You Must Put Away Slander

Slander is one of those sins that is not always obvious, especially to the one doing the slandering.  And yet it is a great evil, great as the evil one himself--the Satan--who has been a slanderer from the beginning.

Colossians 3:8 urges the new humanity in Christ, under his total lordship, to "put away anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth."  Then verses 9-10 say: "Do not lie to one another, because you have put off the old man [in Adam] with his deeds and have put on the new man [in Christ, the second Adam]. . . ."  There is a connection, I think, between the sins of the tongue in verse 8 and the call not to lie in verse 9 for those who are joined to the new humanity in Christ (v. 10).  Slander is often shot through with lying.  Yet it does not always have to be so.

David Powlison and Tim Keller say this about slander:

The verb “slander” simply means to “speak against” (Gk. kata-lalein). It is not necessarily a false report, just an “against-report.” The intent is to belittle another. To pour out contempt. To mock. To hurt. To harm. To destroy. To rejoice in purported evil. This can’t mean simple disagreement with ideas—that would mean that we could never have a debate over a point. This isn’t respectful disagreement with ideas. James warns against attacking a person’s motives and character, so that the listeners’ respect and love for the person is undermined. “As the north wind brings rain, so slander brings angry looks” (Prov. 25:23). Everybody gets upset at somebody else: slanderer, slanderee, slander-hearer.

The link of slander to pride in James 4:10 shows that slander is not the humble evaluation of error or fault, which we must constantly be doing. Rather, in slander the speaker speaks as if he never would do the same thing himself. It acts self-righteous and superior toward one’s obviously idiotic inferiors. Non-slanderous evaluation is fair-minded, constructive, gentle, guarded, and always demonstrates that speakers sense how much they share the same frailty, humanity, and sinful nature with the one being criticized. It shows a profound awareness of your own sin. It is never “against-speaking.”

James 5:9 adds a nuance: “Don’t grumble against one another.” Literally, it means don’t moan and groan and roll your eyes. This refers to a kind of against-speaking that is not as specific as a focused slander or attack. It hints at others flaws, not only with words, but by body language and tone. In print, such attitudes are communicated by innuendo, guilt by association, sneering, pejorative vocabulary. In person, it means shaking your head, rolling your eyes, and re-enforcing the erosion of love and respect for someone else. For example, “You know how they do things around here. Yadda, yadda. What do you expect?” Such a “groan” accomplishes the same thing as outright slander. It brings “angry looks” to all concerned. Passing on negative stuff always undermines love and respect. It’s never nourishing, never constructive, never timely, never grace-giving.

So in the name of the Lord Jesus, let us put away all slander (Col. 3:8,17).

Go here for the whole post at Justin Taylor's blog.