabric of the country. Where once basic honesty was accepted and a man’s word could, generally speaking, be relied on, the shift from education in moral values and the breakdown of family life have resulted in a nation of liars who are willing to lie for reasons of cowardice, self-advancement, and the desire to defame their neighbors. The lie has now been accepted as a normal part of life and little thought is given to it any longer, except that people have become cynical about everything they hear from government, big business, employers, and their fellow men.

In this respect also the child of God is called to live the life of the antithesis and “speak the truth in love” (Ephesians 4:15, 25).

But even in the Christian’s calling to speak the truth, problems arise. Does not God’s Word itself approve of lies under certain circumstances? Scripture tells us that Rahab lied to the police when they came to her house looking for the spies (Joshua 2:3-6), and Scripture calls her a woman of faith (Hebrews 11:31, James 2:25). The midwives lied to the servants of Pharaoh to save the male children of the Israelites, but were blessed by God (Exodus 1:17-21). The woman of Bahurim lied to the servants of Absalom when Jonathan and Ahimaaz were hid in the well of their farm as they were carrying a message of Hushai to David, a message which was instrumental in saving David’s life (II Samuel 17:20).

These instances of Scripture are often cited to prove the point that, under certain circumstances, a lie is not only justifiable, but also pleasing in God’s sight. And, following this line of reasoning, it is argued that circumstances must dictate when we tell the truth and when we are permitted to lie. For example, in times of war, lying is not wrong. When the Netherlands was occupied by the Nazis, many Dutch hid Jews and downed allied pilots in their homes and lied to storm troopers who came to their doors looking for these escapees. Spies are, in the very nature of their work, required to live a lie—just as the spies did who searched the land of Canaan prior to the conquest. This same line of reasoning is used to justify lying to a desperately ill patient if the knowledge of the seriousness of the illness would make the patient worse. It is used to justify lying to the authorities in government if the goal is the protection of the innocent. Ministers lie to the government if their churches are being used to hide illegal aliens, and this is done in the name of a higher justice which seeks the welfare of the oppressed and downtrodden. Pro-life people lie to government officials when their campaigns against abortion result in the bombing of abortion clinics. A higher standard of right and wrong requires us to lie under certain instances. A noble end justifies a wrong means to attain it.

This idea can, of course, be carried to various extremes. I remember reading in a book some time ago that the circumstances indeed had to dictate whether or not a person was actually telling a lie. The author used two illustrations. One was the illustration of a Dutch family which hid a downed airman in a closet in the house. When the Gestapo came to inquire whether a certain downed airman was in the home of this family, the father answered with a firm No. This, according to the author, was the truth because not a downed airman was hiding in the closet, but a quivering, fear-filled mass of cells. The other illustration was of a farmer who was watching his fields wither and die because of a severe drought. A visitor and the farmer were surveying the fields when rain began to fall, although it was a rather light drizzle. When the visitor commented on the fact that it was raining, the farmer responded with an emphatic No. The farmer was telling the truth because the drizzle would do his crops no good, and, in relation to these crops, dying for lack of moisture, no rain was falling for the moisture was insufficient to do his crops any good. In such a way circumstances determine whether a statement is a lie or the truth.

In order to sort out these things, there are a few truths in Scripture which we must briefly mention.

The first of these is that God Himself is Truth. That is, He is Truth in Himself. God is Truth in Himself because truth is that which corresponds with reality, and God is Himself not only the highest Reality, but the only Reality. He is the eternal God Who alone has existence in Himself and the fountain and source of His existence within His own divine being.

Because He created all things as the revelation of Himself, created reality reveals this truth which is in God. Adam was formed in God’s image so that He could know the truth of creation, know it as the truth of God, and speak that truth as God’s prophet. For Adam truth was whatever conformed to the reality of God’s revelation of Himself in the creation.

The lie originates with Satan. He came into Paradise to tempt Eve and he used the lie to persuade Eve to disobey God. He contradicted God’s Word and accused God of lying when he said to Eve, “Ye shall not surely die: for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil” (Genesis 3:4, 5). When Eve accepted this lie of Satan, she became a party in the lie and chose to stand with Satan in calling God a liar. This is why Jesus later accused the Pharisees: “Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie he speaketh of his own; for he is a liar, and the father of it” (John 8:44). For this reason our Heidelberg Catechism tells us that the ninth commandment enjoins us to “avoid all sorts of lies and deceit, as the proper works of the devil” (Q. & A. 112).

The point is that the lie has now become the normal and only possible conduct of the sinner. It is in his very nature to lie. In fact, he can, apart from grace, do nothing but lie. He denies reality as it exists in creation as God’s revelation for He denies God Himself. And he hates the truth as it is in Christ and revealed in the Scriptures. How clear this is to parents, for example, in the spiritual instruction of their children. It soon becomes evident to parents that lying comes naturally to children. They do not have to be taught to lie. They do not have to be given special instruction in the art of lying. They know how to lie without being told. Almost from the first moment they are able to communicate, they lie. To teach them to tell the truth is the difficult thing. Every effort must be bent to do this, and yet parents often feel as if they are running against a stone wall, for to tell the truth goes contrary to the entire nature of a child. To teach a child to tell the truth is like forcing a plant to grow towards the ground rather than towards the sun.

Christ is the revelation of the truth as it is in God. He even says of Himself: “I am the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6); and John says of Christ that “We beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). As the revelation of the truth, He is the revelation of God as the God Who saves His people. Thus, through Him, the sanctified believer is given the spiritual power to tell the truth. Jesus prays, “And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth” (John 17:19). This surely means that Christ enables His people to know and love the truth as it is in Him and given to us in Scripture; i.e., to know the truth as a body of doctrine which is given to the church. But it also means that that same truth sanctifies, so that God’s people are enabled to speak that truth, to speak so that all they say is in harmony with reality.

Scripture often equates darkness with the lie and light with the truth. The world lives in the darkness of the lie. God’s people are the light of the world and are enabled to shine in this dark world as a light because the light of the truth shines through them. The truth which they confess and speak is that great light shining in a very dark place.

A brief survey of what Scripture has to say about lying will convince us that lying is always wrong.

Already in the law given by Moses, lying was condemned: “Ye shall not steal, neither deal falsely, neither lie one to another” (Leviticus 19:11). Proverbs speaks often of lying. In chapter Prov. 12:22 Solomon says, “Lying lips are abomination to the Lord: but they that deal truly are his delight.” In Prov. 24:28 we read: “Be not a witness against thy neighbor without cause: and deceive not with thy lips.” In Prov. 13:5 the truth and the lie are contrasted: “A righteous man hateth lying: but a wicked man is loathsome, and cometh to shame.” And in Prov. 12:19: “The lip of truth shall be established forever: but a lying tongue is but for a moment.” The relation between lying and the breaking of the ninth commandment is clearly set forth in Prov. 14:5, 25: “A faithful witness will not lie: but a false witness will utter lies. A true witness delivereth souls: but a deceitful witness speaketh lies.” In chapter Prov. 6:16-19 lying is said to be one of seven sins which the Lord hates.

God’s anger against lying is often expressed in Scripture. In Psalm 5:6, the Psalmist says, “Thou shalt destroy them that speak leasing (lies): the Lord will abhor the bloody and deceitful man.” God Himself speaks through the Psalmist in Psalm 119:163: “I hate and abhor lying: but thy law do I love.” And the Psalmist prays, “Deliver my soul, O Lord, from lying lips, and from a deceitful tongue” (Psalm 120:2). Ananias and Sapphira were killed because of their lies (Acts 5:3-5). And, again, in Proverbs, God says: “A false witness shall not be unpunished, and he that speaketh lies shall perish” (Prov. 19:9).

From all this it is clear that Scripture forbids lying without any exception and lying ought to have no place in the life of God’s people. God’s fierce anger rests upon the liar, for He hates all forms of lying. The truth alone must always be found in the mouths of God’s people.