Don’t speak evil against each other, dear brothers and sisters. If you criticize and judge each other, then you are criticizing and judging God’s law. But your job is to obey the law, not to judge whether it applies to you. God alone, who gave the law, is the Judge. He alone has the power to save or to destroy. So what right do you have to judge your neighbor? (James 4:11-12, NLT)
Once upon a time I had aspirations to be a journalist. I had visions of becoming a hard hitting newspaper reporter working in a large city who would expose the vulgar underbelly of corruption in business, politics, and government. But my vision of becoming the next Bob Woodward or Carl Bernstein never made it past the two years I spent editing my high school newspaper. Granted, I did write a couple of “hard hitting” editorials on the new nuclear power plant opening in a neighboring county as well as the controversial program format change of our local radio station, but it was hardly Watergate in any stretch of the imagination.
During this time I took a Mass Communications class at what is now called Truman State University. One of the big takeaways from that course was the distinction between slander and libel. Slander was making defamatory statements about another person verbally, while libel was doing the same, but in written form. And no, if the statement is unfounded, it’s not protected by the first amendment.
Slanderous speech is one of the many problems James addresses in his letter. The word he uses in verse 11 is katalaleo, which is translated as slander in the the NIV. The word literally means “to speak ill of another” and is inclusive of the idea of speaking falsely against another person. When we slander others, we commit two personal fouls.
The first personal foul that James calls is that those who slander are guilty of criticizing God’s law. The prohibition against bearing false witness against one’s neighbor makes the “Top Ten,” and is fleshed out more fully in Leviticus 19:16-18, which reads,
“Do not spread slanderous gossip among your people. Do not stand idly by when your neighbor’s life is threatened. I am the Lord. Do not nurse hatred in your heart for any of your relatives. Confront people directly so you will not be held guilty for their sin. Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against a fellow Israelite, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord.”
To engage in slanderous speech is serious business in God’s eyes because one not only diminishes the value of another human being, they simultaneously diminish their own estimation of God by placing themselves above the law. Which leads us to the second personal foul.
When we judge and criticize other people through slanderous, defamatory words, we are effectually putting ourselves in the place of God as Judge. While God has delegated many wonderful things to his children such as love, judging other people is one exception that God has not delegated to you and me. We may not feel as though our slanderous words are a means of passing judgment but they are.
The most common sin Jesus addressed in the Gospels was the sin of judging others and we need to take it seriously. One of his most haunting teaching is found in the Sermon on the Mount when he said, “Do not judge others, and you will not be judged. For you will be treated as you treat others. The standard you use in judging is the standard by which you will be judged.” (Matthew 7:1-2, NLT)
I’m not an apologist for Rev. Billy Graham, but I do appreciate one of his more significant quotes. He said, “It’s the Holy Spirit’s job to convict, and God’s job to judge. My job is to love.” I honestly don’t know how that can be improved upon.
Over the past years many have adopted variations on the principles of speech first accredited to Socrates. Socrates set forth a three part test for our speech: “Is it true? Is it kind? Is it necessary?” How would your speech change if you applied this simple three part test to what you say about others?