John 14:6—John 8:32; John 18:38; Isaiah 59:12-15; John 8:44; 1 John 2:21
Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me—And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
Pilate saith unto him, What is truth?
For our transgressions are multiplied before thee, and our sins testify against us: for our transgressions are with us; and as for our iniquities, we know them; in transgressing and lying against the LORD, and departing away from our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood. And judgment is turned away backward, and justice standeth afar off: for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter. Yea, truth faileth; and he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey: and the LORD saw it, and it displeased him that there was no judgment.
Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.
No lie is of the truth.
JOHN GILL (1697-1771): The Arabic version reads, “every liar is not of the truth.”
MATTHEW HENRY (1662-1714): Truth and falsehood do not well mix and suit together.
GEORGE S. BOWES (circa 1820’s-1880’s): When the question, “What is truth?” was proposed at a Deaf and Dumb Institution, one of the boys drew a straight line. “And what is falsehood?” the teacher asked. The answer was a crooked line.
THE EDITOR: That reminds me of a phrase, often attributed to North American Indians, of a liar as someone who “speaks with a forked tongue.” But Puritans like Lancelot Andrewes, used similar phrasing in a sermon before 1626, as did John Milton in Paradise Lost, published in 1667. And all snakes do have forked tongues, which traces its origin back to Satan in the Garden of Eden, that “old serpent,” Genesis 3:1, Revelation 20:1. Jesus called him the father of lies; and indeed, Satan spoke the first lie that the world ever heard, Genesis 3:4.
MATTHEW HENRY: Next to a proud look nothing is more an abomination to God than “a lying tongue;” nothing more sacred than truth, nor more necessary to conversation than speaking truth. God and all good men hate and abhor lying.
JOHN GILL: “A lying tongue” is the second of six things that God hates, Proverbs 6:16-19; a tongue speaking falsehood, knowingly and willingly, with an intention to deceive others; to hurt the character of a neighbour, or to flatter a friend, is a most detestable evil; it ought to be so to men, it must be so to God, who is a God of truth: nor is there anything in which a man more resembles the devil, who is the father of lies.
THOMAS COKE (1747-1814): Perjury is among the most deadly sins, and most dangerous to society.
WILLIAM GURNALL (1617-1679): I have heard that politicians can make use of a state lie—though the credit of it lasts but a little while—for great advantage to their designs.
CHARLES BRIDGES (1794-1869): The way of deceit seems to be right—an easy way of escaping difficulty; or obtaining some present advantage. “But a lying tongue is but for a moment;” and the unrepenting liar finds his “part in the lake, that burneth with fire and brimstone,” Revelation 21:8.
C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892): There seems to be connected with politics in every country something that besmears the mind, and defiles the hand that touches it…You are told to regard the difference between right and wrong everywhere, except when you get into politics; then stick to your party through thick and thin. Right and wrong vanish at once. Loyalty to your leader—that is the point. Never mind where he leads you, follow him blindly. You are even told that you may do wrong because it is politically right. I hate such an argument!
J. C. RYLE (1816-1900): Wretched and contemptible are those rulers and statesmen whose first principle is to please the people, even at the expense of their own consciences, and who are ready to do what they know to be wrong rather than offend the mob! Wretched are those nations which for their sins are given over to be governed by such statesmen! True godly rulers should lead the people, and not be led by them, should do what is right and leave consequences to God. A base determination to keep in with the world at any price, and a slavish fear of man’s opinion, were leading principles in Pilate’s character. There are many like him. Nothing is more common than to see statesmen evading the plain line of duty, and trying to shuffle responsibility on others.
MARTYN LLOYD-JONES (1899-1981): They are very little interested about principles, any of them. Now that doesn’t say that we shouldn’t have politics, you’ve got to govern your country. But oh, that we had politics which was concerned about truth, and about principles, about morality and living, and not merely pandering to the lusts and desires of men and women.
THE EDITOR: Today, we often hear habitual political liars accusing others of “hate speech,” whenever they hear someone speak any truth that contradicts their lies or ideology. But God’s Word clearly states what really constitutes “hate speech”—“A lying tongue hateth those that are afflicted with it,” Proverbs 26:28. Therefore lying is not only deceit, but actually motivated by hatred.
JOHN GILL: That is, a man of a lying tongue, that is given to lying, hates those that are hurt and crushed by his lies; the reason why he hurts them with his lies, is because he hates them; and, having hurt them, he hates them, being made his enemies, and from whom he may expect and be in fear of revenge: moreover, he hates those that are troubled and disturbed with his lies; the “contrite” and humble men: or those who “smite” or “strike” him, as some render the word, actively; that is, reprove him, and bring him to shame for lying.
THE EDITOR: With modern technology, we are flooded with lies from politicians, governments, and news media of all political stripes. Why? Is it for political power, personal influence, or money? Motives vary, but their contempt for objective truth, and for the public they supposedly serve, is apparent to everyone. Some believe their own lies; others agree with lies from a hatred of their opponents, and others partake in lies by their fearful self censorship. But they all murder trust. See that in the Garden of Eden. The devil used his lie to murder Adam and Eve’s trust in God; but the actual motive behind Satan’s lie is revealed in his slander of God’s character, Genesis 3:5, which demonstrated his hatred and envy of God, because he wanted to be God, Isaiah 14:12-15; Matthew 4:8-10. So he infected Eve’s mind with that same evil desire, that she could be as a god. Eve was deceived and acted upon Satan’s lie; but Adam was not deceived, 1 Timothy 2:4—yet he consented to the lie by his silent complicity, and he ate the same fruit in wilful disobedience to the truth that he knew, Romans 5:19. At that moment, they died spiritually, because sin killed their joyful communion with God, and thus, all their descendants became captive slaves of the devil, and natural born liars, as David confessed, “Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me,” Psalm 51:5; “the wicked are estranged from the womb: they go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies,” Psalm 58:3. And Jesus “knew what was in man,” John 2:24,25.
MARTIN LUTHER (1483-1546): A lie is a snowball. The longer it is rolled on the ground, the larger it becomes.
THE EDITOR: By constant repetition, political lies grow larger when a commonly accepted complicity normalizes them with a vague pseudo legitimacy; then objective “truth” becomes relative, being only one option among many so-called “truths,” as seen in Pilate’s apathetic ambiguity: “What is truth?” Therefore lies are the most insidious deadly enemies of freedom and democratic institutions, because they always kill trust, spread delusion, and promote moral corruption, hatred, and social anarchy.
WILLIAM GURNALL: As we deal with truth, so we deal with God Himself; he that despiseth that, despiseth Him. He that abandons the truth of God, renounceth the God of truth.
