Archived Daily Manna | Rejoice Fellowship | A mission to release people to rejoice in the world.

Message: Let us look for a moment at the question of whether important Bible verses should be simplified. Starting with the earliest English language Bible, the Ninth Commandment has usually been translated, “You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor,” and that is probably closer to the actual meaning of the commandment than the translation given above. But there are a lot of people to whom “false testimony against your neighbor” is practically meaningless, while “Do not tell lies about other people” is clearly understandable to anyone. And for a person educated enough to understand “false testimony against your neighbor” — well, we don’t want to put too fine a definition on it, or we will end up debating whether a damaging falsehood about another person is “testimony,” or whether a person is our “neighbor.” This is the mistake of the Pharisees, who were experts at finding tiny distinctions in the Law and did so until it became a literal formula, until the spirit of the Law was dead. So for practical purposes, simplification of a Bible verse is justified, and perhaps to be preferred. On the other hand, when one embarks on a deeper study of the Bible (as we are doing today), the more accurate translation may be superior. Specifically, the Hebrews at Mt. Sinai were in a radically different position from the modern Christian. At the time of today’s Scripture, the Hebrews were in a state of emergency. A group of people who find themselves stranded and in some degree of danger have unusual problems. Even where they have the benefit of coming from a society, they find it difficult to agree on anything, and the drama resulting has formed the plot of innumerable novels and movies. Forming a society is hard, because every person knows the right thing to do — only it is different from everyone else’s. False Witness The Ten Commandments were originally a basic, concrete code to get the great unruly mass of Hebrews started on the road to living as God intends them to. They need to have at least the most fundamental black-and-white laws to govern their relationship with God and each other. So, God gives them a beginning. The ten laws are the irreducible, absolute bedrock of Hebrew civilization and, by extension, any civilization that would follow God’s will. They are thus things we should never do (or always be sure to do), but they are not comprehensive. And in fact, our understanding of them is broader and more developed than what the Hebrews could possibly absorb. The teachings of Jesus are especially critical in the transition of our understanding. (E.g. Matthew 5-7.) By the time of His life, humanity was prepared to accept the “spirit” of the Law. So the simplified statement, “Do not tell (harmful) lies about other people,” is theoretically correct and possibly superior as a moral law for us; yet, nevertheless, it was not the commandment given to the Hebrews. Can we say, then, that it is more important that we not give false “testimony” — a statement of fact given to a person or some sort of court with legal ramifications — than that we do not lie about where we were last night? Yes, we can. The Law given to the Hebrews were critically important. And people from all societies in all of history have a powerful impulse to lie to authorities when such a lie would help out a friend (or ourselves). This would apply not just to a court, but to our boss, a teacher — anyone in authority. Honesty is a well-known virtue in general. But when dishonesty results in injustice, where the wrong person is absolved or rewarded, and the deserving person is ignored or the guilty party absolved, it is even worse. We put ourselves above the law; we make our own interests more important than God. It is hard not to lie to save ourselves from the consequences of our actions. It is hard to tell a friend or family member, “I am not going to lie to save you.” But God puts false swearing on the same list as murder and stealing. Since God made this a bedrock rule of His law, it is a challenge we must prepare ourselves to meet. With the coming of Christ, and His emphasis on the spirit of the Law, however, we can broaden our modern understanding of the Ten Commandments, and “do not tell lies about other people” seems like a pretty good statement of Biblical morality.