Exodus 20:16 – "Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour." This is the ninth commandment. It has a lot to do with the words we speak or write. The power of words must not be underestimated. James wrote, "Even so the tongue is a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth!" (James 3:5).

Words can do a lot of good. They can be like sirens, warning people to flee from the wrath to come. They can be like a fisherman’s net, drawing men, women and children into the haven of God’s rest. They can be like building blocks, building up the lives of fellow Christians. They can be like a soothing ointment, relieving the pain and grief of those who are suffering or sorrowing. They can be like a powerful adhesive, mending broken relationships, and restoring lives that are broken by sin.

But words can also do a lot of damage. They can cause people to stumble and fall, destroy relationships, ruin lives, causing irreparable damage, pain and suffering. When a sinful heart controls the tongue, the amount of destruction that can result is most appalling (Romans 3:13,14).

Human history abounds with stories of how lies, deceit, boasting, flattery, false accusations and gossip have not only caused much pain and suffering, but also brought lives to ruin, and destroyed fellowships, churches, movements, kingdoms and empires as well. The Bible tells us that the only way that the tongue can be subdued and harnessed to do good instead of evil, is to change the heart.

A true believer’s words should be characterised by integrity, honesty, truthfulness, godliness, gentleness and love (Matthew 12:35-37; Colossians 4:6). This change does not come without effort. You still need to exercise great care about whatever you say. (Psalm 141:3). The important guideline for all that we say is: Truthfulness. We measure the quality of our speech by the amount of truth in it. Everything that we say should either be true, or based on the truth, or a true reflection of our intentions and motives.

The primary prohibition of this ninth commandment is against perjury, which is deliberately making a false statement in a court of law. Every court of law can mete out justice only as far as the witnesses speak the truth. Ascertaining the truth is so crucial to the process of justice, that perjury is often punished severely (cf. Deuteronomy 19:16-21).

There is also a deeper implication in this commandment, because perjury itself falls within the larger category of lying or deceptive speech, which God hates (Revelation 21:8,27). A lie can be defined as a deliberate attempt to deceive someone. Deceit leads people away from reality so that ultimately, they do not recognise the truth. Sometimes a person can use words that are true but still be lying. This happens when a person quotes another out of context, or tells only part of the truth and deliberately omits the rest.

Abraham was guilty of this – "And it came to pass, when he was come near to enter into Egypt, that he said unto Sarai his wife, Behold now, I know that thou art a fair woman to look upon: Therefore it shall come to pass, when the Egyptians shall see thee, that they shall say, This is his wife: and they will kill me, but they will save thee alive. Say, I pray thee, thou art my sister: that it may be well with me for thy sake; and my soul shall live because of thee." (Genesis 12:11-13).

Abraham may have thought that this precautionary measure was necessary, because if the Egyptians knew that Sarai was his wife, they might kill him in order to marry her legitimately. He may have reasoned that the statement "I am Abraham’s sister" is not untrue, because Sarai was his step-sister – They both had the same father but different mothers.

But the more important fact was that Sarai was now his wife! Abraham cannot be excused for this sin, for even the law codes and culture of his day advocated standards of truth. And after the truth about Sarai was found out – that she was actually Abraham’s wife – it was clear that he had done wrong. His testimony before the Egyptians was shattered and he was dismissed in shame (Genesis 12:18-20)!

There is no more sure method to ruin one’s testimony than deceit. It creates distrust and destroys friendships. Once a person has been deliberately deceived, it is difficult to restore full trust and confidence. There will always be the suspicion of more deceit to come. William Shakespeare wrote, "Oh what a tangled web we weave when first we practise to deceive!"

Dear Lifer, please choose your words carefully before you say or write anything. Ephesians 4:25 – "Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another." Ask yourself: Is it the truth? Will it harm anyone? Will it be misunderstood? Do not let your tongue or pen go faster than your mind because Proverbs 10:19 tells us, "In the multitude of words there wanteth not sin: but he that refraineth his lips is wise." —Pastor

In view of the solemn requirements of the ninth commandment, we humbly appeal to those who are proponents of Verbal Plenary Preservation (VPP) to cease from using distortion and selective quotation. One instance of distortion was cited in our article, "Mark Them Which Cause Divisions" (see Life Church Weekly, 13 Jan 2008): A church weekly published on 6 Jan 2008 contained the following statement:

They have stated that FEBC would be allowed to use the sanctuary IF she would sign an undertaking that she will teach that the Bible has mistakes and that God has not preserved all His words perfectly for us today.

What was actually stated in the letter that was sent to FEBC was:

If Far Eastern Bible College ("the college") wishes to continue using the church sanctuary for its night lectures please give us written unconditional undertaking that the college would not promote the VPP doctrine in the night classes, failing which we regret to inform you that this will no longer be available to the college from January 2008.

When this discrepancy was pointed out, the writer of the statement responded:

What do they mean when they write "not promote the VPP doctrine in night classes"? Do they mean that FEBC cannot teach that the Bible is perfect i.e. has no mistakes? If that is so, then conversely FEBC would have "to teach that the Bible has mistakes" wouldn’t they? If FEBC teaches that the Bible has mistakes, does it not mean that God has not preserved His holy and perfect Word, and God cannot make mistakes right? If this is true then I have not distorted what they wrote. I merely stated what they demanded of FEBC in the positive sense; whereas they stated their demand negatively. They mean the same thing do they not?

A clear example of selective quotation is the claim that Edward F. Hills was a proponent of VPP, as found on page 11 of The Burning Bush (Jan 2003):

Dr E F Hills wrote, "…if we believe in the special providential preservation of the Scriptures ... we obtain maximum certainty, all the certainty that any mere man can obtain, all the certainty that we need. For we are led by the logic of faith to the Masoretic Hebrew text, to the New Testament Textus Receptus, and to the King James Version."

The complete quotation from the book, The King James Version Defended which Edward F. Hills wrote in 1984 is as follows (page 224):

God’s preservation of the New Testament text was not miraculous but providential. The scribes and printers who produced the copies of the New Testament Scriptures and the true believers who read and cherished them were not inspired but God-guided. Hence there are some New Testament passages in which the true reading cannot be determined with absolute certainty. There are some readings, for example, on which the manuscripts are almost equally divided, making it difficult to determine which reading belongs to the Traditional Text. Also in some of the cases in which the Textus Receptus disagrees with the Traditional Text it is hard to decide which text to follow. Also, as we have seen, sometimes the several editions of the Textus Receptus differ from each other and from the King James Version. And, as we have just observed, the case is the same with the Old Testament text. Here it is hard at times to decide between the kethibh and the keri and between the Hebrew text and the Septuagint and Latin Vulgate versions. Also there has been a controversy concerning the headings of the Psalms.

In other words, God does not reveal every truth with equal clarity. In biblical criticism, as in every other department of knowledge there are still some details in regard to which we must be content to remain uncertain. But the special providence of God has kept these uncertainties down to a minimum. Hence if we believe in the special providential preservation of the Scriptures and make this the leading principle of our biblical textual criticism, we obtain maximum certainty, all the certainty that any mere man can obtain, all the certainty we need. For we are led by the logic of faith to the Masoretic Hebrew text, to the New Testament Textus Receptus, and to the King James Version.

The underlined words were the only parts quoted in the Burning Bush. This does not fully represent the position of E.F. Hills. Hills did not claim perfection for the underlying text of the KJV but only that the uncertainties were kept down to a minimum by God’s special providence. This is consistent with what his friend, G.I. Williamson, wrote about him in an e-mail on 12 Aug 2002:

You may know of Dr. Edward F. Hills who has written defending the King James Version as the best version because it is/was based on the TR. He was a long time friend and we had many discussions of this very question. He helped me to see the cogency of the argument for high respect for the Byzantine/Majority text. Of all people in the ancient world the Greek speaking Eastern Church surely would have been the place where changes - even those made unintentionally by people making hand written copies - would have been most likely detected. I accept that as a sound argument. But even Dr. Hills was not quite willing to absolutize [sic.] the TR. And neither am I.

Another example of selective quotation is found in an article, John Owen on The Perfect Bible (The Burning Bush, Jul 2004):

Owen not only believed in a 100% inspired Autographa but also a 100% preserved Apographa. He wrote, "It is true, we have not the Autographa of Moses and the prophets, of the apostles and evangelists; but the Apographa or ‘copies’ which we have contain every iota that was in them." (387)

The complete quotation is as follows (Note: According to the Encarta Dictionary, the word ‘lection’ means ‘textual variant’, i.e. a variant reading of a text in a particular edition or translation):

It is true, we have not the Autographa of Moses and the prophets, of the apostles and evangelists; but the Apographa or ‘copies’ which we have contain every iota that was in them.

There is no doubt but that in the copies we now enjoy of the Old Testament there are some diverse lections. The … various lections of Ben Asher, or Rabbi Aaron the son of Rabbi Moses of the tribe of Asher, and Ben Naphtali, or Rabbi Moses the son of David of the tribe of Naphtali – the lections also of the eastern and western Jews, which we have collected at the end of the great Bible with the Masora – evince it. But yet we affirm, that the whole word of God, in every letter and tittle, as given from him by inspiration, is preserved without corruption. Where there is any variety it is always in things of less, indeed of no, importance. God by his providence preserving the whole entire, suffered this lesser variety to fall out, in or among the copies we have, for the quickening and exercising of our diligence in our search into his Word.

The underlined words show that John Owen was not a proponent of VPP, since he advocated the exercise of diligence in searching the Word of God to solve textual variants in or among the copies we have.

By citing the above instances of distortion and selective quotation, we hope that our appeal to VPP proponents to keep the ninth commandment will be taken in the right spirit. "But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ." (Ephesians 4:15)

—Life BPC Board of Elders

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Saturday, 16 Feb 08. 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm

Life B-P Church Sanctuary

(1) UNLOCKING THE MYSTERY OF LIFE

(2) Story behind: HOW GREAT THOU ART

Please invite your friends to come!