The Sin of Gossip

Posted in , By Patty Kennedy 0 comments


"Brothers and sisters, do not tell evil lies about each other. If you speak against your fellow believers or judge them, you are judging and speaking against the law they follow. And when you are judging the law, you are no longer a follower of the law. You have become a judge" (James 4:11, NCV).

The context of this Scripture conveys the sort of gossip engaged in when the object of the gossip is not there to defend herself/himself. Indeed, that is the hallmark of gossip, isn't it? It wouldn't be gossip if we did it to someone's face.

Have you ever challenged a juicy bit of gossip? I try to defuse it whenever possible, and generally I ask the carrier of the tale where they heard it, and if they know it is true. This typically causes two reactions:

  1. It causes the person embarrassment because my question has made them realize they are gossiping.
  2. The person will shift blame to an ambiguous "they" (e.g., "They said they saw...etc."). Often when I ask who "they" are, the person cannot identify the culprit, leading me to believe several people may have been involved in the process.

William Barclay's commentary states that the Bible condemns few sins as unsparingly as it does gossip, for two fundamental reasons:

  1. It is a breach of the law that we are to love our neighbor as ourselves.
  2. It is an infringement of God's prerogative; the right to judge belongs to Him alone.

I could never understand why such a vicious sin is sometimes referred to as "idle gossip." There is nothing idle about it; it is a parasite that leaves one host and quickly travels to find another, all the while destroying people's reputations.

As Christians we are not only to not partake in this sin; we are to squelch it at every opportunity. If we listen to it and do not confront the offender, we are as bad as the one doing the gossiping.