Lying
Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament [1]
(ψεύδεσθαι, ‘to lie’; ψεῦδος, ψεῦσμα, ‘a lie’; ψευδής, ‘false’; ψεύστης, ‘a deceiver’)
1. It is the glory of Christianity that this religion reveals ‘the God who cannot lie,’ ὁ ἀψευδὴς θεός ( Titus 1:2), qui non mentitur Deus (Vulgate). He is true in both senses of the word-ἀληθινός and ἀληθής, verus and verax . He cannot be false to His own nature, just as men, made in His image, cannot lie without being untrue to themselves. It is likewise impossible to imagine His Revealer departing from the truth in word or deed. While Hermes, the so-called messenger of the gods, was often admired for his dexterous lying, Christ is loved because He is the Truth ( John 14:6), the faithful and true Witness ( Revelation 3:14), through whom men are able, amid all earthly changes and illusions, to lay hold on eternal realities.
2. The detection and exposure of imposture was an urgent duty of the early Church. The speedy appearance of false teachers was one of the most remarkable features of the Apostolic Age, and the Church was enjoined not to believe every spirit, but to try the spirits ( 1 John 4:1). There were ψευδάδελφοι ( Galatians 2:4), ψευδαπόστολοι ( 2 Corinthians 11:13) ψευδοπροφῆται ( Acts 13:6, 2 Peter 2:1, 1 John 4:1, Revelation 16:13; Revelation 19:20; Revelation 20:10), ψευδολόγοι ( 1 Timothy 4:2), ψευδοδιδάσκαλοι ( 2 Peter 2:1). These deceivers were as the shadows which always accompany the light. To the apostolic founders of Christianity the bare thought of being ever found false witnesses of God (ψευδομάρτυρες τοῦ θεοῦ, 1 Corinthians 15:15) was intolerable. St. Paul often protests, and solemnly calls God to witness, that he does not lie ( Romans 9:1, 2 Corinthians 11:31, Galatians 1:20, 1 Timothy 2:7). The Church of Ephesus was praised because she had tried soi disant apostles and found them false (ψευδεῖς, Revelation 2:2). If there were false teachers, there were also false disciples, who claimed the Christian name without having Christ’s spirit, and John had to formulate some clear and simple tests by which ‘the liar’ (ὁ ψεύστης) could be known ( 1 John 2:4; 1 John 2:22; 1 John 4:20).
3. The same writer emphasizes the gravity of certain moral and intellectual errors-the denial of personal sin ( 1 John 1:10), the rejection of the historical Christ ( 1 John 5:10). He brands them as blasphemous assertions that God (whose Word calls all men sinners, and whose Spirit inwardly witnesses to the truth of the gospel) is a liar.
4. Christians must not lie one to another ( Colossians 3:9). In the pagan, e.g. the Cretan ( Titus 1:12), lying is bad; in the Jew ( Revelation 2:9) it is worse; in the Christian it should be impossible. The Law was made for the repression of liars ( 1 Timothy 1:10); the gospel gives every believer the spirit of truth ( 1 John 4:6). ‘All liars,’ ‘every one that loveth and maketh a lie,’ end the black list of the condemned ( Revelation 21:8; Revelation 22:15), who shall not in any wise enter the City of God ( Revelation 21:27).
James Strahan.
Charles Buck Theological Dictionary [2]
Speaking falsehoods wilfully, with an intent to deceive. Thus, by Grove, "A lie is an affirmation or denial by words, or any other signs to which a certain determinate meaning is affixed, of something contrary to our real thoughts and intentions." Thus, by Paley, "a lie is a breach of promise; for whoever seriously addresses his discourse to another, tacitly promises to speak the truth, because he knows that the truth is expected."
There are various kinds of lies.
1. The pernicious lie, uttered for the hurt or disadvantage of our neighbour.
2. The officious lie, uttered for our own or our neighbour's advantage.
3. The Ludicrous and jocose lie, uttered by way of jest, and only for mirth's sake in common converse.
4. Pious frauds as they are improperly called, pretended inspirations, forged books, counterfeit miracles, are species of lies.
5. Lies of the conduct, for a lie may be told in gestures as well as in words; as when a tradesman shuts up his windows to induce his creditors to believe that he is abroad.
6. Lies of omission, as when an author wilfully omits what ought to be related: and may we not add,
7. That all equivocation and mental reservation come under the guilt of lying.
The evil and injustice of lying appear,
1. From its being a breach of the natural and universal right of mankind to truth in the intercourse of speech.
2. From its being a violation of God's sacred law, Philippians 4:8 . Leviticus 19:11 . Colossians 3:9 .
3. The faculty of speech was bestowed as an instrument of knowledge, not of deceit; to communicate our thoughts, not to hide them.
4. It is esteemed a reproach of so heinous and hateful a nature for a man to be called a liar, that sometimes the life and blood of the slanderer have paid for it.
5. It has a tendency to dissolve all society, and to indispose the mind to religious impressions.
6. The punishment of it is considerable: the loss of credit, the hatred of those whom we have deceived, and an eternal separation from God in the world to come, Revelation 21:8 . Revelation 22:15 . Psalms 101:7 .
See EQUIVOCATION.
Grove's Mor. Phil. vol. 1: ch. 11; Paley's Moral Phil. vol. 1: ch. 15; Doddridge's Lect. lect. 68; Watts's Serm. vol. 1: ser. 22; Evans's Serm. vol. 2: ser. 13; South's Serm. vol. 1: ser. 12; Dr. Lamont's Serm. vol. 1: ser. 11 and 12.
Webster's Dictionary [3]
(1): ( p. pr. & vb. n.) of Lie
(2): ( p. pr. & vb. n.) of Lie
(3): ( p. pr. & vb. n.) of Lie, to tell a falsehood.
(4): ( p. pr. & vb. n.) of Lie, to be supported horizontally.
King James Dictionary [4]
LY'ING, ppr. of lie. Being prostrate. See Lie.
LY'ING, ppr. of lie. Telling falsehood.
Lying in, being in childbirth.
1. n. The act of bearing a child.
