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Summary
- The King James Bible speaks of lies and lying 154 times, counting lie, lies, lying, lied, liar and liars only where they mean a falsehood.
- The word “lie” also means to lie down, and 134 uses of these words have nothing to do with telling lies.
- Jeremiah speaks of lies most, 22 times, mostly about prophets who “prophesy lies in my name”.
- Abram, Jacob, Gehazi, Peter, and Ananias and Sapphira all lied, and the Bible tells each story plainly.
- Augustine and Calvin held that even Rahab’s lie was wrong, while Luther called such lies told to help a neighbour a “lie of service”.
- Bearing false witness is a lie told in court, and Catholic and Reformed catechisms both read the commandment as forbidding every lie.
- Scripture warns that liars will not escape, and promises forgiveness to everyone who confesses.
Bibliography (Click to show)
- King James Version (public domain), counted in the Project Gutenberg text (eBook #10, without the Apocrypha), gutenberg.org/ebooks/10, with each use of lie, lies, lying, lied, liar and liars read and sorted by meaning; passages quoted from the King James Version: Genesis 3:4; 12:13; 20:2, 12; 27:19; Exodus 1:19–20; 20:16; Leviticus 19:11; Joshua 2:5; 1 Kings 13:18; 2 Kings 5:25, 27; Proverbs 6:17, 19; 12:22; 19:5; Isaiah 28:15, 17; Jeremiah 7:4; 14:14; 28:15; Zephaniah 3:13; Matthew 5:37; 15:19; 26:59, 72; Luke 2:12; John 8:44; 14:6; 21:15–17; Acts 5:4; Ephesians 4:25; Colossians 3:9; Hebrews 6:18; 11:31; James 2:25; 1 John 1:9; Revelation 21:8; 22:15.
- Augustine of Hippo, Against Lying (about AD 420), chapter 32, trans. H. Browne, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, vol. 3, newadvent.org/fathers/1313.htm.
- John Calvin, Commentaries on the Book of Joshua, on Joshua 2:4–6, English translation, Christian Classics Ethereal Library, ccel.org.
- Hartmann Grisar, Luther, vol. 4, trans. E. M. Lamond, chapter 22, “Luther and Lying”, quoting Luther’s sermons on Exodus (1524) and lectures on Genesis (1536–45), Project Gutenberg, gutenberg.org/ebooks/49135.
- Allen Verhey, “Is Lying Always Wrong?”, Christianity Today, 24 May 1999, christianitytoday.com.
- Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraphs 2476 and 2482–2485, vatican.va.
- Westminster Shorter Catechism (1647), questions 76–78, opc.org/sc.html.
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