Contemporary political discourse has devolved into nothing short of shouting matches. He who has the loudest voice wins. There is little honest debate—let alone civil dialogue—left among those who disagree.

Inevitably, at all times and places, the church is influenced by its surrounding culture. In the area of discourse, the American church sometimes looks and sounds just like the acerbic politicians and media, with civil dialogue the last thing on pastors’ and church members’ minds.

Even though the church will inevitably be influenced by its culture, and such influence is not always bad, it is also imperative that the church not be conformed to the world’s base patterns and practices.

How do we within the church guard our tongues so that God’s truth will be spoken, particularly in public discourse, in love and honesty? To communicate as believers, we must not succumb to our sometimes ferocious desire to turn a deaf ear to and shout over opposing or variant views. I’ll look at what the Scripture says about this endeavor, and then offer a practical suggestion of how to do it in the church.

Theology and Exegesis

The foundational scriptural text for public discourse between believers is found in the ninth commandment. We read at Exodus 20:16: “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.” The Westminster Divines in the Larger Catechism call attention to the two main requirements in this commandment: “the preserving and promoting of truth between man and man and the good name of our neighbor.”

Preserving and promoting truth between man and man involves a number of actions.

First, we are to speak the truth clearly and freely in all things, but particularly relative to justice for, and in judgment of, our neighbor. The Bible underlines this important teaching in numerous passages. For instance, Zechariah 8:16 reads, “These are the things that you shall do: speak the truth to one another; render in your gates judgments that are true and make for peace.” In the New Testament, Paul addresses the proper way to speak at Ephesians 4:25: “Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another.”

Second, preserving our neighbor’s good name means to esteem her by acknowledging her gifts and graces, defending her innocence, and desiring that she have and maintain a good name. Paul supports this at 1 Corinthians 13:7: “Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” He speaks in a similar fashion at Romans 1:8: “First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed in all the world.” John agrees at 2 John 1:4: “I rejoiced greatly to find some of your children walking in the truth, just as we were commanded by the Father.”

Third, believers can take some important, and at times difficult, further positive steps. Those steps include being sympathetic toward those with whom we disagree and actually sorrowing for their infirmities. This attitude manifests itself in the countercultural action of not exposing those infirmities to others, but covering them. By no means does the Bible teach that one should cover crimes. Rather, the biblical covering of another’s weaknesses represents an unwillingness to entertain an evil report concerning him.

The book of Proverbs gives great practical admonition: “Whoever covers an offense seeks love, but he who repeats a matter separates close friends” (17:9). Further, Proverbs 19:5 states: “A false witness will not go unpunished, and he who breathes out lies will not escape.” We sing about this beautiful quality at Psalm 15:3: “Who does not slander with his tongue and does no evil to his neighbor, nor takes up a reproach against his friend.”

In the New Testament, the congregation in Corinth lay in shambles, in nearly every way we could imagine a church could. And yet, Paul still expressed his loved toward the congregation at 2 Corinthians 2:4: “For I wrote to you out of much affliction and anguish of heart and with many tears, not to cause you pain but to let you know the abundant love that I have for you.” Peter agrees: “Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins” (1 Peter 4:8). When we first hear an evil report about someone, unless we have clear evidence that it is true, we must stop our ears.

Finally, the Bible shows us that we must defend the innocence of those with whom we disagree in the church. First Samuel gives us two examples.

The first is the well-known story of the deep love and affection between Jonathan the son of King Saul and David, soon to be king. Jonathan loved his father, but he also loved David. First Samuel 19:4–5 reads: “Jonathan spoke well of David to Saul his father and said to him, ‘Let not the king sin against his servant David, because he has not sinned against you, and because his deeds have brought good to you. For he took his life in his hand and he struck down the Philistine, and the Lord worked a great salvation for all Israel. You saw it and rejoiced. Why then will you sin against innocent blood by killing David without cause?’” Jonathan offers a powerful example, at personal risk, to protect and preserve not only David’s good name, but his very life.

The second example is the words and actions of Ahimelech, God’s priest. He offered David comfort and advice when David was terrified. Afterwards, Ahimelech was summoned before an enraged King Saul who questioned him as to why the priest conspired against him. “Then Ahimelech answered the king, ‘And who among all your servants is so faithful as David, who is the king’s son-in-law, and captain over your bodyguard, and honored in your house?’” (1 Sam. 22:14). Ahimelech spoke the truth, preserved David’s good name, and paid for it with his and his extended family’s blood. It would have been easy for both Jonathan and Ahimelech to merely remain silent about David or even to smear his name because they knew that would please King Saul. But they both courageously defended him.

Application

Knowing that there has been controversy within the church since its inception, and that heated disagreements will continue between believers until Christ’s return, there are many practical ways in which we can walk in obedience to God’s ninth commandment to preserve and promote truth between each other. The following is a suggestion of a way to apply the ninth commandment that could be modified for each congregation.

To start, each session member publicly promises other elders that he will protect and preserve every other member’s good name outside of the session meeting. To accomplish this end, elders promise each other that we will say nothing evil about what another brother has said in the session meeting (even if we are convinced that the brother is deeply wrong). In other words, even if we strongly disagree with a fellow elder and are convinced that he voted in a foolish manner (since it disagrees with our opinion), we are not at liberty to share that opinion with others. Instead, we will positively promote the other person’s good name. Of course, this policy does not include hiding crimes.

The fruit of such a policy should be liberating. Elders will feel more free and protected to share opinions if criticism will be held only within the session meeting and nowhere else.

After the session has had a few meetings and the policy is working well, the session announces to the congregation that they have taken this position. This will provide accountability for the session to the congregation. With that accountability established, the session then challenges the congregation to live with the same policy. Imagine a congregation where married couples, friends, and even new adherents were confident that no negative report or rumor would ever be aired publicly without following biblical means. Imagine if that same principle were used when interacting among believers on social media. When church members disagree with each other, we should feel bound to protect the other’s good name.

What should we do if this policy is violated? If in a church setting someone reports something negative about another person, we should try to stop him before he finishes his story. We should, immediately or as soon as possible, get together with him and the other person and then have the person with the report speak in the other person’s presence. The reason for this action is that we must be unwilling to believe an evil report about someone and must seek truth and justice as we love our neighbor.

Honoring the ninth commandment in all of life’s interconnections can also provide a powerful witness for Christ. When we stand to protect our friends’ reputations at home, work, and school we act in a manner that is rather counter-cultural. Others will notice how trustworthy we are as we handle how they speak, and such trustworthiness leads to opportunities to testify to the great One who has caused us to behave the way we do.

Conclusion

The church is in the world but not of the world. We must reflect on patterns of communication that honor God. My hope and prayer is that we all develop a deeper commitment to honoring each other, serving the church, and exalting the name of Christ by obeying God’s ninth commandment.