THE DECALOGUE by J. W. Watt

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Jan 25, 1899

THE DECALOGUE.

By J. W. Watt

The Ninth Commandment.

"THOU shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor."

To whom does God speak in His law?—To His servants. How many of the people of God have doubtless thought that God spake to sinners alone when He gave His law; but no, He speaks to His own people. When He says, "Thou shalt not bear false witness," is it not evident that they are to bear witness of some kind?—Yes, they are to bear true witness unto God and His divine love, they are to be witnesses before their neighbors of the true character of God's government.

"Ye are My witnesses, saith the Lord." Isa. 43:10.

"And ye shall be witnesses unto Me both in Jerusalem, and in Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth." Acts 1:8.

The above scriptures, with many others, show that God designed that His loyal servants should be His witnesses. Christ came as our example, and He is called "the True Witness." "These things saith the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God." Rev. 3:14. "And from Jesus Christ, who is the Faithful Witness." Rev. 1:5.

Jesus is the TRUE WITNESS; He is also the Faithful Witness; and He says unto us, "If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me." Luke 9:23.

But some one will say, "I thought the ninth commandment forbade the telling of falsehoods about our neighbors." So it does, but that is only the negative side of the commandment, the grosser form of the sin condemned. This, like all the other commandments of God, is broad and deep, and embraces much more than simply the gross sin that appears so plain to the casual reader. Notice it does not say, Thou shalt not tell a falsehood about thy neighbor, but, "Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor."

Anything that a servant of God would do that would stand in the way and hinder his neighbor in developing a righteous character, would be against his neighbor, because it might keep him out of the kingdom of God. How often we hear those who make no profession of religion say of some one who does profess to be a Christian, "Why, he is no better than I am; he will cheat a man in a deal just as quick as I would; in fact, he will do things I would not." Dear reader, have you not heard such remarks?—Certainly you have. We must admit that many times such remarks are too true. When a professed Christian takes advantage of his neighbor in a business transaction, what has he done?—He has borne false witness against his neighbor, for he has misrepresented the God of heaven to that man; and that very act may keep the man out of heaven.

Let us remember that the law of God not only condemns sin but it also witnesses to righteousness, even the righteousness of God. Rom. 3:21.

We have seen what it is to violate the ninth commandment; now we will consider what obedience to it would embrace.

The righteousness of God is the right-doing of God; therefore, if we understand the commandment, it teaches us just what God would do were He in our place. God sent His Son Jesus into the world to show us by a living example what His Father would do if He occupied the position we do; therefore in Christ we are able to keep the commandment and bear true witness which will be in favor of and not against our neighbor's eternal interests. This means to us, then, that in all the walks of life we shall show a deep interest in our fellow-man, that we will always in every place be careful not to do or say anything that would cause any one to feel that God's government was not the best of all governments, and His character the most lovable of all characters; thus our influence upon our neighbors would lead them to see that the grace of God will transform the characters of men and make them like the character of the MOST HIGH. All this is what it means to bear true witness unto God. If we are thus living, we shall have no disposition to take advantage of our fellow-men in any way, neither to magnify their faults or assist in circulating false reports about them. No, we shall leave all such work for the devil to do, to whom such work properly belongs. The children of God can not afford to bear false witness, for this is contrary to the character of heaven and the heavenly beings with whom we expect to associate throughout eternity.

May the Lord help us all to be true witnesses, and to behold wondrous things in His law. J. W. WATT.