This is what Lutheran Believe, teach, and confess. Its meaning can be used today, just as it was when Luther wrote.
The Eighth Commandment. Part One!
Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.
Over and above our own body, spouse, and temporal
possessions, we have yet another treasure, namely, honor
and good report [the illustrious testimony of an upright
and unsullied name and reputation], with which we cannot
dispense. For it is intolerable to live among men in open
shame and general contempt. Therefore God wishes the
reputation, good name, and upright character of our
neighbor to be taken away or diminished as little as his
money and possessions, that every one may stand in his
integrity before wife, children, servants, and neighbors.
And in the first place, we take the plainest meaning of
this commandment according to the words (Thou shalt not
bear false witness), as pertaining to the public courts
of justice, where a poor innocent man is accused and
oppressed by false witnesses in order to be punished in
his body, property, or honor.
Now, this appears as if it were of little concern to us
at present; but with the Jews it was quite a common and
ordinary matter. For the people were organized under an
excellent and regular government; and where there is
still such a government, instances of this sin will not
be wanting. The cause of it is that where judges,
burgomasters, princes, or others in authority sit in
judgment, things never fail to go according to the course
of the world; namely, men do not like to offend anybody,
flatter, and speak to gain favor, money, prospects, or
friendship; and in consequence a poor man and his cause
must be oppressed, denounced as wrong, and suffer
punishment. And it is a common calamity in the world that
in courts of justice there seldom preside godly men.
For to be a judge requires above all things a godly man,
and not only a godly, but also a wise, modest, yea, a
brave and bold man; likewise, to be a witness requires a
fearless and especially a godly man. For a person who is
to judge all matters rightly and carry them through with
his decision will often offend good friends, relatives,
neighbors, and the rich and powerful, who can greatly
serve or injure him. Therefore he must be quite blind,
have his eyes and ears closed, neither see nor hear, but
go straight forward in everything that comes before him,
and decide accordingly.
Therefore this commandment is given first of all that
every one shall help his neighbor to secure his rights,
and not allow them to be hindered or twisted, but shall
promote and strictly maintain them, no matter whether he
be judge or witness, and let it pertain to whatsoever it
will. And especially is a goal set up here for our
jurists that they be careful to deal truly and uprightly
with every case, allowing right to remain right, and, on
the other hand, not perverting anything [by their tricks
and technical points turning black into white and making
wrong out to be right], nor glossing it over or keeping
silent concerning it, irrespective of a person's money,
possession, honor, or power. This is one part and the
plainest sense of this commandment concerning all that
takes place in court.
Next, it extends very much further, if we are to apply it
to spiritual jurisdiction or administration; here it is a
common occurrence that every one bears false witness
against his neighbor. For wherever there are godly
preachers and Christians, they must bear the sentence
before the world that they are called heretics,
apostates, yea, seditious and desperately wicked
miscreants. Besides the Word of God must suffer in the
most shameful and malicious manner, being persecuted
blasphemed, contradicted, perverted and falsely cited and
interpreted. But let this pass; for it is the way of the
blind world that she condemns and persecutes the truth
and the children of God, and yet esteems it no sin.
In the third place, what concerns us all, this
commandment forbids all sins of the tongue whereby we may
injure or approach too closely to our neighbor. For to
bear false witness is nothing else than a work of the
tongue. Now, whatever is done with the tongue against a
fellow-man God would have prohibited, whether it be false
preachers with their doctrine and blasphemy, false judges
and witnesses with their verdict, or outside of court by
lying and evil-speaking. Here belongs particularly the
detestable, shameful vice of speaking behind a person's
back and slandering, to which the devil spurs us on and
of which there would be much to be said. For it is a
common evil plague that every one prefers hearing evil to
hearing good of his neighbor; and although we ourselves
are so bad that we cannot suffer that any one should say
anything bad about us, but every one would much rather
that all the world should speak of him in terms of gold,
yet we cannot bear that the best is spoken about others.
Therefore, to avoid this vice we should note that no one
is allowed publicly to judge and reprove his neighbor,
although he may see him sin, unless he have a command to
judge and to reprove. For there is a great difference
between these two things, judging sin and knowing sin.
You may indeed know it, but you are not to judge it. I
can indeed see and hear that my neighbor sins, but I have
no command to report it to others. Now, if I rush in,
judging and passing sentence, I fall into a sin which is
greater than his. But if you know it, do nothing else
than turn your ears into a grave and cover it, until you
are appointed to be judge and to punish by virtue of your
office.
Those, then, are called slanderers who are not content
with knowing a thing, but proceed to assume jurisdiction,
and when they know a slight offense of another, carry it
into every corner, and are delighted and tickled that
they can stir up another's displeasure [baseness], as
swine roll themselves in the dirt and root in it with the
snout. This is nothing else than meddling with the
judgment and office of God, and pronouncing sentence and
punishment with the most severe verdict. For no judge can
punish to a higher degree nor go farther than to say: "He
is a thief, a murderer, a traitor," etc. Therefore,
whoever presumes to say the same of his neighbor goes
just as far as the emperor and all governments. For
although you do not wield the sword, you employ your
poisonous tongue to the shame and hurt of your neighbor.
God therefore would have it prohibited that any one speak
evil of another even though he be guilty, and the latter
know it right well; much less if he do not know it, and
have it only from hearsay. But you say: Shall I not say
it if it be the truth? Answer: Why do you not make
accusation to regular judges? Ah, I cannot prove it
publicly, and hence I might be silenced and turned away
in a harsh manner [incur the penalty of a false
accusation]. "Ah, indeed, do you smell the roast?" If you
do not trust yourself to stand before the proper
authorities and to make answer, then hold your tongue.
But if you know it, know it for yourself and not for
another. For if you tell it to others, although it be
true, you will appear as a liar, because you cannot prove
it, and you are, besides acting like a knave. For we
ought never to deprive any one of his honor or good name
unless it be first taken away from him publicly.
False witness, then, is everything which cannot be
properly proved. Therefore, what is not manifest upon
sufficient evidence no one shall make public or declare
for truth; and in short, whatever is secret should be
allowed to remain secret, or, at any rate, should be
secretly reproved, as we shall hear. Therefore, if you
encounter an idle tongue which betrays and slanders some
one, contradict such a one promptly to his face, that he
may blush thus many a one will hold his tongue who else
would bring some poor man into bad repute from which he
would not easily extricate himself. For honor and a good
name are easily taken away, but not easily restored.
Thus you see that it is summarily forbidden to speak any
evil of our neighbor, however the civil government,
preachers, father and mother excepted, on the
understanding that this commandment does not allow evil
to go unpunished. Now, as according to the Fifth
Commandment no one is to be injured in body, and yet
Master Hannes [the executioner] is excepted, who by
virtue of his office does his neighbor no good, but only
evil and harm, and nevertheless does not sin against
God's commandment, because God has on His own account
instituted that office; for He has reserved punishment
for His own good pleasure, as He threatens in the First
Commandment, -- just so also, although no one has a right
in his own person to judge and condemn anybody, yet if
they to whose office it belongs fail to do it, they sin
as well as he who would do so of his own accord, without
such office. For here necessity requires one to speak of
the evil, to prefer charges, to investigate and testify;
and it is not different from the case of a physician who
is sometimes compelled to examine and handle the patient
whom he is to cure in secret parts. Just so governments,
father and mother, brothers and sisters, and other good
friends, are under obligation to each other to reprove
evil wherever it is needful and profitable.
But the true way in this matter would be to observe the
order according to the Gospel, Matt. 18, 15, where Christ
says: If thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and
tell him his fault between thee and him alone. Here you
have a precious and excellent teaching for governing well
the tongue, which is to be carefully observed against
this detestable misuse. Let this, then, be your rule,
that you do not too readily spread evil concerning your
neighbor and slander him to others, but admonish him
privately that he may amend [his life]. Likewise, also,
if some one report to you what this or that one has done,
teach him, too, to go and admonish him personally if he
have seen it himself; but if not, that he hold his
tongue.
The same you can learn also from the daily government of
the household. For when the master of the house sees that
the servant does not do what he ought, he admonishes him
personally. But if he were so foolish as to let the
servant sit at home, and went on the streets to complain
of him to his neighbors, he would no doubt be told: "You
fool, what does that concern us? Why do you not tell it
to him ?" Behold, that would be acting quite brotherly,
so that the evil would be stayed, and your neighbor would
retain his honor. As Christ also says in the same place:
If he hear thee, thou host gained thy brother. Then you
have done a great and excellent work; for do you think it
is a little matter to gain a brother? Let all monks and
holy orders step forth, with all their works melted
together into one mass, and see if they can boast that
they have gained a brother.
Further, Christ teaches: But if he will not hear thee,
then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of
two or three witnesses every word may be established. So
he whom it concerns is always to be treated with
personally, and not to be spoken of without his
knowledge. But if that do not avail, then bring it
publicly before the community, whether before the civil
or the ecclesiastical tribunal. For then you do not stand
alone, but you have those witnesses with you by whom you
can convict the guilty one, relying on whom the judge can
pronounce sentence and punish. This is the right and
regular course for checking and reforming a wicked
person. But if we gossip about another in all corners and
stir the filth, no one will be reformed, and afterwards
when we are to stand up and bear witness, we deny having
said so. Therefore it would serve such tongues right if
their itch for slander were severely punished, as a
warning to others. If you were acting for your neighbor's
reformation or from love of the truth, you would not
sneak about secretly nor shun the day and the light.
All this has been said regarding secret sins. But where
the sin is quite public so that the judge and everybody
know it you can without any sin avoid him and let him go,
because he has brought himself into disgrace, and you may
also publicly testify concerning him. For when a matter
is public in the light of day, there can be no slandering
or false judging or testifying; as, when we now reprove
the Pope with his doctrine, which is publicly set forth
in books and proclaimed in all the world. For where the
sin is public, the reproof also must be public, that
every one may learn to guard against it.
