Thou shall not bear false witness against your neighbor (Ex.

20:16)

- We shall fear and love God that we should not deceitfully deceive, betray, slander, or
defame our neighbor, but that we may defend Him, speak well of Him, and make the
best of all things
- It mainly focuses on the serious, disruptive perversions of the truth that are
fundamentally damaging to the life of the family, the community, and society.

What is truth?

Truth is a statement that corresponds to reality, thus if the sea is blue and we say “the sea is
blue” this statement is said to be true because it corresponds to what actually is.

The Old Testament attests that God is the source of all truth. His Word is truth. His Law is truth.
His "faithfulness endures to all generations." 

Since God is "true," the members of his people are called to live in the truth.

Truth as uprightness in human action and speech is called truthfulness, sincerity, or candor.
Truth or truthfulness is the virtue which consists in showing oneself true in deeds and truthful in
words, and in guarding against duplicity, dissimulation, and hypocrisy -CCC 2468 (Catechism
of the catholic church)

We may take these notions for granted, but if we understand the hypocrisy that the dictionary
describes as “maintaining or pretending to maintain behaviors or beliefs that we do not hold,” we
soon recognize that honesty is an utterly essential element in the foundation of our social
relations. Written contracts can bind people to perform such acts, but the easiest day-to-day
encounters would be impossible if we could not rely on each other to say the truth.

The duty of Christians to take part in the life of the Church urges them to serve as witnesses of
the Gospel and of the responsibilities which flow from it. This witness is the transmission of faith
through words and deeds. Witness is an act of justice that creates or makes clear the facts.

Bearing Witness to Truth

The functioning of society presupposes that men tell each other the truth. If there was no shared
belief that we would tell each other the truth, any sort of community would be unlikely.
Therefore, truth is a required requirement for any civil intercourse between individuals only on a
natural level.

In the life of the Christian, the obligation to bear witness to the truth is related to the command of
Christ to teach the truth to all men. "In situations that require witness to the faith, Christians
must confess it without equivocation, following the example of St. Paul before his judges" (CCC
2471).

Martyrdom is the supreme witness to the truth and is a bearing witness even unto death. By his
death, the martyr bears witness to Christ, to the truth of the faith and to the teaching of the
Church. Every people have a legitimate right to life and an obligation to protect their lives, but
the call to bear witness to the reality of the faith is stronger, and so, when the faith is in doubt, it
is easier to die than to reject its truth.

Offenses Against Truth

The disciples of Christ are called to "throw away lies" (Eph. 4:25) and not to say or do
something injurious to the reality. There are many ways in which one may sin against the facts,
all of them dealing with reverence for the integrity of others:

1. Calumny – is which is lying about another, and causing others to form false negative
opinions of the individual. In civil law, it is called slander, but it is always wrong, even if
there is no civil penalty attached.

2. Detraction - which is telling the faults of another to those who have no reason to know
the information

3. Rash judgment - which assumes without proof – someone has done wrong

4. False witness - is a statement contrary to the truth told in court. If it is done under oath,
it becomes perjury. Lies told in public take on a particular gravity, and both are mortal
sins, especially when they harm an innocent person.

5. Flattery, adulation or complaisance - are forbidden and become grave when they
confirm another in wicked deeds. They are venial sins if they only seek to be agreeable
or to avoid evil.

6. Boasting or bragging - is an offense against truth, as are irony and sarcasm aimed at
disparaging someone by maliciously caricaturing some aspect of his behavior.

Many of these offences had to do with destroying the reputation and honor of one's
neighbor. Honor is a social witness to human honor. Everyone enjoys a natural right to
respect and honor his name and reputation. Destroying of them offends the eighth
commandment
Insight:

Today we have before us the 8th commandment, “You shall not bear false testimony against
your neighbor,” which deals with more than just lying about someone or spreading rumors
about someone. It is at the core of this commandment that we either defend or sabotage the
identity and dignity of our fellow man with our tongues, whether Christian or non-Christian.
At the heart of this commandment is our continuing drift into judgmental, subjectively
expressing the truth as “we see it,” rather than speaking the verifiable truth as God has
expressed it, which still serves the eternal good. The 8th commandment, “You shall not bear
false testimony against your neighbor.” Luther’s explanation in the Small Catechism is as
follows: “We should fear and love God that we do not tell lies about our neighbor, betray
him, or give him a bad name, but defend him, speak well of him, and take his words and
actions in the kindest possible way.”

Right now, when we hear this commandment, we should think about the courtroom, the
most popular image for evidence and judgment. There’s a judge in every courtroom, and the
judge isn’t just someone off the street, It is someone who has been selecting, either by
election or by nomination, to act as the person who considers the evidence and decides in
cases, the one who was expecting to be blind to the people in front of them, and the clear-
eyed and sober-minded for the administration of the law. Everyone else in the courtroom
who is not a judge, whether a lawyer, a witness, a complainant, a criminal, no matter who
everyone else is a victim, a witness, people who are guilty of merely saying their side of the
case as they know it. And it’s the job of the attorney to prepare the witnesses so that they
don’t waver a bit when they take that stand. They are aware of what, and they will take the
truth to the judge or jury and make it public.

Our tongues are powerful. They can bless and encourage people to trust or mistrust.
Friends of Christ, we are witnesses. Use our tongue, which has immense power both to
save and to destroy, to use our tongue not only to preserve the name and reputation of your
fellow man but also to uphold and honor the name of your God, whom you are witnesses in
your speech and acts.

https://els.org/beliefs/luthers-small-catechism/the-ten-commandments/