BELIE him, that is, tell an untruth about him.
BETRAY. [Prov. 11:13+, Prov. 24:28] We must not abuse our neighbor's confidence by revealing his innocent secrets, and thus annoying or harming him. One who pretends to be another's friend, and yet betrays him, is acting a lie. We dare not, however, hide crime; and we must tell what we know about others if the court, or parents, or persons who have a right to know, inquire of us.
SLANDER NOR RAISE INJURIOUS REPORTS. [Exod. 23:1+, Lev. 19:16, Ps. 15:1-3] We must not invent nor repeat false reports concerning our neighbor. We must not say behind his back what we fear to say to his face. We must not magnify his faults, [Matt. 7:3-5] nor impute evil motives to him, nor make his words and conduct look as bad as possible. The slanderer is worse than a thief and causes incalculable suffering and misery. [Prov. 25:18+, Jas. 3:5-8] We should remember that words once spoken live on for good or evil, and cannot be unsaid; and that we must give an account to God for every word we speak. [Matt. 12:36]
2. Lying of Any Kind. A lie is a conscious falsehood uttered with the purpose of deceiving. It may be acted as well as spoken. [Prov. 6:13] We must not deceive nor try to deceive others by telling an untruth, by hiding the truth or a part of it, by hypocrisy, flattery, boasting, broken promises, conventional lies, "white lies," "lies of necessity," guesses given as facts, etc.
II. WHAT IS COMMANDED.
1. Truthfulness. Truth is of God; [Deut. 32:4] lying is of the devil. [John 8:44] As children of God we must be truthful. [Col. 3:9+] A liar is an abomination in God's sight. [Prov. 12:22, Prov. 17:15] If necessary, we should be ready to suffer and die for the truth.
2. A Charitable Judgment of Others. We should
APOLOGIZE FOR OUR NEIGHBOR, and defend him when his character is unjustly assailed. [Matt. 7:12, Prov. 31:8, 9] We must be careful, however, not to excuse or make light of sin. [Isa. 5:20+] We should
SPEAK WELL OF HIM whenever we can do so truthfully. We should speak of his virtues rather than of his faults. [Matt. 7:1, 2+, Jas. 4:11] If we cannot speak well of him, then, unless it is absolutely necessary, we had better not speak of him at all. We should
PUT THE MOST CHARITABLE CONSTRUCTION ON ALL HIS ACTIONS. [I Pet. 4:8+, I Cor. 13:4-7, Gal. 6:1] We should, as far as possible, make the best and not the worst of what our neighbor says and does. We should think and speak of him only in kindness.