On Lying

Contents

Reading pages: 1–12 · 13–27 · 28–42 · 43

1. 1Augustine introduces the difficult question of lying, including whether it is ever right to tell a merciful lie, and asks the reader to judge the whole.
2. 2Jokes are excluded from the discussion, since they are not lies, and the first task is to avoid calling something a lie that is not.
3. 3A lie is saying one thing while holding another in the mind, with a double heart; saying something false that one believes true is error, not lying.
4. 4Using the case of warning a man about robbers on a road, Augustine tests definitions of lying and concludes that there is no lie when one states what one holds true and wishes to persuade only of that.
5. 5Those who allow useful lies cite Sarah, Jacob and the Hebrew midwives, and ask whether one should not lie to save a fugitive's life or to spare a sick man.
6. 6Those who forbid all lying cite the commandment against false witness, Wisdom 1:11, Psalm 5:6, Christ's 'Yes, yes; No, no', and Paul's command to put away lying.
7. 7Lies in the Old Testament are answered as figurative (and so not lies) or, like the midwives', approved only as progress relative to worse conduct.
8. 8The New Testament offers no example of lying to imitate: Peter's pretense at Antioch was rebuked, while Paul's circumcising Timothy and keeping Jewish rites came from freedom, not pretense.
9. 9Since Scripture says God destroys all who lie and the lying mouth kills the soul, the case of lying to save someone's life fails: no one should lose eternal life for another's bodily life, any more than commit theft or adultery to save it.
10. 10Lying to escape sexual violation is not justified, since chastity belongs to the mind and is not lost by violence suffered without consent, while a lie corrupts the mind itself.
11. 11Lying even to lead someone to the truth destroys the credibility of Christian teaching, which rests on faith; so the good must never lie.
12. 12Others argue that if a Christian may burn incense to idols to avoid being sexually violated, he may surely lie to avoid it.
13. 13Suffering what others do to us because we refuse to sin is not consent to their crime, as a martyr is not a murderer if persecutors kill his father because he will not deny Christ.
14. 14One should avoid one's own sin rather than another's, even a graver one: it is worse to commit theft than to be murdered, and worse to burn incense than to suffer violation.
15. 15Augustine sets out the argument that bodily defilement such as sexual violation may be avoided even by sin, so that a lie told to avoid it would not be sin.
16. 16Even to prevent sexual violation one may not lie in a way that harms another's reputation, and it is doubtful whether this is just even if the other consents.
17. 17No lie may ever be told in the teaching of religion, even to make it easier to accept; one may conceal at times but never lie.
18. 18Lies that harm others unjustly are excluded, as are lies told for pleasure in lying or to please listeners, which harm the liars themselves.
19. 19The 'kindly' lie that harms no one and helps someone is the real question, but allowing it would also excuse theft from the rich and false witness.
20. 20Even a lie that covers no sin, such as protecting someone's hidden money, remains a sin, since false witness is forbidden in its own right like theft.
21. 21Paul's words about being 'false witnesses of God' show that false witness is not limited to court testimony; the question remains whether a harmless, helpful lie is blameworthy.
22. 22Asked where a fugitive, guilty or innocent, is hiding, a Christian should neither lie nor betray, but keep silent or refuse to tell.
23. 23Bishop Firmus of Thagaste refused under torture either to lie or to betray a fugitive, and won his pardon; Augustine judges that he understood Scripture better than the timid.
24. 24If asked whether a fugitive is in a certain place, one should say 'I know where he is, but I will never show you,' and bear the consequences bravely.
25. 25Augustine lists eight kinds of lies, from lies in religious teaching to lies told to protect someone from bodily defilement, and turns to the last case.
26. 26Since Old Testament deeds may be figurative, the deeds of the saints in the New Testament should be used to show how the commands of Scripture are to be understood.
27. 27Christ and Paul, struck on the face, did not literally turn the other cheek, showing that the command concerns the readiness of the heart.
28. 28Paul swore oaths in his letters, showing that Christ's 'do not swear at all' forbids loving or seeking oaths, not every oath.
29. 29Christ's purse and the apostles' famine relief show that 'do not be anxious about tomorrow' forbids anxious love of temporal things, not provision.
30. 30Paul's refusal of support shows that Christ's instruction to live by the gospel was a permission, not a command; the saints' deeds interpret the words.
31. 31Some argue that the 'mouth that lies' in Wisdom 1:11 is the mouth of the heart, so that one who speaks truth in the heart might say otherwise aloud to avoid a greater evil.
32. 32Christ's saying on what defiles a man shows that Scripture speaks of a mouth of the heart, from which every sin proceeds even when committed in silence.
33. 33The lie condemned in Wisdom 1:11 may properly be slander, spoken aloud or in the heart.
34. 34Augustine sets out three readings of Sirach 7:13, 'Do not wish to lie any lie', one supporting the view that one must never lie and two allowing some lies.
35. 35Three readings of Psalm 5:6 are given, the last referring it to those who defend their sins instead of confessing them.
36. 36False witness is lying to those entitled to the truth, such as a judge or a learner; lying to one who seeks what does not concern him is not false witness but is still a lie.
37. 37Readings of Proverbs 30 (LXX) on the son who keeps the word are weighed, as referring to all lies, to lies of the heart, or especially to lies in religious teaching.
38. 38Scripture never makes any lie lovable; people misjudge which evil is graver because they love temporal life more than eternal life.
39. 39Temporal goods may be given up rather than sin, but things kept for holiness may be protected even by lesser sins that injure no one.
40. 40Bodily chastity, purity of the soul and truth of teaching are to be kept for holiness; violence suffered without consent is not unchastity, and the truth of teaching must be kept wholly free of lies.
41. 41Though a harmless lie to protect bodily chastity might seem allowable, good faith belongs to the purity of the mind, which ranks above the body, so it should be preferred even to bodily chastity.
42. 42Augustine concludes that Scripture forbids every lie, and goes through all eight kinds of lies, holding that none is permitted, though the first is gravest and the eighth least grave.
43. 43Augustine rejects the claim that Paul lied in rebuking Peter in Galatians, since Paul swore he was not lying, and closes with 1 Corinthians 10:13.