Tuesday, March 28, 2023

Blasphemy

 And everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but the one who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven.” Luke 12:10

Blasphemy Definition

Blasphemy is generally defined as the act or offense of speaking sacrilegiously about God or sacred things, synonymous with irreverence and disrespect of God or Christ.

According to Merriam-Webster, blasphemy is defined as “the act of insulting or showing contempt or lack of reverence for God; and/or the act of claiming the attributes of a deity”

The word blasphemy originated from the Greek word “blasphēmia” then translated from Latin to Old French to Middle English. Blasphemy is generally defined as the act or offense of speaking sacrilegiously about God or sacred things, synonymous with irreverence and disrespect of God or Christ.

In English "blasphemy" denotes any utterance that insults God or Christ (or Allah, or Muhammed) and gives deeply felt offense to their followers. In several states in the United States and in Britain, blasphemy is a criminal offense, although there have been few prosecutions in this century. In Islamic countries generally no distinction is made between blasphemy and heresy, so that any perceived rejection of the Prophet or his message, by Muslims or non-Muslims, is regarded as blasphemous.

What Does Blasphemy Mean in the Bible? 

According to Baker's Bible Dictionary, the biblical concept is very different. There is no Hebrew word equivalent to the English "blasphemy, " and the Greek root blasphem- [blasfhmevw], which is used fifty-five times in the New Testament, has a wide meaning. In both Testaments, the idea of blasphemy as something that offends the religious sensibilities of others is completely absent.

In the Old Testament at least five different Hebrew verbs are translated "blaspheme" in English translations. Translators choose "blaspheme" when, for instance, the verbs "curse" (qalal), "revile" (gadap), or "despise" (herep) are used with God as the object. No special verb is reserved for cursing or insults directed at God.

However, to curse or insult God is an especially grave sin. It can be done by word or by deed. There is little distinction between the sinner who deliberately abuses the name of the Lord (Le 24:10-16) and the one who deliberately flouts his commandments ( Nu 15:30-31 ). For both, the death penalty is prescribed. Similarly, the prayer of the Levites in Nehemiah 9calls "awful blasphemies" all that Israelites did when they made the golden calf (9:18).

David's flagrant sin with Bathsheba may be called a blasphemy ( 2 Sa 12:14), but a more likely translation is that David has "made the enemies of the Lord show utter contempt" (NIV). Instead of testifying by lifestyle to the character of the Lord, David's action confirms the blasphemous belief of the nations that the Lord is no different from any other national god.

Blasphemy is a term that appears in both the Old and New Testament. According to Smith’s Bible Dictionary, blasphemy in its technical English use signifies the speaking evil of God and in this sense is found in Psalms 74:18, Isaiah 52:5, Romans 2:24, etc. But according to its derivation, it may mean any sort of slander and abuse: reference 1 Kings 21:10, Acts 18:6, Jude 1:9, etc. Blasphemy was punished by stoning, which was inflicted on the son of Shelomith (Leviticus 24:11). On this charge, both our Lord and St. Stephen were condemned to death by the Jews.

In the New Testament, blasphemy may be:

Blasphemy Against the Holy Spirit

The sin of “Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit” is referenced in Mark 3:22-30and Matthew 12:22-32 just after Jesus had performed a miracle of casting a demon out of a man, healing the possessed man of blindness and muteness. The witnesses of this exorcism began to question if Jesus was in fact the Messiah they had been waiting for. A group of Pharisees, hearing the discussion of the Messiah, quickly attempted to quell any developing faith in Christ saying: “It is only by Beelzebul, the prince of demons, that this fellow drives out demons” (Matthew 12:24).

The blasphemy against the Holy Ghost, (Matthew 12:32; Mark 3:28) consisted in attributing to the power of Satan those unquestionable miracles which Jesus performed by "the finger of God" and the power of the Holy Spirit. It is plainly such a state of wilful, determined opposition to God and the Holy Spirit that no efforts will avail to lead to repentance. Among the Jews, it was a sin against God answering to treason in our times.

Therefore blasphemy against the Holy Spirit has to do with slandering Jesus Christ of being demon-possessed instead of Spirit-filled. This distinct type of blasphemy cannot be reproduced today. The Pharisees were in a distinct moment in history: they had the Law and the Prophets, the Holy Spirit stirring their hearts, and the Son of God Himself right in front of them. Never before or since then in history had so much divine revelation been given to men. If anyone should have identified Jesus for who He was, it was the Pharisees. Yet they chose rebellion. They deliberately accused the work of the Spirit to the devil, even though they knew the truth and had the proof. Jesus declared their intentional blindness to be unforgivable. Their blasphemy against the Holy Spirit was their ultimate denial of God’s grace.

Examples of Blasphemy

  • Idolatry: Idolatry is an action of blasphemy because it wrongly attributes worship and faith to an entity that is not truly God. When we find comfort in things other than God, we are guilty of blasphemy. We have failed to rightly praise God with our faith and reverence.
  • Arrogance: Apostle Paul states in Galatians 6:3 that when someone “thinks that they are something when they are actually nothing, they deceive themselves.” Such is the case when we live as though we do not need God in our lives, and blaspheme the sovereignty of God.
  • False Teachings: False teaching and/or false depictions of God are also blasphemous because they obscure the true nature of God. Whereas with idolatry, we tend to worship and hope in a false reality, with false teachings or false depictions about God, we are attempting to change the character of God to more closely conform to our preferences.

Bible Verses about Blasphemy

Remember this, O LORD, how the enemy scoffs, and a foolish people reviles (or blasphemes) your name. - Psalm 74:18 

And everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but the one who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven. - Luke 12:10 

Therefore I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven people, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. And whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.- Matthew 12:31-32 

And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem were saying, "He is possessed by Beelzebul," and "by the prince of demons he casts out the demons." And he called them to him and said to them in parables, "How can Satan cast out Satan? If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but is coming to an end. But no one can enter a strong man's house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man. Then indeed he may plunder his house. "Truly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the children of man, and whatever blasphemies they utter, but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin"-- for they were saying, "He has an unclean spirit." - Mark 3:22-30 

But brother goes to law against brother, and that before unbelievers? To have lawsuits at all with one another is already a defeat for you. Why not rather suffer wrong? Why not rather be defrauded? But you yourselves wrong and defraud—even your own brothers! Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. - 1 Corinthians 6:6-10 

But you have dishonored the poor man. Are not the rich the ones who oppress you, and the ones who drag you into court? Are they not the ones who blaspheme the honorable name by which you were called? - James 2:6-7

Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good, and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled. - Titus 2:3-5

It opened its mouth to utter blasphemies against God, blaspheming his name and his dwelling, that is, those who dwell in heaven. - Revelation 13:6 


James 4:11, “Speak not evil one of another, brethren. He that speaks evil of his brother and judges his brother speaks evil of the law and judges the law, but if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. There is one lawgiver who is able to save and to destroy. Who are you that judges another?” We’ll stop at that point. 

Basically, James is talking about the blasphemous sin of defaming others. The dictionary defines defamation of character, which is a familiar term in our society, as - and I’m quoting - an attack on the reputation of someone by publishing falsely and maliciously things that slander and injure. Let me say it again. Defamation of character is an attack on the reputation of someone by publishing falsely and maliciously things that slander and injure. 

Several key things. Defamation of character has to do with publishing, that is proclaiming something. Secondly, proclaiming something that is false, and thirdly, proclaiming something that is false with a malicious intent. That’s defamation of character. In our country, in our society, it’s against the law. It’s against the civil law, and you are subject to a civil lawsuit if indeed you defame someone’s character. Even our blighted and benighted society realizes that a person’s reputation is his or her most valued asset. It must be protected. 

Society recognizes that your reputation is your stock and trade, and the courts of this nation are set to do the protecting so that people are not exposed to unfounded and life-damaging lies without recourse. You can go back in our country’s history, and I was reading a little bit about this particular issue in the early days of our nation, and I was reading that in New York, in the very early and founding years of New York, those who slandered or defamed another person were apprehended, and the punishment was to pierce through their tongue with a hot iron and then banish them from New York. 

Now, that would act as a deterrent, I think. But even the society itself recognized that you can’t let people run around defaming people’s character because you destroy them at the most vital point. The basis of these kinds of laws and the basis of that kind of protection in our society, the protection from malicious lies, really comes from a social conscience borne out of heritage of the Word of God for the dignity of man and the right of a man to have his character preserved and to be free from malicious slander is really based upon the ethics of God’s Word. 

In fact, I found out that in my study this week that the Old Testament denounces the offense of slandering God and slandering man more than any other offense. There are more denunciations in the Old Testament of that defamation of the name of God or the name of another person than any other sin. In a sense, it is a very destructive sin because while you can’t commit every sin just because you can’t do it, you’re prevented from doing it by circumstances, the one sin that you can commit anytime you want is to say things because you’re in total control of your own mouth. 

And so society itself recognizes that at that point, you must control people. James, then, brings to our attention this - this matter of the defamation of others with malicious lies intended to injure them and brings it to the forefront of our attention in a very, very forceful way. These verses are, while they seem to be brief, pungent, to put it mildly. 

Now let me give you a little feel for where we are in the text. James has just pointed out that humility is the essential characteristic in one who receives saving grace. Verses 6 and 10, you remember that? Verse 6, “He gives grace to the humble,” verse 10, “Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord and He’ll lift you up,” and then in between he talked about the elements of that kind of humility. He just talked about humility. And we have agreed from that text that he is saying true believers are marked by humility. 

It is the symbol, the sign, the identifying factor, the mark, the benchmark, if you will, the sign of authenticity of a true believer that is humble. It is consequently true that those who manifest constant violation of a humble spirit call their own claim to salvation into question. In other words, if the humble are the ones that God saves and a person is continuously proud, then there’s reason to question the claim that they may make to be saved. 

And James then proceeds from that discussion of humility to demonstrate one specific way that humility is violated, one specific way that pride is revealed and that is through defaming other people. That is a non-humble and proud kind of sin. And by the way, it’s another test of saving faith - it is another test of saving faith. Remember now, all through James, he’s giving us tests of saving faith, tests of genuine faith. And where you have a person whose life pattern is habitually malicious slander and condemnation of others, they betray an evil nature, not a new nature, not a transformed nature, and not certainly a new creation in Christ Jesus. 

So again we are at a point where here is a manifestation of pride as over against humility and here is another test of the validity of a claim to salvation. Is the person marked as one who is humble and manifests a good spirit toward others or is the person malicious and slandering and are they engaged in the defamation of the character of others for their own sake? 

Now, to begin with, before we look at the text itself, just a general look at what the Bible has to say about this sin, this sin of slander, of saying something false about a person with a malicious intent and publishing it around. You perhaps remember that very, very familiar passage in the sixth chapter of Proverbs - you’ll remember it as soon as I read it. “These things does the Lord hate, these six things, yea, seven are an abomination to Him: a proud look, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked imaginations, feet that are swift in running to mischief, a false witness that speaks lies and he that sows discord among brothers.” 

God hates a lying tongue. God hates false witness. God hates that which sows discord. Three out of those six, yea, seven things that God hates have to do with how you speak about other people. In Exodus chapter 23 and verse 1, you have the command of God against this sin, a command that is reiterated with tremendous force in the New Testament in these words, Ephesians 4:31, “Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor and evil speaking” - same term is used here - “be put away from you with all evil.” 

And what he is talking about there are the sins that destroy personal relationships, one of which is slander, and he says all those sins that destroy personal relationships need to be put away. In Psalm 50, there are two verses, verses 19 and 20, which basically describe the wicked as characteristically addicted to slander. It is characteristic of wicked people to slander. Jeremiah 6:28 and Jeremiah 9:4 say essentially the same thing, that evil men walk with slander. It is to say that it is for them a way of life. Nothing makes people feel better about themselves than to slander somebody else. 

In Matthew 15:19, our Lord Jesus associated slander with the violent sins that proceed out of a grossly wicked heart. Scripture chronicles the devastating affects of this kind of speech, this defaming speech. In Proverbs 16:28 and Proverbs 17:9, the Scripture says it utterly destroys friendships. In Proverbs 18:8 and 26:22, the Scripture says it leaves deep, scarring wounds in the soul of the one slandered. In Proverbs 26:20, it reveals how it leads ultimately to conflict. And Proverbs 6:19, as I read to you a moment ago, how it sows discord among the brothers. 

Scripture makes much of this, as I said, more than any other single sin in the Old Testament and speaks of its devastation in every dimension of life. To look at a couple of illustrations, take your Bible to the Old Testament for a moment and the tenth chapter of 2 Samuel. The tenth chapter of 2 Samuel. I want you to be there for a moment because I’m going to read through the section and you’ll find it fascinating, to say the least. “It came to pass after this that the king of the children of Ammon died and Hanun, his son, reigned in his stead. 

“Then said David,” and of course the Ammonites, you remember, were of a category of enemies to the people of God, “Then said David, ‘I will show kindness unto Hanun, the son of Nahash, as his father showed kindness unto me.’” Even though there was a certain sense in which they were enemies, there had been kindness in the way that David had been treated by the father of this new king, and David wanted to return that and show great kindness to this son by the name of Hanun. 

“And David sent to console him by the hand of his servants for his father.” When his father died, David wanted to show a bit of gentleness and sympathy and consolation, and he sent that kind of message and perhaps some attending gifts to express his consolation. “And David’s servants came into the land of the children of Ammon. And the princes of the children of Ammon said to Hanun, their lord, ‘Do you think that David does honor your father that he has sent comforters unto you?’” Are you so stupid as to believe this guy is sincere? “Has not David rather sent his servants unto you to search out the city, to spy it out and overthrow it?” This is a plot. 

And so his intimate associates lie to him about David. They maliciously slander the motives and intentions of David, who really did want to comfort the guy in the death of his father and wanted to maintain some kind of peaceful coexistence. But when Hanun heard this - and as any king would be, he was somewhat paranoid. And he took David’s servants and shaved off one half of their beards. You say, “Well, is that so bad?” Well, a beard in that time of the world and in the Middle East was a sign of your dignity, was a sign of your manliness, and so it was really a mockery and somewhat of a human desecration to do that. 

That wasn’t the half of it. Shaved off one half of their beards, cut off their garments in the middle, even to their buttocks, and sent them away. And that was, of course, even more embarrassing. They have been embarrassed, defamed, dishonored, and, of course, for a Jew to be exposed in that way was a fearful thing. And all of this to guys who came to be nice, and the whole thing was convoluted because of the lying advisors that Hanun had. 

“When they told it to David, he sent to meet them because the men were greatly ashamed.” I mean they were out in a bush somewhere, they wouldn’t even come into town. So he sent somebody out to help them. “And the king said, ‘Tarry at Jericho until your beards grow.’” Obviously, their clothing wouldn’t grow, so they had to get new clothing, but their beards would grow. They wouldn’t come into town without their beards. That was very, very much a part of their male identity. Stay at Jericho until your beards grow. It’s got to be - I don’t know how long it takes to grow a beard, I tried it once. But it was a while. 

“And when the children of Ammon saw that they had become odious before David” - boy, David was upset - the children of Ammon sent and hired the Syrians of Beth-rehob and the Syrians of Zobah, 20,000 footmen and King Maacah, a thousand men, and of Tob, 12,000 men.” They went out and got a bunch of mercenaries, getting ready to fight because they figured David was so mad, they were going to have a war. 

“And the children of Ammon came out and put the battle in array at the entrance of the gate and the Assyrians of Zobah and Rehob and Tob and Maacah were by themselves in the field.” And here comes this army and nothing has happened. David was being nice. He was being gentle. Some lying, slanderous people falsified his attitude and it created here an armed war. 

“And Joab, who is the captain of David’s army, saw the front of the battle was against him before and behind.” Now they’re at war, they’re at war over absolutely nothing. They’re at war because of slander. And so they had - says he took the choice men of Israel and put them in array against the Syrians. “And the rest of the people he delivered into the hand of Abishai, his brother, that he might put them in array against the children of Ammon.” 

So now he’s got the Syrians, who are the mercenaries, the Ammonites, who are the ones that cut off the beards and cut off the clothes, and he’s got his two generals, as it were, on the one hand Joab, on the other hand Abishai, and they’ve got their troops and off they go. He said, “If the Syrians are too strong for me, then you’ll help me. If the children of Ammon are too strong for you, I’ll come and help you. Be of good courage, let’s play the men for our people.” In other words, let’s be men and go to battle. “And for the cities of our God and the Lord do that which seemeth to him good.” 

This is bizarre. I mean, it’s all for nothing, nothing happened. David didn’t want a war. The Ammonites didn’t want a war. And they got a war because some people slandered David. 

“Joab drew near, the people who were with him unto the battle against Syrians and they fled before him. And when the children of Ammon saw that the Syrians were fled, they fled - then fled they also before Abishai and entered into the city. So Joab returned from the children of Ammon, he came to Jerusalem. And when the Syrians saw they were smitten before Israel, they gathered themselves together and Hadarezer sent out and brought out the Syrians who were beyond the river and they came to Helam and Shobach” - and all these names will be on the quiz - “the captain of the host of Hadarezer and went before them.” 

And it was told David, he gathered all Israel together, passed over the Jordan, came to Helam, and the Assyrians set themselves in array against David and fought with him. Now get this. The Syrians haven’t got anything to do with this. They didn’t do anything. And now they’re in war with David. The Ammonites have split. “And the Syrians fled before Israel. David slew seven hundred chariots of the Syrians and forty thousand horsemen.” This is a massacre. “And smote Shobach” - that’ll teach him to take his Shobach and stay where he was - “the captain of the host and he died there.” Well, everybody’s entitled to a few. 

“And when all the kings who were servants to Hadarezer saw that they were smitten before Israel, they made peace with Israel.” Yeah, peace with Israel after nearly 50,000 people are dead because some people lied about the motives of David. 

Chapter 11 starts, “And it came to pass after the year was ended at the time when kings go forth to battle that David sent Joab and his servants with him and all Israel and they destroyed the children of Ammon.” They wiped out the Syrians and they wiped out the Ammonites. Why? Because somebody lied. Some stupid people said things that were not true and tens of thousands of people were massacred. Incredible. 

First Kings 21. First Kings 21, verse 13, There came in two fellows, two men, worthless fellows, base fellows - we would call them criminal types - sat before him and the worthless men witnessed against him, even against Naboth in the presence of the people saying, “Naboth did blaspheme God and the king,” and then they carried him forth out of the city and stoned him with stones so that he died. You remember the story? Ahab wanted Naboth’s vineyard, and so these men came in and lied about Naboth, slandered him, and he was murdered. He was stoned, verse 14 says, and he’s dead. Go tell Jezebel she can give the vineyard to her wimpy husband. 

You can read Ezra chapter 4, chapter 5, and it would record for you the account of the lying slander of the enemies of the Jews, the lying slander reported to Artaxerxes and later on to Darius, and both times the lies given to Artaxerxes and Darius were given by the enemies of God’s people because they wanted to stop them from rebuilding their city and their temple. 

You could go to Esther and read the whole story of Haman. Haman was the agent of Satan to try to wipe out the Jewish people who at that particular time were captive in Persia, the Medo-Persian Empire. And you remember Haman got the king to put out a decree that all of those Jews were to be killed, and he slandered them with an intent of wiping out the whole race. However, by the intervention of the providence of God, the murder of the Jews was stopped, and Haman was hanged on his own gallows. But he would have intended by his slander and his malicious lies to have massacred an immense portion of the whole Jewish race. 

You come into the New Testament, and nothing hits you harder, if you read the gospel record, than the way the Lord Jesus Christ was slandered. In fact, in Matthew 11:19, they said of Him, “Behold, a man gluttonous and a wine bibber” - an alcoholic - “a friend of tax collectors and sinners.” That’s what they said about Jesus. A sinner, a friend of tax collectors, a drunk, a glutton - slander. Finally, it came to pass that He faced His own execution, and all they could bring into the court to testify against Him were lies. 

Matthew 26:59, “The chief priests, the elders, all the council sought false witnesses against Jesus to put Him to death.” They went out and found malicious liars - “but they found none, yea, though many false witnesses came, they found none. At last came two false witnesses and said this fellow said, ‘I am able to destroy the temple of God and to build it in three days.’” In other words, the whole execution of Jesus Christ was predicated on the fact that some people lied. They lied about the intent of the words of our Lord. That’s got to be the worse case of all. 

Where does all this come from? Simply boiled down, John 8:44, “Jesus said to the leaders of Israel, ‘You are of your father’ - whom? - ‘the devil. And the devil is a murderer from the beginning and the father’ - of what? - ‘of lies.’” He is called diabolos. The word “devil” is the Greek word diabolos. It translates to the English word “slanderer.” He is the slanderer. Revelation 12 says he is the accuser of the brethren. 

So slander is basically satanic. It is characteristic of those children of Satan, those who are driven, guided, as Paul says in Ephesians 2, by the prince of the power of the air, whose lives are dominated by the rulers of darkness. Those are the people that lie and slander. It is spawned, then, by Satan in the wicked hearts of sinners whose character it reveals. It is released through hate. It comes out in venomous hate. 

So many illustrations. I was looking in the Old Testament, Psalm 41:7, “All who hate me whisper together against me, against me do they devise my hurt.” It’s spawned out of satanic energy, as it were, in the wicked, fallen nature of man through the emotion of hate - of hate. Jesus, it says, “They hated me without a cause.” And behind the hate is envy, behind the hate is jealousy. That’s usually the emotion that’s there. And behind that is pride from the human viewpoint. 

Satan, then, as it were, the father of the fallen, the father of the unregenerate, in their wicked nature and the satanic influence coming together, produces pride. Out of pride comes envy. Out of envy comes hate. Out of hate comes slander. And it’s always, in some way or another, to enhance the slanderer’s person or position. 

Think about it. Right back at the very beginning, the most graphic evil example of satanic involvement in slander is in Genesis chapter 3 where we have the fall of man. Can I remind you of it? Chapter 3, just the first six verses. “The serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, ‘Yes, has God said you shall not eat of every tree of the garden, did God really say that?’” Did He say that? The implication is questioning God, questioning whether God was sincere. Did He really mean that? 

“And the woman said to the serpent, ‘We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God said you shall not eat of it, neither shall you touch it lest you die.’” And, of course, God didn’t say the touch part, she just invented that. But somehow Satan had convinced her that God was insincere, that God had selfish motives, that God lacked integrity. 

“You see, God knows that in the day you eat” - verse 5 - “your eyes will be opened and you’ll be like God and He doesn’t want that.” You see, God’s trying to protect His territory, God doesn’t want you invading, God doesn’t want you to be like Him. God is selfish, God is insincere. God has no integrity. And so he lied about God. He lied about the nature of God. He lied about the motives of God. He lied about the character of God. And as a result, she’s suckered in on the thing and bought it. People who hate will buy the lie. 

I’ve found that in my own life, that when somebody picks up some slanderous thing and passes it on about someone, some malicious gossip, it’s comfortable to those who have been looking for something evil to say about that person. You see, a wicked heart is proud. A wicked heart is self-serving. A wicked heart is always jealous, always envious. And Satan was jealous of God. He seethes with jealousy. That’s why he said, “I will, I will, I will be like the Most High, I will be like the Most High.” 

He couldn’t stand being the highest created being in heaven, he had to be God, and it was spawned out of his pride and jealousy the hate came, and then the malicious and ongoing onslaught of slanders against God and against Christ and against God’s servants. So pride and jealousy and envy move the mouth with hate and out comes malicious, condemning defamation that really reveals the kind of character in the person. 

Certainly doesn’t belong in the mouth of a Christian. Certainly has no place with the believer and, obviously, James is intending us to understand that. “Speak not evil one of another,” verse 11 says, “brethren.” This is not for you to do. We should never indulge in this. In fact, the Scripture says Jesus Christ, when He was reviled, reviled not again. We should never even retaliate to that. But on the other hand, Matthew 5:11 says, “Bless those that” - what? - “curse you.” The Bible says do good to those that spitefully use you, those that speak evil against you, those that slander you. Return good for their evil. 

We’ve all had that happen in our life. I suppose I’ve had it happen as much as I would like to have it happen. I’ve had about all that I need of that. But you have to go back to the source. When people speak lies against you, malicious, slanderous lies, you realize that the source of all of this is pride, satanic temptation, envy, jealousy, hate that ultimately winds up in slander. The sum of this brief consideration is just to give you the sense that God hates this sin. It’s a despicable sin. And the people who live like this and who talk like this, I think, are in great danger. 

In Deuteronomy 19 - I mean I don’t think I have to take care of vengeance, I think God does that, don’t you? I don’t need to retaliate to that. Deuteronomy 19:16, “If a false witness rise up against any man to testify against him that which is wrong,” in other words, to lie, “then both the men between whom the controversy is shall stand before the Lord, before the priests, the judges who shall be in those days.” You see, a man just couldn’t do that, even then. That’s why I say in America, our concern about defamation of character has a biblical base. 

Deuteronomy 19. “You bring the men before the judges and the judges make a diligent inquiry and behold, if the man is a false witness” - in other words, if he’s a lying slanderer - “and has testified falsely against his brother, then you shall do to him as he has thought to have done to his brother, so you shall put the evil away from among you. And those who remain shall hear and fear and henceforth commit no more any such evil among you and your eyes shall not pity but life shall go for life and eye for eye and tooth for tooth and hand for hand and foot for foot.” 

In other words, you, in the structure of your country, bring together judges who mete out retribution on a level that is equal to the crime planned. Very serious. 

In Psalm 52 verse 1, “Why are you boasting yourself in your mischief, O mighty man? The goodness of God endures continually. Your tongue devises mischief like a sharp razor working deceitfully. You love evil more than good and lying rather than to speak righteousness. You love all devouring words, O you deceitful tongue. God shall likewise destroy you forever. He shall take you away and pluck you out of your dwelling place and root you out of the land of the living. The righteous shall see and fear and laugh.” Pretty serious. 

So a slanderous disposition reveals, I believe, an evil heart. And then we say this is another test of saving faith. Now, with that background, we approach the text itself. Let’s go to James again in case you’ve wandered somewhere else. The command is very clear in verse 11. “Speak not evil one of another, brethren.” Do not speak evil one of another. 

Now listen very carefully to what I say. This does not mean we are forbidden to hate sin. It does not mean we are forbidden to expose sin. It does not mean we are forbidden to name sinners who will not repent. Quite the contrary. In the Scripture, such discernment and exposure is commanded. Matthew 7, you remember the text on the false prophets, the lying men who are trying to lure people onto the broad road? “Beware of false prophets.” We have to be discerning. We have to be wary. We have to assess their fruits and be certain that they’re legitimate. 

In Matthew chapter 18, Jesus said if your brother sins, you go to him. If he doesn’t listen, you take two or three witnesses. And if he still doesn’t listen, you tell it to whom? To the church - to the church. In Acts chapter 8, that deceitful, lying Simon who would have bought the Holy Spirit with money simply because he wanted the power, Peter publicly said, “Repent therefore of this your wickedness and pray God if perhaps the thought of your heart may be forgiven you, for I perceive that you are in the gall of bitterness and you are in the bond of iniquity.” And he flatly and flagrantly and openly called him a sinner to his face. 

First Corinthians chapter 5, you know it very well, tells us that “in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ when you are gathered together as a church with my Spirit and the power of our Lord Jesus, you deliver that immoral person over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh.” In other words, that’s a public deliverance of a person who is living a deceitful life, masquerading as if they belonged to Christ while betraying Him in their life. 

And so it goes in the Scripture. Galatians 1, Paul says, “I don’t care if an angel comes from heaven and preaches another gospel, let him be anathema,” cursed. Paul, writing the second epistle to the Thessalonians says, “Mark those who aren’t walking the way they ought to walk and have absolutely nothing to do with them.” Titus 3:10 essentially calls for the same kind of treatment when it says rebuke a heretic. Verse 10, “After the first and second admonition and then” - do what? - “reject him.” 

Now, granted, when a person repents of sin, we want to cover that. First Peter 4:8, “Love covers a multitude of sins.” Galatians 6:1, “If a brother is overtaken in a fault, restore him in love, considering yourself, lest you also be tempted.” Where there’s repentance, there’s covering. But where there is no repentance and sin is open and flagrant, it is to be publicly rebuked. So this command here, “Speak not evil one of another brethren,” has nothing to do - please note this - nothing to do with exposing sin with righteous intent. It has to do with lying with malicious intent. That’s a big difference - big difference. 

The verb here, “speaking evil,” is katalaleō. It’s an onomatopoetic word. That is to say onomatopoeia, you remember that Old English word, means a word which the definition of which sounds like what it is. For example, we say bees buzz, that’s an onomatopoetic word because the word itself sounds like what it’s describing. And so the word katalalia or katalaleō sounds like backbiting, slanderous, double-talk - katalalia, la la la la la, blah blah blah blah blah, see. It’s onomatopoetic in that sense. Stop your katalaleō. Stop the wagging of your tongue in slanderous and malicious talk. 

Katalaleō, laleō is a very interesting word in the Greek. There are two words that will often be translated for speaking or saying. One is legō, from which we get the word logos, which is the noun form, and the other is laleō. Now legō, we connect words like logic or -ology, those are all connected to the root legō - logic, -ology, logical. But laleō is different. Legō means to say something, and it implies that it is logical. It speaks of something which presupposes thought. Whereas laleō simply describes sound and has nothing to say about thought. It can be used where there is thought, but that’s not what it intends to convey. 

It would be the word used, for example, of the noise an animal makes, a farm animal would be laleō, not legō because they’re not saying things or producing sounds that have reason logic and presupposed thought. So laleō is the word that would be used to express something that was mindless, that was thoughtless, that was empty-headed, that was careless, that was just noise, just sound. Shakespeare said it, “Sound and fury, signifying nothing.” 

And when you take the preposition kata, which means “down,” it means basically to speak down about someone or to speak against someone, hence to defame, slander, denigrate, and has the idea of evil speaking. It is often translated “backbiting” because katalaleō implies the absence of the person being spoken against, which always fascinates me - always fascinates me. 

So what he is forbidding under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit is the careless babble that runs people down, critical, derogatory, slanderous, and untrue. And usually defaming a person who isn’t there to defend himself, hence the term backbiting - backbiting. You’re biting them in the back, they can’t even see what’s going on, they’re not even able to defend themselves. In Romans 1:30, it describes the unregenerate, ungodly world as backbiters, haters of God, insolent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents. So it’s in a sort of an ugly catalogue of evil. 

In 2 Corinthians 12:20, Paul says, “I fear lest when I come I’ll not find you such as I would and I’ll be found unto you as such as you would not lest there be debates and envyings, wrath, strife, backbitings, whisperings, conceit, disorders.” And you see it there in a pile of words that have to do with mistreatment of people.




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