Plenty! Lying and deceit are a frontal attack on God’s nature and character. He is the God of truth (Ps. 31:5). He is truth in its essence. His Word is truth (Jn. 17:17). His Word defines truth.
The original human sin was to embrace a malicious misrepresentation of the God of truth. First, the serpent sowed a doubt in Eve’s mind as to whether God had really forbidden them the fruit of the tree in the center of Eden. Then he flatly contradicted God’s solemn warning that to eat that fruit carried a death penalty. And finally, he insinuated that the God who would protect them from this tragedy was not to be trusted (Gen. 3:1-5). The response to that colossal lie determined the course of history and set up lasting estrangement and antagonism between man and Creator.
Career Of The Lie
In the beginning of Romans, Paul traces that troubled history from Adam and Eve in the exalted place where they knew God (Rom. 1:21). All generations since were born into an inherited estrangement from God, but even they had the witness of creation pointing them to Him (Rom. 1:19-20). Yet they refused to honor Him as God nor acknowledge and thank Him as the source of all good. (Adam and Eve failed to honor God as trustworthy by not taking His warning seriously, and by willingly accepting perceived “good” from a source openly antagonistic to God.) This rebellious independence of subsequent generations dulled their God-endowed senses and instincts so that, rather than acquiring greater wisdom or knowledge, their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. They didn’t become wise; they were fooled (Rom. 1:21-22)!
That step set them on the moral slippery slope to outright idolatry, displacing God as the only worthy object of worship in favor of lesser objects such as “birds, animals and reptiles” (Rom. 1:23 NIV). From there they slid into sexual excess, perversion, intellectual futility, and ultimate ruin (Rom. 1:24-32). Their essential error was that “they exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator” (Rom. 1:25).
Is Lying Always Bad?
We often trivialize a lie by calling it a “fib” or coloring it “white.” Some lies seem harmless enough, even beneficial; in Spanish it’s called la mentira piadosa – the pious lie! But such thinking only evidences the fact that our human mentality is flawed, our judgment warped by the effect of our “genetic” participation in the exchange of God’s truth for Satan’s lie. Just as we sin because we are sinners – not the other way around – so we tell and live lies because our fallen nature is born to the culture of the lie. Insensitivity to truth desensitizes us to lies.
We say that an actual lie is far more serious than an occasional, seemingly innocent half-truth. This thinking has been perpetuated throughout history and thrives in the “depraved mind” (Rom. 1:28) of every human in his/her unregenerate state. The truth is that any form of lying is an expression of our fallen nature that still subscribes to the lie.
Two Wisdoms
Paul writes about the two mentalities, or wisdoms, and shows how human wisdom – the mentality of “the lie” – only leads away from God, never to Him (1 Cor. 1:18-2:5). James 3:13-18 identifies the source of each of the two wisdoms. The wisdom characterized by, among other things, a denial of the truth, “does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, of the devil” (Jas. 3:15). The charismatic serpent of Genesis 3 is unmasked: it’s the devil himself!
“The wisdom that comes from heaven” (Jas. 3:17) literally means “from above.” It is the same Greek word as in John 3:3, 7, 31, and James 1:17, and refers to the source of the believer's vitality. It is characterized by all things good, moral and right; it is motivated by truth and integrity. So, lying is an expression of the character of fallen man, fooled by Satan. God is truth and lying is His enemy’s attempt to discredit and dishonor Him. Too often even Christians are the enemy’s willing agents!
Lying Is Hereditary
Jesus, “the Truth” (Jn. 14:6), was continually badgered or ambushed by religious hypocrites who, from behind their pious facades treacherously plotted His death. He confronted them with this scathing indictment: “You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies!” (Jn. 8:44).
As religious leaders, they were more guilty than others. But all members of the human race, unless they receive Jesus Christ, the Truth, are children of the same father, heirs of the same nature, and thus subject to the same eternal consequences.
An essential distinction between us and God is eloquently expressed in these simple words of God, spoken, ironically, through Balaam, a “false” prophet: “God is not a man, that He should lie” (Num. 23:19). Paul echoes this truth: “Let God be true, and every man a liar” (Rom. 3:4), and the writer to the Hebrews declares that “it is impossible for God to lie” (Heb. 6:18). Sometimes it seems impossible for man not to lie!
It seemed so to David: “Help, Lord, for the godly are no more; the faithful have vanished from among men. Everyone lies to his neighbor; their flattering lips speak with deception” (Ps. 12:1-2). But David found relief in God’s truth: “The words of the Lord are flawless, like silver refined in a furnace of clay, purified seven times” (Ps. 12:6). How refreshing, in a world where lying and deceit are so common, to know the true God and the pure truth of His utterly reliable Word.
Paul wrote to believers in Jesus Christ – born again and possessing the nature and character of God through His Holy Spirit in us – to “put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbor" (Eph. 4:25). To speak otherwise is to speak the language of God’s arch-enemy and deny who we are in Christ. We are too easily influenced by, and leave ourselves open to, the literature of the lie – magazines, newspapers, books, TV and all other inputs – when we neglect the character-forming truth of God’s pure Word.
Eternal Death Sentence
Paul wrote of our time: “The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons ... through hypocritical liars” (1 Tim. 4:1-2). He warns of “false apostles, deceitful workmen, masquerading as apostles ... Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light ... his servants masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their actions deserve” (2 Cor. 11:13-15).
Paul makes a startling revelation about the end-times: “The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with the work of Satan displayed in all kinds of counterfeit miracles, signs and wonders, and in every sort of evil that deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and to be saved. For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness” (2 Th. 2:9-12), the alternative to truth.
Shocking irony: When God finally closes His loving, patient offer of salvation He will force the issue by unleashing an irresistible influence on all who have refused or rejected the truth so that they will finally and fully embrace “the lie” (Rom. 1:25).
In Revelation 21-22, John described his vision of the glory of God’s holy, heavenly New Jerusalem. It will be inhabited, of course, by the redeemed and eternally blessed, while all the corrupt and immoral types are forever excluded along with “everyone who loves and practices falsehood” (Rev. 22:15). Earlier he writes, “Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life” (Rev. 21:27).
It’s not just exclusion from blessing. After due process before the supreme court of the universe, the Great White Throne, this is the judgment: “If anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.” In this “lake of burning sulfur ... they will be tormented day and night for ever and ever” (Rev. 20:15, 10).
All who in this lifetime of opportunity refuse the truth – that is Christ and God’s infallible Word – will then be subjected to the lie so irresistibly that they will have no option but to embrace it and thus be condemned to eternal torment and remorse.
The Power Of Reconciliation
Paul’s description of the career of the lie in Romans 1 explains his initial summary statement that “the wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them (through creation) ... so that men are without excuse” (Rom. 1:18-20).
That statement follows this one: “I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: ‘The righteous will live by faith’” (Rom. 1:16-17).
The sad tale of the lie is not the main story. The real message is that God wants to save everyone from ultimate disaster through the greatest feat of His power, the gospel of Jesus Christ. All who trustingly embrace the gospel, He embraces as righteous, crediting them with His own righteousness (Phil. 3:9), and enables them to live righteous lives in harmony with Him, the God of truth.
Once reconciled with God, He asks us to carry His word of reconciliation to our friends, neighbors and even our enemies. We live His truth amid the culture of the lie – having “renounced secret and shameful ways; we do not use deception ... On the contrary, by setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God” (2 Cor. 4:2). We offer to all His reconciliation and salvation from ultimate condemnation (2 Cor. 5:17-21). And that’s the truth!
By Bill Van Ryn
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