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Dutch Category 1: The Heart of the Matter: The Origin and Nature of Slander
These verses explore where slander comes from—the internal state of a person—and define its essential character.
Матфея 15:18-19
Но то, что выходит из рта, исходит от сердца, и это оскверняет человека. Ибо из сердца исходят злые мысли, убийство, прелюбодеяние, сексуальная безнравственность, воровство, лжесвидетельство, клевета.
B) отражение: This is a profound diagnostic statement. Slander is not a slip of the tongue; it is a symptom of a heart in disarray. It reveals a deeper brokenness, a contamination of our core affections and intentions. To engage in slander is to allow the darkest parts of our inner world—our insecurities, envies, and resentments—to spill out and pollute our relationships and our own soul. True change, then, isn’t about simply managing our words but about tending to the deep well of the heart from which they flow.
Притчи 10:18
«Тот, кто скрывает ненависть, имеет губы лживые, а тот, кто произносит клевету, — глупец».
B) отражение: This verse connects suppressed hatred to the act of slander with surgical precision. Slander is often the release valve for a hatred we lack the courage to confront honestly. It is a foolish, cowardly act because it attacks from the shadows. There’s a deep emotional immaturity here; instead of dealing with our internal bitterness, we attempt to re-shape reality with our words, trying to make the person we resent seem as ugly on the outside as we feel on the inside.
Psalm 52:2
“Your tongue plots destruction, like a sharp razor, you worker of deceit.”
B) отражение: The imagery of a sharp razor is emotionally arresting. A razor doesn’t just wound; it slices cleanly, quietly, and deeply before the pain is even fully registered. This is the insidious nature of slander. It is a calculated act of violence, a form of destruction plotted not with a fist, but with the tongue. It highlights the terrifying capacity of words to inflict deep, almost surgical wounds on a person’s reputation, spirit, and standing in a community.
Иакова 3:5-6
“So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things. How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire! And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness.”
B) отражение: This speaks to the terrifying disproportion between cause and effect. A single, careless spark of slander can ignite a raging inferno of suspicion, division, and communal pain that can take years to extinguish, if ever. The tongue’s power is not neutral; when untethered from love and truth, it becomes an entire ecosystem of wrongdoing, creating its own climate of hostility and distrust. This is a sobering call to recognize the immense and often volatile power we hold in our mouths.
Притчи 26:23
Как глазурь, покрывающая глиняный сосуд, - это пылкие губы со злым сердцем.
B) отражение: This verse unmasks the beautiful lie. Slander can be delivered with a veneer of concern, a “fervent” passion that seems righteous. But beneath this polished surface, this glaze, lies the cheap, brittle pottery of a malicious heart. It’s a warning against being seduced by passionate words, urging us to feel for the substance and integrity underneath. It reminds us that the most destructive slander can come packaged as piety or feigned friendship, a bitter poison served in a beautiful cup.
2 Corinthians 12:20
“For I fear that perhaps when I come I may find you not as I wish, and that you may find me not as you wish—that perhaps there may be quarreling, jealousy, anger, hostility, slander, gossip, conceit, and disorder.”
B) отражение: Paul lists slander and gossip alongside a host of other relational sicknesses. This is crucial because it shows that slander is not an isolated sin; it thrives in a culture of emotional chaos. It is a hallmark of a community that has lost its emotional and spiritual mooring. His fear is a pastoral ache, recognizing that where slander is present, true intimacy, trust, and loving unity—the very heart of Christian community—are impossible.
Category 2: The Divine Prohibition: God’s Clear Command Against Slander
These verses are not suggestions but clear directives from God about how His people are to live in community.
Исход 20:16
“You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.”
B) отражение: This is one of the Ten Commandments, placing the prohibition against slander at the bedrock of God’s moral law. It is not merely about courtroom perjury; it’s about the fundamental duty to protect and honor the truth of another person’s story and character. To bear false witness is to fundamentally warp reality, to commit a kind of narrative theft that steals a person’s good name. It is an offense against both God, who is truth, and the neighbor we are called to love.
Левит 19:16
“You shall not go around as a slanderer among your people, and you shall not stand up against the life of your neighbor: I am the LORD.”
B) отражение: This command powerfully connects slander to physical violence—”you shall not stand up against the life of your neighbor.” It teaches that words can be weapons that endanger a person’s livelihood, well-being, and social existence. Slander isn’t a petty vice; it’s a life-threatening act. The closing phrase, “I am the LORD,” is a stamp of divine authority, a reminder that the reputation and safety of our neighbors are under God’s personal protection.
Ефесянам 4:29
«Пусть из твоих уст не выйдут развращающие разговоры, но только такие, которые хороши для созидания, как это соответствует случаю, чтобы они могли дать благодать тем, кто слышит».
B) отражение: This is the positive command that stands in opposition to slander. Our words are meant to be tools of construction, not demolition. The measure of our speech should be: does this build up? Does it minister grace? Slander is the epitome of “corrupting talk” because it does the opposite—it tears down, and it ministers poison, not grace. This verse presents us with a profound moral and emotional choice in every conversation: will our words be a source of healing and strength, or decay and pain?
Ефесянам 4:31
«Пусть всякая горечь, гнев и гнев, и мольба и клевета будут удалены от вас вместе со всяким злом».
B) отражение: Here, slander is shown to be the verbal expression of a bitter and angry heart. It is the noise, the “clamor,” that erupts from inner turmoil. The command to “put it away” is an invitation to a kind of spiritual and emotional decluttering. It is a call to do the deep work of releasing malice and resentment so that their toxic byproduct, slander, has no place to grow. You cannot have a peaceful heart and a slanderous mouth; one must yield to the other.
Иаков 4:11
“Do not speak evil against one another, brothers. The one who speaks against a brother or judges his brother, speaks evil against the law and judges the law.”
B) отражение: This frames slander as an act of profound arrogance. When we slander another, we are not just attacking them; we are setting ourselves up as a judge, placing our own whispered verdict above God’s law of love. In doing so, we implicitly criticize the law itself as insufficient, and we usurp a role that belongs to God alone. It’s a sobering thought that our gossip is not just a social failing but a form of theological rebellion.
Тит 3:2
“To speak evil of no one, to avoid quarreling, to be gentle, and to show perfect courtesy toward all people.”
B) отражение: The command is breathtaking in its scope: “speak evil of no one.” This sets an incredibly high standard for our relational integrity. It calls for a radical commitment to gentleness and courtesy, recognizing the inherent dignity in “all people.” Slander is fundamentally discourteous and violent. This verse calls us to a higher way of being, a way that chooses peace over quarreling and active goodwill over the secret thrill of speaking evil.
Category 3: The Tangible Damage: The Destructive Power of Slander
These verses use vivid imagery to describe the real and devastating consequences of slander on relationships and communities.
Притчи 16:28
«Нечестный человек распространяет вражду, а шепот разъединяет близких друзей».
B) отражение: This reveals the heartbreaking outcome of slander. Its primary function is to create division. The “whisperer” is a profoundly tragic figure, an agent of relational entropy who takes the beautiful, ordered intimacy between friends and reduces it to chaotic strife. The verse aches with the pain of broken trust and the sorrow of friendships needlessly destroyed by words spoken in the shadows.
Притчи 11:9
Устами безбожники погубили ближнего своего, но по знанию праведники спасены.
B) отражение: The language is stark: slander is an attempt to “destroy” a neighbor. It is not benign gossip; it is a weaponized act aimed at the ruin of another. The hope offered is “knowledge”—not just factual information, but the wisdom and discernment to see slander for what it is. The righteous, those with well-formed character, are not easily swayed by it. They possess an emotional and spiritual ballast that allows them to withstand the destructive words of the godless.
Proverbs 18:8
“The words of a gossip are like choice morsels; they go down to the inmost parts of the body.”
B) отражение: This is a masterful description of the dark psychology of gossip. It’s not just heard; it’s consumed. The image of “choice morsels” reveals the secret, shameful pleasure we can feel in hearing a juicy tidbit about someone else. It feels satisfying in the moment, but the verse warns that this information doesn’t just pass through; it lodges deep within us, in our “inmost parts,” coloring our perceptions and secretly poisoning our souls against another person long after the conversation has ended.
Притчи 26:20
“For lack of wood the fire goes out, and where there is no whisperer, quarreling ceases.”
B) отражение: This verse gives a powerful and practical image for conflict resolution. Slander is the fuel for the fire of conflict. Gossip and whispering don’t just report on a quarrel; they sustain it, giving it the oxygen it needs to continue burning. By refusing to be a “whisperer,” we are actively choosing to be peacemakers. We are choosing to starve the fire. It empowers us with the knowledge that our silence, our refusal to pass on the tale, is a profoundly peace-making act.
Псалом 64:3
“Who whet their tongue like a sword, who aim bitter words like arrows.”
B) отражение: This captures the sheer intentionality and malice of slander. It is not accidental. The slanderer “whets” their tongue, carefully sharpening it for maximum damage. Their words are “aimed” like arrows, shot with the specific purpose of striking and wounding a target. This imagery strips away any pretense that slander is harmless chatter; it is purposeful, targeted verbal warfare designed to inflict emotional and reputational pain.
Притчи 25:18
“A man who bears false witness against his neighbor is like a war club, or a sword, or a sharp arrow.”
B) отражение: Similar to the psalm, this verse equates slander with brutal, primitive weapons. A war club bludgeons, a sword pierces, and an arrow wounds from a distance. Slander can do all three. It can crush a person’s spirit (club), pierce their heart with betrayal (sword), and damage their reputation from afar (arrow). It poignantly illustrates that verbal violence is just as real and damaging as physical violence.
Category 4: The Final Account: God’s Judgment and Our Response
These verses address God’s perspective on slander and guide our own conduct, both in avoiding it and in responding to it.
Матфея 12:36-37
“I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak, for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”
B) отражение: This is perhaps the most sobering verse on the power of our speech. It elevates every “careless word” to a matter of eternal significance. There is no such thing as an inconsequential word. Our speech is not separate from our character; it is the primary evidence of it. This verse instills a profound sense of accountability, a moral weightiness to every conversation, knowing that our words are painting the portrait of our soul by which we will one day be known.
Psalm 101:5
“Whoever slanders his neighbor secretly I will destroy. Whoever has a haughty look and an arrogant heart I will not endure.”
B) отражение: This is God speaking, and His tone is one of fierce, protective justice. He takes slander personally. The promise to “destroy” (or “silence”) the secret slanderer reveals a divine intolerance for this kind of cowardly evil. God positions Himself as the defender of the slandered and the adversary of those who use words to tear others down. It is a terrifying warning to the slanderer and a deep comfort to the slandered: God sees what is done in secret and will not let it stand.
Psalm 34:12-13
“What man is there who desires life and loves many days, that he may see good? Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceit.”
B) отражение: This verse links a controlled tongue directly to a good and long life. There is a deep psychological truth here: a life filled with slander, deceit, and the evil they produce is a life of turmoil, anxiety, and broken relationships. It is not a “good” life. To “keep your tongue from evil” is not just a moral duty but a strategy for a life of peace, integrity, and emotional well-being. It is the path to a life you can genuinely love living.
1 Петра 2:1
Так избавься от всякой злобы, всякого обмана, лицемерия, зависти и всякой клеветы.
B) отражение: Here slander is listed as part of the “old self” that must be shed, like a dirty garment, in light of our new identity in Christ. It’s a call to a radical moral and emotional transformation. You cannot cling to slander and simultaneously step into a new life of grace. Putting away slander is an essential act of spiritual hygiene, a necessary cleansing that makes room for the growth of sincerity, love, and authentic community.
Притчи 20:19
“Whoever goes about as a slanderer reveals secrets; therefore do not associate with a simple babbler.”
B) отражение: This offers intensely practical, emotionally intelligent advice. It’s a clear boundary-setting instruction. If someone demonstrates that they cannot be trusted with the stories of others, they cannot be trusted with yours. Associating with a “babbler” or gossip is an emotional liability. It invites dysfunction and betrayal into your life. This verse gives us permission to be discerning in our friendships, to protect our own peace and integrity by choosing companions who value trust and confidentiality.
1 Петра 3:16
“Having a good conscience, so that when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame.”
B) отражение: This verse offers a powerful and dignifying response for those who are victims of slander. The answer is not counter-slander. The answer is an unwavering commitment to a life of integrity. Your character becomes your defense. Over time, the contrast between the ugliness of the slander and the beauty of your conduct becomes so stark that the slander collapses under its own weight, shaming the accuser. It is a call to find our security not in defending our reputation, but in living a life that is so genuinely good it becomes its own silent, powerful rebuke to any lie.
