Whether Every Lie Is a Sin?
Objection 1: It seems that not every lie is a sin. For it is evident
that the evangelists did not sin in the writing of the Gospel. Yet
they seem to have told something false: since their accounts of the
words of Christ and of others often differ from one another:
wherefore seemingly one of them must have given an untrue account.
Therefore not every lie is a sin.
Obj. 2: Further, no one is rewarded by God for sin. But the midwives
of Egypt were rewarded by God for a lie, for it is stated that "God
built them houses" (Ex. 1:21). Therefore a lie is not a sin.
Obj. 3: Further, the deeds of holy men are related in Sacred Writ
that they may be a model of human life. But we read of certain very
holy men that they lied. Thus (Gen. 12 and 20) we are told that
Abraham said of his wife that she was his sister. Jacob also lied
when he said that he was Esau, and yet he received a blessing (Gen.
27:27-29). Again, Judith is commended (Judith 15:10, 11) although she
lied to Holofernes. Therefore not every lie is a sin.
Obj. 4: Further, one ought to choose the lesser evil in order to
avoid the greater: even so a physician cuts off a limb, lest the
whole body perish. Yet less harm is done by raising a false opinion
in a person's mind, than by someone slaying or being slain. Therefore
a man may lawfully lie, to save another from committing murder, or
another from being killed.
Obj. 5: Further, it is a lie not to fulfill what one has promised.
Yet one is not bound to keep all one's promises: for Isidore says
(Synonym. ii): "Break your faith when you have promised ill."
Therefore not every lie is a sin.
Obj. 6: Further, apparently a lie is a sin because thereby we deceive
our neighbor: wherefore Augustine says (Lib. De Mend. xxi): "Whoever
thinks that there is any kind of lie that is not a sin deceives
himself shamefully, since he deems himself an honest man when he
deceives others." Yet not every lie is a cause of deception, since no
one is deceived by a jocose lie; seeing that lies of this kind are
told, not with the intention of being believed, but merely for the
sake of giving pleasure. Hence again we find hyperbolical expressions
in Holy Writ. Therefore not every lie is a sin.
_On the contrary,_ It is written (Ecclus. 7:14): "Be not willing to
make any manner of lie."
_I answer that,_ An action that is naturally evil in respect of its
genus can by no means be good and lawful, since in order for an
action to be good it must be right in every respect: because good
results from a complete cause, while evil results from any single
defect, as Dionysius asserts (Div. Nom. iv). Now a lie is evil in
respect of its genus, since it is an action bearing on undue matter.
For as words are naturally signs of intellectual acts, it is
unnatural and undue for anyone to signify by words something that is
not in his mind. Hence the Philosopher says (Ethic. iv, 7) that
"lying is in itself evil and to be shunned, while truthfulness is
good and worthy of praise." Therefore every lie is a sin, as also
Augustine declares (Contra Mend. i).
Reply Obj. 1: It is unlawful to hold that any false assertion is
contained either in the Gospel or in any canonical Scripture, or that
the writers thereof have told untruths, because faith would be
deprived of its certitude which is based on the authority of Holy
Writ. That the words of certain people are variously reported in the
Gospel and other sacred writings does not constitute a lie. Hence
Augustine says (De Consens. Evang. ii): "He that has the wit to
understand that in order to know the truth it is necessary to get at
the sense, will conclude that he must not be the least troubled, no
matter by what words that sense is expressed." Hence it is evident,
as he adds (De Consens. Evang. ii), that "we must not judge that
someone is lying, if several persons fail to describe in the same way
and in the same words a thing which they remember to have seen or
heard."
Reply Obj. 2: The midwives were rewarded, not for their lie, but for
their fear of God, and for their good-will, which latter led them to
tell a lie. Hence it is expressly stated (Ex. 2:21): "And because the
midwives feared God, He built them houses." But the subsequent lie
was not meritorious.
Reply Obj. 3: In Holy Writ, as Augustine observes (Lib. De Mend. v),
the deeds of certain persons are related as examples of perfect
virtue: and we must not believe that such persons were liars. If,
however, any of their statements appear to be untruthful, we must
understand such statements to have been figurative and prophetic.
Hence Augustine says (Lib. De Mend. v): "We must believe that
whatever is related of those who, in prophetical times, are mentioned
as being worthy of credit, was done and said by them prophetically."
As to Abraham "when he said that Sara was his sister, he wished to
hide the truth, not to tell a lie, for she is called his sister since
she was the daughter of his father," Augustine says (QQ. Super. Gen.
xxvi; Contra Mend. x; Contra Faust. xxii). Wherefore Abraham himself
said (Gen. 20:12): "She is truly my sister, the daughter of my
father, and not the daughter of my mother," being related to him on
his father's side. Jacob's assertion that he was Esau, Isaac's
first-born, was spoken in a mystical sense, because, to wit, the
latter's birthright was due to him by right: and he made use of this
mode of speech being moved by the spirit of prophecy, in order to
signify a mystery, namely, that the younger people, i.e. the
Gentiles, should supplant the first-born, i.e. the Jews.
Some, however, are commended in the Scriptures, not on account of
perfect virtue, but for a certain virtuous disposition, seeing that
it was owing to some praiseworthy sentiment that they were moved to
do certain undue things. It is thus that Judith is praised, not for
lying to Holofernes, but for her desire to save the people, to which
end she exposed herself to danger. And yet one might also say that
her words contain truth in some mystical sense.
Reply Obj. 4: A lie is sinful not only because it injures one's
neighbor, but also on account of its inordinateness, as stated above
in this Article. Now it is not allowed to make use of anything
inordinate in order to ward off injury or defects from another: as
neither is it lawful to steal in order to give an alms, except
perhaps in a case of necessity when all things are common. Therefore
it is not lawful to tell a lie in order to deliver another from any
danger whatever. Nevertheless it is lawful to hide the truth
prudently, by keeping it back, as Augustine says (Contra Mend. x).
Reply Obj. 5: A man does not lie, so long as he has a mind to do what
he promises, because he does not speak contrary to what he has in
mind: but if he does not keep his promise, he seems to act without
faith in changing his mind. He may, however, be excused for two
reasons. First, if he has promised something evidently unlawful,
because he sinned in promise, and did well to change his mind.
Secondly, if circumstances have changed with regard to persons and
the business in hand. For, as Seneca states (De Benef. iv), for a man
to be bound to keep a promise, it is necessary for everything to
remain unchanged: otherwise neither did he lie in promising--since he
promised what he had in his mind, due circumstances being taken for
granted--nor was he faithless in not keeping his promise, because
circumstances are no longer the same. Hence the Apostle, though he
did not go to Corinth, whither he had promised to go (2 Cor. 1), did
not lie, because obstacles had arisen which prevented him.
Reply Obj. 6: An action may be considered in two ways. First, in
itself, secondly, with regard to the agent. Accordingly a jocose lie,
from the very genus of the action, is of a nature to deceive;
although in the intention of the speaker it is not told to deceive,
nor does it deceive by the way it is told. Nor is there any
similarity in the hyperbolical or any kind of figurative expressions,
with which we meet in Holy Writ: because, as Augustine says (Lib. De
Mend. v), "it is not a lie to do or say a thing figuratively: because
every statement must be referred to the thing stated: and when a
thing is done or said figuratively, it states what those to whom it
is tendered understand it to signify."
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