Is It Ever Right to Tell a Lie?

I would like to begin this morning by addressing the most notorious but not the most important issue relating to falsehood; namely, the question: Is it ever right to tell a lie? I am going to address the issue, but I am not going to answer the question directly. What I am going to say is this: It is possible to be a person who never intentionally lies and yet be a hardened sinner, living in darkness and cut off from Christ in unbelief; and it is possible to be a person who fears the Lord, walks by faith, and yet feel constrained in extreme, life-threatening situations to oppose evil by lying intentionally.

The reason I say that you can be virtually free from intentional lying and still be unregenerate and bound to sin is that there may be cultural or personal incentives that have nothing to do with God, and yet make you want to have the reputation of dependability—to be known as a person whose word is as good as an oath.

And the reason I say that you can be a godly person who trusts Christ and still feel constrained to lie in extreme, life-threatening situations is that there are several stories in the Bible where this is exactly what happened.

The Hebrew Midwives

For example, in Exodus 1 the Egyptian Pharaoh decides to deplete the strength of the nation of Israel by killing all the boys that are born. He says to the Hebrew midwives in verse 16, "When you serve as a midwife to the Hebrew women, and see them upon the birthstool, if it is a son, you shall kill him; but if it is a daughter, she shall live."

But, verse 17 says, "The midwives feared God, and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but let the male children live." When the king of Egypt asked them (v. 18) why they did this, they answered (in v. 19), "Because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women; for they are vigorous and are delivered before the midwife comes to them."

Now, regardless of how vigorous the Hebrew women were in childbirth, this statement is in effect a lie. It is meant to lead Pharaoh to believe a falsehood, namely, that the midwives were doing their best to obey him but just couldn't get there in time to make the death look like a stillbirth.

But verse 17 says that the motive behind their disobedience to the king was a genuine fear of God: "They feared God, and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them." And in verse 20 it says, "God dealt well with the midwives; and the people multiplied and grew very strong. And because the midwives feared God he gave them families." So they are not rebuked; they are blessed.

Rahab and the Two Spies

Another example is found in Joshua 2. Joshua sent two men to spy out Jericho, and the king of Jericho found out that they were there. They hid in the house of Rahab the harlot. Verse 6 says that she took them to her roof and covered them with stalks of flax. When the king's messengers come to Rahab's house and inquire about the men, she says (in vv. 4–5), "True, men came to me, but I did not know where they came from; and when the gate was closed, at dark, the men went out; where the men went I do not know."

The rest of the chapter tells how she believed in the God of Israel and pleaded for the deliverance of her family when Jericho would be attacked. Hebrews 11:31 says, "By faith Rahab the harlot did not perish with those who were disobedient, because she had given friendly welcome to the spies." So the biblical interpretation of her action was that it was done from a heart of faith, even though she lied to the king's messengers.

So I conclude from these two biblical stories that it is possible to be a person who fears the Lord (like the Hebrew midwives) and acts in faith (like Rahab) and yet feel constrained in extreme, life-threatening situations to oppose evil by lying.

No Specific Biblical Commendation for These Instances

The reason that this is all I am willing to say instead of answering the question: Is it ever right to tell a lie? is that in neither of these cases (nor anywhere else in Scripture that I am aware of) does the Bible explicitly commend or approve the lying itself. The midwives are commended for fearing the Lord and not killing the babies. And Rahab gives evidence of her faith by giving a friendly welcome to the Israelite spies. But her lying is not explicitly commended.

I've struggled a long time with how to think and teach about these borderline cases. And I have concluded that pastorally the wisest thing for me to do is to acknowledge that in the fear of God and in the walk of faith worthy saints have chosen to oppose the effects of evil by concealing the truth from wicked men. And having recognized that fact and that possibility, we do well to shift our attention to the overwhelming biblical emphasis on the condemnation of falsehood and lying.