What is forbidden in the ninth commandment?
The ninth commandment forbiddeth whatsoever is prejudicial to the truth, or injurious to our own or our neighbour’s good name.
Proofs
- The ninth commandment forbiddeth whatsoever is prejudicial to the truth, or injurious to our own or our neighbour’s good name. (1 Samuel 17:28; Leviticus 19:16; Psalm 15:2–3)
Additional Exposition
Section 1
Is lying a great sin?
Answer: Yes.
Proof: Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord, (Proverbs 12:22)
Is it a sin that makes us like the devil?
Answer: Yes.
Proof: For when he speaketh a lie he speaketh of his own, (John 8:44)
Is it an unprofitable sin?
Answer: Yes.
Proof: The getting of treasures by a lying tongue is vanity tossed to and fro of them that seek death, (Proverbs 21:6)
Is it a sin that will be detected?
Answer: Yes.
Proof: For a lying tongue is but fora moment, (Proverbs 12:19)
And severely punished?
Answer: Yes.
Proof: For without are dogs, and whoso loveth and maketh a lie, (Revelation 22:15)
Should we therefore hate it?
Answer: Yes.
Proof: I abhor lying, (Psalm 119:163)
And pray against it?
Answer: Yes.
Proof: Remove from me the way of lying, (Psalm 119:29)
Section 2
May we tell lies to make sport?
Answer: No.
Proof: They make the king glad with their wickedness, and the princes with their lies, (Hosea 7:3)
Or to excuse a fault?
Answer: No.
Proof: As Gehazi, who said, thy servant went no whither, (2 Kings 5:25)
Or with an intention to do good?
Answer: No.
Proof: We must not do evil that good may come, (Romans 3:8)
Section 3
Is detraction and slander a sin?
Answer: Yes.
Proof: Thou sittest and slanderest thine own mother’s (Psalm 50:20)
But may we not return slander for slander?
Answer: No.
Proof: Render not railing for railing, (1 Peter 3:9)
Is flattery also a sin?
Answer: Yes.
Proof: They speak vanity every one with his neighbour, with flattering lips and a double heart do they speak, (Psalm 12:2)
Is self detraction a sin?
Answer: Yes.
Proof: There is that maketh himself poor and yet hath great riches, (Proverbs 13:7)
And self-flattery?
Answer: Yes.
Proof: There is that maketh himself rich, and yet hath nothing, (Proverbs 13:7)
Section 4
Doth this commandment forbid perjury?
Answer: Yes.
Proof: I will be a swift witness against false swearers, (Malachi 3:5)
And subornation?
Answer: Yes.
Proof: Thus the Jews set up false witnesses against Stephen, (Acts 6:11, 13)
And backbiting and talebearing?
Answer: Yes.
Proof: Thou shalt not go up and down as a talebearer among thy people, (Leviticus 19:16)
And all censorious and uncharitable reflections?
Answer: Yes.
Proof: For he that speaketh evil of his brother, and judgeth his brother, speaks evil of the law, and judgeth the law, (James 4:11)