The Sin Of Backbiting
A backbiter is a person with back trouble, not his own, but someone else's. He is a pain in another person's back. How is your neighbor's back today?
The word "backbite," according to Webster, means "to say mean or spiteful things about (one absent): slander." The word in Hebrew from which "backbite" comes suggests the idea of "to play the spy." That is, the backbiter attempts to spy out the faults and defects of another person's life, or character, by making a malicious defamation of him behind his back. It means to circulate reports unfavorable to others by perhaps low and petty remarks as well as those which may be malicious and slanderous. It is conveyed in the New Testament by the words "evil speaking" (James 4:11; 1 Peter 3:16).
The sins of the tongue are many and they are serious. The tongue is not steel, but it cuts and it wounds. Its wounds are not always to the face, but more often to the back. The scorpion harms only the one it stings, the snake only the one it bites; poison harms only the one who ingests it, but the backbiter hurts, wounds, and slays both near and far, at home and abroad, and spares neither the living nor the dead.
There is an amazing dearth of material on problems such as this one. It is no wonder that there is so much wrangling, bitterness, and backbiting in the church today. In writing this article, I simply went to the four passages in the Bible where the word backbite (in its various forms) is used and formulated my thoughts. What does God, in His word, say of the backbiter.
1. Backbiters keep bad company (Romans 1:29-31). No fewer than 23 sorts of sins and sinners are mentioned by Paul in these verses. These are things "unbecoming," i.e., inconsistent with our duty to God and others. Of the misdeeds herein mentioned, five are sins of the tongue: (a) Debate - strife, and the disposition to be contentious and quarrelsome. (b) Deceit - fraud, falsehood and lying. (c) Malignity - misinterpreting the words and actions of others, or putting the worst construction on their conduct. (d) Whisperers - those who secretly, by hints and innuendos, detract from others, or excite suspicion of them. They secretly filet another for his faults, while pretending great innocence themselves. They talk about others as if it pains them to do so, when actually they are enjoying every second of it. (e) Backbiters - those who speak ill of others when they are not present to speak for themselves. Backbiters never tell "secrets," but only those things which are notoriously "true." They never speak to the person involved, only about the person.
2. Backbiters are a prime source of church trouble (2 Corinthians 12:20). A major source of trouble in our congregations is the malicious speech of brethren. An example of such, in the New Testament, is Diotrephes (3 John 9-10). B.C. Goodpasture fittingly characterized him as playing the role of a "church boss," a "short-horn deacon," a "presiding elder," or a "church regulator." (Gospel Advocate, April 24, 1975). Every congregation should enjoy peace and tranquility (Ephesians 4:3). It's a shame when one creates contention with his words (Proverbs 6:18-19). For this reason many warnings are given in the New Testament regarding the wrongful use of the tongue (Ephesians 4:29; James 3:2).
3. Backbiters cannot dwell with God (Psalm 15:1-3). In this passage we have two serious and weighty questions: "Who shall abide in thy tabernacle? Who shall dwell in thy holy hill?" That is, what kind of people does the Lord own? Who is prepared for heaven? It concerns us all to put this question to ourselves (Luke 18:18).
In this passage we also find a plain and particular answer given: walk uprightly, work righteousness, speak the truth in your heart, no backbiting. It is essential to godliness that we not defame others (Psalm 101:5). This is a crime of infinite evils and multiplied mischief: It saps the foundation of friendship (Proverbs 17:9). It hurts the one talked about, while rending in pieces the vitals of charity. It hurts the tellers, for who dares trust a backbiter? It hurts the hearer; filling his heart with evil suspicious which are almost always uncalled for.
Why should backbiting never be known among us? To begin with, if what we say about another is false (as in our not knowing all the facts in a given situation), we are guilty of lying. On the other hand, if it is true (as the slandered will characteristically assure you that it is, or he wouldn't be saying it), then we are void of love, because some things that are true are better left unsaid. (cf. Proverbs 10:12; 1 Corinthians 13:1; 4-7).
4. Backbiters must be discouraged (Proverbs 25:23). This passage from Solomon speaks of the way we should react to the talebearer when he/she starts to fill our ears full of garbage about another person. We should react to it with anger and displeasure. Matthew Henry said, "Slanders would not be so readily spoken as they are if they were not readily heard; but good manners would silence the slanderer if he saw that his tales displeased the company."
Someone else has said, "Great minds talk of ideas, average minds of things, and small minds of people." How true of the backbiter. Backbiting is wrong. May we never participate in it or be party to it without seeking to put a stop to it. Value your friends, neighbors and especially your brethren in Christ. Let's defend one another against the "slings and arrows" of the cowardly backbiter.
From Our Archives, 1988
By Dennis Gulledge