Lessons in the Small Catechism of Dr. Martin Luther For the Senior Department of Lutheran Sunday-Schools and for General Use · George Mezger
LESSON 9.
The Eighth Commandment. Which is the Eighth Commandment? _Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor._ What does this mean? _We should fear and love God that we may not deceitfully belie, betray, slander, nor defame our neighbor, but defend him, speak well, of him, and put the best construction on everything._ 1. _"Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor,"_ that is the command of our heavenly Father in the Eighth Commandment. _False witness_ is any false statement against our neighbor, anything false and deceitful that we say against him. A _false_ statement is saying something that is not true; it is a statement _against_ our neighbor when it will harm him, or hurt his good name, or deprive him of it altogether.--False witness comes out of an evil _heart,_ a heart that is false and insincere against our neighbor. We should not even _think evil_ of him. _"Let none of you imagine evil in your hearts against your neighbor."_ Zech. 8,17. If we love God and for His sake our neighbor, we shall always think well of him, even if he is our enemy.
2. We can bear false witness against our neighbor in many ways. Our Catechism explains: "We should fear and love God that we may not deceitfully belie, betray, slander nor defame our neighbor."--_We should not belie our neighbor. Potiphar's wife_ belied Joseph. She told her husband a lie about Joseph, saying that he had tried to wrong her. She did so in order to harm Joseph, to bring him into prison.--_We should not lie,_ we should never wilfully and knowingly tell an untruth, or withhold the truth from our neighbor to harm him. Be careful always to tell the truth. Our Lord tells us that the _devil_ is a liar and the father of it. John 8,44. If you tell a lie, you do the work of the devil. Remember that you are a child of God and that a child of God fears and loves his heavenly Father. God hates all liars and will most certainly punish them. _"He that telleth lies shall not tarry [remain] in My sight,"_ says the Lord Ps. 101,7. 3. _We should not betray our neighbor._ We should not reveal his secrets, not tell others what our neighbor does not want other people to know. It shows a false and deceitful heart against our brother to reveal his secret sins. _"A talebearer revealeth secrets; but he that is of a faithful spirit concealeth the matter."_ Prov. 11,13.
4. _We should not slander nor defame our neighbor._ We are not to speak evil against our brother behind his back, when he is not present and therefore not able to defend himself. Even if the evil which we tell of him be true, we should not tell others of it. Holy Scripture admonishes us: _"Speak not evil one of another, brethren."_ Jas. 4,11. Because we are brethren, we should not speak evil, but well, of one another. If we slander and backbite our neighbor, speak evil of him when he is not present, we _defame_ him, that is, we harm his good name; it is our fault if other people will think evil of him. We are all much inclined to these sins; therefore beware of backbiting and slandering your neighbor. Honor and a good name are easily taken away, but not easily restored. 5. We should never speak against our neighbor to harm and injure him, but we are to speak _for_ him. _We should defend him._ When in our presence anybody speaks evil of our brother behind his back, so that this brother cannot speak for himself, we should not remain silent, but speak for him, defend him against all false statements and lies uttered against him. We should never allow our neighbor to be slandered in our presence.
6. _We should speak well of our neighbor._ We are to speak well of his good works and deeds, to praise them as far as it can be done in keeping with the truth. Especially when others speak evil of our brother, when they slander and defame him, we ought to take his part and speak well of him, so that he may keep his good name. We read of Jonathan, David's friend: _"And Jonathan spake good of David unto Saul, his father_ [who was David's enemy and wanted to kill him], _and said unto him, Let not the king sin against his servant, against David, because he hath not sinned against thee, and because his works have been to thee-ward_ [towards you] _very good."_ 1 Sam. 19,4. And in verse 6 we read that Saul listened to Jonathan and resolved not to kill David. Owing to Jonathan's good words, then, David was safe for a while. The Jews who asked Jesus to heal the servant of the centurion spoke highly of him. They besought the Lord instantly to hear the prayer of the centurion, saying, _"That he was worthy for whom He should do this, for he loveth our nation, and he hath built us a synagog."_ Luke 7,4.5. In the same way we should speak well of our neighbor and praise him.
7. _We should put the best construction on everything_ that we hear of our neighbor, or that we see him doing. We should put the best construction on everything, that is, in love and charity we should cover his faults and not make too much of them. We should explain all his words and deeds in his favor as far as this can be done in keeping with the truth. _"Charity shall cover the multitude of sins."_ 1 Pet 4,9. True love and charity always thinks the best of the neighbor, always hopes for the best, and will suffer wrong rather than do wrong. _"Charity believeth all things, hopeth all things endureth all things."_ 1 Cor. 13,7. It is a noble virtue to explain as best you can all you may hear of your neighbor. 8. In this commandment God demands of us, His children, many good works which are well-pleasing to Him, if only we would recognize them. There is nothing which can do both greater good or harm in all matters than our tongue, though it is such a small and feeble member of our body. _1. If we love God and, for His sake, our neighbor, we shall always think well of him, even though he is our enemy._ _2. A child of God should never tell a lie. God hates a liar and will punish him._
_3. Always speak well of your neighbor, defend him if he is falsely accused, and explain his deeds and words in his favor._ _4. "There is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O Lord, Thou knowest it altogether."_ Ps. 139,4. _Let none of you imagine evil in your hearts against his neighbor._ Zech. 8,17. _Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbor._ Eph. 4,25. _Speak not evil one of another, brethren._ Jas. 4,11. _Charity shall cover the multitude of sins._ 1 Pet. 4,8.
Text from Project Gutenberg, public domain in the United States.