Eckhardt's Homiletisches Reallexikon, 1907–1917

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The Eighth Commandment. Treatises. Selbstunterricht 61. Ma. 24, 238. Mezg. 60-65. Proof texts, [--]. Practical pointers, Schulb. 41, 163. Proverbs, [--]. Brunn 120-128. Luth. 51, 55-56. Schmidt 1, [--]. Dallmann 194-219. Baier 3, 366. What do the words say? [--] 196. Misuse of the tongue, Luth. 34, 11-12. [Conduct of] pastors toward one another according to the Eighth Commandment, Ma. 24, 314-320. Outlines 97. Dannhauer, Kat. 323-355. The Eighth Commandment.

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32. You shall not bear false witness. Matt. 19:18. Mark 10:19. -- "You," that is, every person. Min. 95, 14. Note a. This commandment protects our [good] name, one of the highest earthly goods. Prov. 22:1: a good name is more desirable than great riches. Eccl. 7:1: better than precious ointment. -- A good name can be lost in an instant, but is hard to earn back. Note b. It should not be all the same to us whether we have a good or a bad name among men. We should have a good report among those who are outside.

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33. Speaking false witness. By this is forbidden everything by which the good name of one's neighbor is damaged. Note a. A testimony is a statement about a matter, made on the basis of a request for it. Note b. "Against your neighbor" means to his harm. Note c. Accordingly false witness is a deceptive testimony: 1. every untrue statement, whether meant well or ill, 2. every true statement that comes from a false heart, meant to harm one's neighbor. Note d. False witness can also be given through gestures, a shrug of the shoulders, a contemptuous laugh. Note e. "To speak testimony," "to answer testimony," is a legal expression. The Eighth Commandment deals chiefly with testimony before a court. Note f. Yet one should also speak the truth outside of court, everywhere. Note g. Speaking false witness in church belongs to the Second Commandment: lying and deceiving in God's name. Note h. Pastors should not bear false witness against one another. 34. Before a court, false witness can be borne by: a. the witness, when he speaks of things he does not know, cannot prove, testifies to what is true as untrue, tells the truth with the intent of harming his neighbor, passes over in silence points on which much depends. Jezebel's witnesses, 1 Kings 21:10. Witnesses against Stephen, Acts 6:11, against Christ, Stockh. A. T. 117-118. The story of Susanna, 36-40. Note a. Atheists cannot appear as witnesses in some states. Note b. Threat: Prov. 19:5: a false witness shall not go unpunished. 21:28: shall perish. Deut. 19:18 [likely]. Story, Pio. 1890, 27; b. the accuser, when he brings charges without grounds or on false grounds. Luke 23:2. John 18:29-30; c. the accused, when he denies his misdeed. Prov. 28:13: [he that covers his sins shall not prosper]. Does not confess, glosses over the matter; d. the judge, when he 1. renders judgments without having heard both sides impartially, 2. justifies the wicked and condemns the righteous. Prov. 17:15. The story of Susanna, 53. 3. lets himself be influenced by fear, a desire to please men, or gifts. John 19:12: if you let this man go, you are not Caesar's friend. Pilate is a faithful image of the judges of this world. Stockh. Pass. 137-138. Acts 24:27: Felix wanted to do the Jews a favor. -- Lev. 19:15: do not honor the great. Deut. 1:17: respect no person. 16:19: take no gifts. Exod. 23:8. 2 Chron. 19:7. 1 Sam. 8:3; e. the lawyers, when they take up an unjust cause for the purpose of acquitting the guilty, represent good causes as bad, etc.; [f.] the jurors, when they render an unjust verdict.

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35. Lying. Lying means consciously and deliberately denying the truth in order to deceive one's neighbor, and this always comes from a false heart. Ma. 24, 240. Mezg. 61. Brunn 122. Examples: Sarah, Stockh. A. T. 24. Absalom, 2 Sam. 15:3. Gehazi, 2 Kings 5:22, Jo. 1906, 69. Jezebel. The false witnesses against Christ. Peter. The guards at the tomb. Potiphar's wife. Did Abraham lie? Gen. 20:2, Jo. 1904, 42, 1906, 50. Jacob, when he presented himself as Esau? Jo. 98, 64. Other examples: Roemheld, Epi. 41. Lying to the conductor, Luth. 54, 169. -- There are: a. jesting lies, such that everyone at once notices that a lie is being told. b. business lies. "The best goods, the lowest prices." Bragging, boasting. c. lies of courtesy. "My husband is not at home." d. lies of flatterers. e. lies of necessity. Exod. 1:19, the midwives. (Yet what they said may also actually have been true. Jo. 1900, 17.) 1 Sam. 19:14: Michal -- David is sick. 1 Sam. 20:29: Jonathan. Josh. 2:5: the harlot Rahab. Jo. 1900, 38-42. Heb. 11:31. -- Lies of necessity are not those by which someone tries to help himself out of a difficulty for his own advantage (self-interest), but rather they flow from true love of neighbor, e.g. to bring the schemes of enemies to nothing, to calm the sick or the insane by pretending untruths. Note a. Lying can also happen with 1. gestures: a shrug of the shoulder, a contemptuous twist of the mouth, when asked whether so-and-so is a good worker, 2. a kiss. Judas. Joab, 2 Sam. 20:9, 3. a disguise. The Gibeonites, Josh. 9:4-5. Jeroboam's wife, 1 Kings 14:2, 6. 4. with the finger. Pointing out a wrong way. Note b. Even the withholding of the truth is a lie, when it is done to deceive one's neighbor, e.g. when a guilty child, asked by its father, "Who broke this?", stays silent. -- Yet one is not obligated to give an answer to every unauthorized questioner. "That is none of your business." Stock 746. Min. 95, 55. Note c. To say something untrue out of error, in the firm conviction that one is speaking the truth, is not a lie. -- Yet if harm has resulted from it, one will make the harm good as soon as one recognizes one's error. Note d. If someone says something he believes to be false, even though it is [in fact] true, it is nevertheless a lie for him. Note e. Lying is universally widespread. Ps. 116:11: all men are liars. The upright man who will not lie is regarded as stupid. Roemheld, Epi. 596. Even Christians still cling to lying. Loch. Epi. 703. Some people have a particular inclination to untruth. Whatever they say is colored. Dall. 199. It becomes a habit for them. Ps. 4:2 [3]: [how long] will you love vanity [and seek after leasing/lies]. Sir. 7:13 [14]. Min. 95, 49. Note f. Whoever repeats lies also becomes a liar. Note g. Also to promise and not keep it is equal to a lie.

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36. We should guard ourselves with all diligence against lying, because a. God has earnestly forbidden it. Lev. 19:11. Col. 3:9: lie not one to another. Eph. 4:25: put away lying. Theol. 3, 313. b. it is a devilish vice. John 8:44: a liar and the father of it. Lying forms the direct opposite of God. -- Lying is a shameful thing. Sir. 7:13-14, 20, 28 [likely], even worse than theft. Dall. 199. R. Pi. 199[, --], c. through it all trust is destroyed. Whoever lies once is no longer believed. Schulb. 34, 55. (Story from the reader: "The wolf is coming!") In this world one person must give another faith and trust. Lying undermines the foundation of family, church, and state; d. a lie always draws new lies after it, in order to cover the first. A ramshackle house that one always has to patch up. A snowball that starts rolling; e. even the heathen despise lying. f. lying is punished by God. Ps. 5:6: you shall destroy them that speak leasing/lies. Prov. 12:22: lying lips are an abomination to the LORD. Rev. 21:8. Prov. 6:16-19. 19:5: he that speaks lies shall not escape. -- Stories: Fick 299, 305-306. Min. 95, 66; g. God goes before us with a glorious example. Rom. 3:4: let God be true. Titus 1:2: [God,] who cannot lie. Heb. 6:18: it is impossible for God to lie. Note a. We should always speak the truth. Eph. 4:25: speak [every man] truth. Matt. 5:37: let your communication be Yea, yea. James 5:12. Zech. 8:16. -- This applies also among pastors. Ma. 24, 316. Note b. Parents should raise their children to [speak] the truth. Story, Luth. 54, 169. It grieves Christian parents when they are lied to by their children. Dall. 198. -- Some parents say, "My children do not lie." W. 86, 22.

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37. Betraying [secrets]. Everyone has secrets. Ma. 24, 319. What is secret should be allowed to remain secret. Prov. 11:13: a talebearer reveals [secrets], etc. 25:9[-10]:

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[not] hear out slanderers, but reject them. Prov. 20:19 [likely]: meddle not with the slanderer. This applies also to pastors. Jo. 86, 52. Past. 74. By listening one makes oneself a partaker of others' sins. Luth. 28, 92-93. Example: Dall. 214-215. See Backbiting 11, 8, 5, Note. Note a. Whoever listens to the slanderer must himself become a slanderer. The slanderer has the devil on his tongue, and whoever listens to the slanderer has him in his ear. Note b. Slander would not be so widespread if there were not so many who help it along; b. not believe that the evil was done, until it is proven; c. rebuke [the slanderer]. One should ask him: whether he himself saw and heard it, whether he confronted the person about it, and remind him of his duty. -- Story of how someone secretly wrote down what two women had gossiped and then read it back to them. Luth. 60, 12. Dall. 180-181. Note a. But what if someone slanders us ourselves? If the slanderer is known to us, we should correct him as a brother. If it is not possible to trace the matter back to the source of the slander, since the slander has spread by hearsay, then we should leave it to the Lord. If the slander is of a morally serious nature and has come from irreligious persons, one may appeal to the civil authority to protect one's name. Cf. Dr. Walther, Luth. 40, 87, 109. Story of how someone issued a slanderer a free pass, Luth. 39, 110. A good weapon against senseless slanders by liars is often: silence. Stockh. Pass. 143. Note b. Slander is hardest to set right when it is a web of truth and lies. Note c. God will punish all slanderers. Ps. 140:11 [12]: [an evil speaker] shall not [have good success/prosper] on the earth. Sir. 28:15: are cursed. Ps. 101:5: him will I destroy. Prov. 5:17 [likely different]. -- A slanderer already makes his own life bitter here on earth. He never comes out of strife and discord. Kug. 4, 446. Note d. Let everyone sweep before his own door.

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40. The commandment is directed chiefly against sins of the tongue. The tongue a. has the purpose of putting a person's thoughts into words, and should be used only for God's honor and the benefit of one's neighbor; b. transgresses all the commandments, from the first to the last; c. does boundless harm. James 3:5-8. How many families and kinships it has ruined! Luth. 34, 12. Killing with the tongue -- the Fifth Commandment; d. is hard to tame, but "I can do all things through Christ." Phil. 4:13. Note a. To the Eighth Commandment belongs also judging (see Judging), gossiping, Min. 95, 45, 49. Most conversations are witless chatter. Min. 98, 32. -- We must give an account of every idle word. Luth. 34, 12. Note b. Especially we Lutherans, who have the pure doctrine, should guard against sins against the Eighth Commandment. Note c. The Catholic order of the Trappists renounces speech altogether, in order to avoid sins of the tongue. -- But on the other hand it transgresses by withholding speech of what is good. Note d. The source in the heart from which evil words flow is 1. hatred, envy, malicious joy [at another's misfortune], pride, 2. suspicion. Zech. 8:17: let none of you imagine evil [in your hearts], etc. False testimony of the heart. Stories, Dall. 213, 217. Young Luth. Mag. 1907, 168.

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41. The commandment. We should seek to improve our neighbor's good name, in that we a. excuse our neighbor. Prov. 31:8-9: open your mouth, etc. Theol. 3, 317. To excuse means 1. to cover over his sins and faults, 2. to take him under our protection against false accusation. Note a. Pastors too should do this for one another. Note b. This is doubly hard for us, because we must first suppress the evil in our own heart; b. speak well of him, praise his good works and qualities, e.g. Jonathan of David, 1 Sam. 19:4-5, Stockh. A. T. 228. Monica, Luth. 64, 66. -- Pastors among one another, Ma. 24, 351. -- Yet this should not degenerate into flattery. Dall. 203. Mag. 1, 174. Dannh. 319; c. put everything in the best light. There are ambiguous things that can be interpreted well or ill. Stockh. A. T. 174. We should always put the best construction on our neighbor's actions and words. -- Pastors among one another, Ma. 24, 351-352. Note a. We can also preserve our neighbor's good name through gestures and through good advice. Had Pilate followed his wife's good advice, he would not have forfeited his good name as a judge. Note b. To the fulfilling of this commandment belongs 1. love. 1 Cor. 13:7: love believes all things. 1 Pet. 4:8: [love] covers a multitude of sins, 2. humility, 3. trust, the opposite of suspicion, 4. reticence. 1 Pet. 3:10: let him refrain his tongue [from evil]. James 1:19: slow to speak. Ps. 38:13 [14]. Prov. 10:19: in the multitude of words there wants not sin. Note c. Our hearts must stand rightly toward one another, otherwise sins against the Eighth Commandment will not be lacking. Note d. The punishment for [transgressing] this commandment is: Prov. 19:5: shall not go unpunished. Examples: Dan. 6:24: the men who had accused Daniel. Esther 7:10: Haman. Acts 5:5: Ananias. 2 Kings 9:33: Jezebel. Note e. The promise, on the other hand, reads: Ps. 15:3, 5: he shall never be moved. Examples: 2 Sam. 9 [likely]: Mephibosheth. The harlot Rahab. Note f. We have all transgressed the Eighth Commandment and need a Savior. Homiletics. Catechism sermon. The Eighth Commandment. a. Prohibition, b. [Commandment]. 5th Sunday after Trinity. -- Epistle. -- Against [gossip and slander]: a. that sins of the tongue are publicly rebuked and warned against, b. this rebuke and warning should also be accepted. James 4:11. -- On the harmful and shameful sin of backbiting and slander. a. What it consists in, b. what ruinous consequences and effects it has. -- Si. Zeit 264. Catechesis, Schulb. 27, 65-72.