What does the Bible say about libel?

But that is not the end of the matter. Every idle word that men speak they will be called upon to account for in the day of judgment. This is true even of idle (that is, worthless or unfruitful) words. How much more so when the words are positively wicked! For by one's words (good words) he would be justified. and by his words (idle words) he would be judged. The world's government does not act an this principle: freedom of speech allows a shameful excess of evil words. Sometimes people are sued for libel of others; but the most repulsive language against God is considered of no consequence. God's judgment will specially expose all this, as Jude 15 & 16 bears strong witness, with swift, unsparing vengeance against men's hard words, no less than against their evil actions.

We may here see how God hates false witness; and further, we have to bear in mind that, though we are not under law but under grace, false witness is not less hateful to God; and surely the more fully we enter into the grace in which we stand, the more intensely we shall abhor false witness, slander, and evil speaking, in every shape and form. The good Lord preserve us from all such!

Speaking evil of one another (James 4:11-12)

(Vv. 11, 12). The Apostle has warned us against the pride of the flesh that seeks to exalt self. He now warns us against the effort to belittle others by speaking evil of them. To speak evil of others is an indirect attempt to exalt self. Thus evil-speaking is the outcome of self-importance. Love would not, and could not, speak evil. Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. Hence evil-speaking is the sure index that pride and malice, rather than love, have found place in the heart.

Moreover, the one speaking evil of his brother has forgotten the royal law, which exhorts us to love our neighbour as ourselves. Again, the law explicitly states, “Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.” According to the standard of the law, our brother, so far from being disparaged, is to be an object of love, and his reputation safe at the lips of his brethren. When it is otherwise, we are not even living according to the standard of the law. Clearly, then, to speak evil against our brother is to speak against the law; instead of being doers of the law, we act as if we were above the law. We judge the law rather than allowing the law to judge us. Moreover, to transgress the law is to slight the Lawgiver and to usurp His place. If our brother has done wrong, the Lawgiver is able to save or to judge according to His perfect wisdom. Who are we that we should judge one another?

Are we then to be indifferent to evil in one another? Far from it. Other Scriptures instruct us as to how to deal with evil when the sad necessity arises. This Scripture warns us against speaking evil. The one that speaks evil against his brother is not dealing with the evil and has no intention of doing so. He is simply speaking evil in order to disparage his brother. Well for us to remember, when tempted to gratify a little bit of vindictive malice by speaking evil of our brother, that we not only sink below what is proper to a Christian, but we do not even fulfil the righteousness of the law.

The exhortation is as to our ordinary but God-fearing intercourse. The necessities of godly discipline are not in question. Holy love is bound to rebuke what is wrong in those guilty of it, and to warn those who may be endangered by the evil example. Wrong in these cases must be laid bare though it ought to be in sorrow; but it is due to the Lord, and for the profit of those concerned. If there be a public snare and peril, this makes a corresponding admonition to be a duty, and is love in truth.

But to spread disparagement or discreditable imputations without a call from God according to His word, and with no effort to seek the good of the alleged evil-doers, is not only far from Christ, but beneath even a Jew. There is neither truth nor love in detraction, but constant liability to false witness: a multitude must not be followed to do such uncomely turns, any more than to favour a poor man in his cause. The nearness of our relationship is apt to lend occasion to freedom of speech, but it clearly ought rather to enforce on us the greater caution. "Speak not against one another, brethren." Entreaty or remonstrance may be called for; but angry and especially habitual depreciation is unworthy of those that bear the Lord's name. Is it to injure? How does He regard it? "He that speaketh against a brother, or judgeth his brother, speaketh against law, and judgeth law; but if thou judgest law, thou art not a doer of law but a judge." Not only the uncharitable act, but the judicial assumption which it must involve, are here exposed with transparent soundness. The brother spoken against may be innocent; the evil speaker is certainly in a false position and an injurious state. The authority which all acknowledge condemns him, at least of being censorious, usurping the seat of judgment, and disputing the authority he invokes. Nor is God mocked: for we reap as we sow, if of flesh corruption; if of Spirit, life everlasting.

Untrue testimony by one man against another (2) is also pernicious. The law of Sinai expressly forbade the Israelite to bear false witness against his neighbour (Ex. 20:16), and it was written that a false witness should not go unpunished (Prov. 19:5, 9), but should perish (Prov. 21:28). He was a menace to the nation, and is figuratively described as "a maul and a sword and a sharp arrow" (Prov. 25:18), for lying testimony bore down its victim by sheer force, and cut asunder the very vitals, and wounded even from afar.

Thus verse 18 proceeds to consider the positive harm one may cause by lending his lips to falsehood, the utter antithesis of the pure ministy of the truth of God. "A man that beareth false witness against his neighbor is a maul, and a sword, and a sharp arrow." The commonness of such evil does not lessen its seriousness. But how dreadfully serious among saints of God who have sought to act upon the recovered truths of the unity of the body of Christ and of Himself as the One Center of gathering! How extremely careful ought we to be that we both care for the real unity of the Spirit of God, and that we know facts thoroughly before speaking, and especially if anyone is to be put in a bad light through our words. If guilty of false witness, one is "a maul" - crushing; "a sword" - cutting; and "a sharp arrow" - piercing. Let us consider how dreadfully in such a case the neighbor is wronged.

But false witness against a neighbour is quite another thing, and extremely heinous. He that bears it is here said to be mischievous in ever so many different ways — a maul to crush, a sword to pierce when the object is at hand, and an arrow to wound at a distance.

Then we find further care taken as to witnesses, and this affirmed by the great law of just retribution; that is to say, that when a witness testified what was deliberately false, and of course therefore malicious, the punishment which would have been adjudged in case of its truth was ordered to fall on him that raised the evil report. All this is carefully seen to. "And thine eye shall not pity; but life shall go for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot."

The ninth commandment reads, "You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor" (v.20). To bear false witness is cruel and gross evil, but this commandment was coldly disregarded by too many Israelites. Jezebel deliberately bribed wicked men to falsely accuse Naboth to have him put to death (1 Kings 21:8-13). Even the chief priests of Israel sought false witnesses to testify against the Lord Jesus, the Son of God (Mk.14:55-59). How refreshing is the contrast in what people said of John the Baptist, "All things that John spoke about the Man (the Lord Jesus) were true (Jn.10:41). Thus, in the New Testament we are not told, "Thou shalt not," but rather, "Therefore, putting away lying, let each one of you speak truth with his neighbor" (Eph.4:25).

The ninth commandment safeguards truth against man's sinful propensity to distort it into positive lying. A man may lie as to almost anything, but what is specially prohibited is his tendency to lie at the expense of his neighbour. The devil, we know, is the father of lies, but since man fell under his influence he has become a very apt pupil in that direction. In this world lies have become one of the most potent forces of evil. We may note that while killing and stealing are two of the commonest and worst forms of violence, adultery and lying are two of the commonest and worst forms of corruption. All four are most destructive of human happiness. When they vanish in the millennial age the world will become a paradise.