Christianity and Morals by Edward Westermarck

IN the New Testament there are several passages condemning lying. According to the Apocalypse, whosoever loveth and maketh a lie "may not enter the heavenly city, but all liars shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone." In the Epistle to the Ephesians it is said: "Putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another." Paul wrote to the Colossians: "Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds." In his first letter to the Corinthians, however, he describes himself as something of a hypocrite: "Unto the Jews I became as a Jew, That I might gain the Jews; to them that are under the law, as under the law, that I might gain them that are under the law; To them that are without law, as without law (being not without law to God, but under the law to Christ), that I might gain them that are without law. To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak: I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some. And this I do for the gospel's sake, that I might be partaker thereof with you."

According to Augustine, a lie is always and necessarily sinful; it is not permissible even when told with a view to saving the life of a neighbour, "since by lying eternal life is lost, never for any man's temporal life must a lie be told." Yet all lies are not equally sinful: the degree of sinfulness depends on the mind of the liar and on the nature of the subject on which the lie is told. Jokes which "bear with them in the tone of voice, and in the very mood of the joker a most evident indication that he means no deceit, are not accounted lies, though the thing he utters be not true." This statement is also incorporated in Gratian's _Decretum_. Thomas Aquinas discusses with his usual thoroughness the questions whether a lie is always a sin, and whether every lie is a mortal sin. "A lie has the character of sinfulness, not only from the damage done to a neighbour, but also from its own inordinateness. Now it is not lawful to employ any unlawful inordinateness for the hindering of hurts and losses to others; as it is not lawful to steal in order to give alms. And therefore it is not lawful to tell a lie to deliver another from any danger whatever. It is lawful, however, to hide the truth prudently under some dissimulation, as Augustine says." A lie is a mortal sin, if it is opposed to charity by being uttered either to the injury of God or to the hurt of our neighbour in his person, wealth, or good name. "But if the end intended be not contrary to charity, neither will the lie be a mortal sin in this respect; as appears in a jocose lie, that is intended to create some slight amusement, and in an officious lie, in which is intended even the advantage of our neighbour."