Slander vs Exposing Evil: What is the difference between slandering and exposing evil?

What is the difference between slandering and exposing evil?

If you were to share about a person’s dark deeds, sinful practices, immoralities, or abuse while they are highly regarded in the public eye, are you being defamatory and destroying their reputation, or are you being commendable by exposing their evil? There are definitely mixed feelings about this among Christians, and the ambiguity can be destructive to people and communities. If something that should be exposed as evil is silenced or suppressed and treated as slander—then this perpetuates evil. But, if something that should be covered is wrongfully exposed and turns into slander—this too can devastate lives. It is a sobering matter. What does the Bible say exactly? What is the difference between slandering and exposing evil? Under what circumstances do you cover a person’s sin, and when do you expose it?

Let’s get into it.

There is a verse in the Bible that says, “Love will cover a multitude of sins” (1 Peter 4:8). Another verse says, “And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them.” (Ephesians 5:11). Evidently, the Bible tells us that there are times when we are supposed to show love to another by covering their sin, and there are other times when we are supposed to expose sin. How do we know when it is appropriate to cover and when it is appropriate to expose?

The Bible has two stories that can answer this question:

Noah and His Sons: Covering Sin

The first story is about Noah and his sons in Genesis 9:18-28. To retell the story, Noah planted a vineyard and made wine from the grapes. One day, Noah got drunk on the wine, and he ended up passing out naked in his tent. Noah’s youngest son, Ham, saw him naked, and he went and told his other two brothers. When the two older brothers heard it, they got some clothes and walked backward into the tent to cover their father without looking. When Noah woke up and found out about what had happened, he commended the two older brothers and cursed the Ham's lineage. The two brothers who covered him were commended for covering their father. But the one who exposed him was cursed.

So here we have an example of a story where covering a sin was the appropriate and loving thing to do—and scripture commends this behavior. Exposing the sin, on the other hand, resulted in punishment.

Abigail and Nabal: Exposing Sin

Let’s contrast the story of Noah with another story. 1 Samuel 25 tells a story about Abigail and her husband, Nabal. The Bible says that Abigail was beautiful and intelligent, but her husband, Nabal, was very wealthy but notoriously surly and mean. The couple lived in Israel during the time that Saul was trying to hunt David down. At the time of the story, David and his men, weary from fleeing, were hiding in caves and were running out of supplies. David found out Nabal lived nearby and sent him a message saying, “It’s sheep-shearing time, and we’ve been protecting your shepherds, making sure nothing was stolen while they were shearing the sheep. Your shepherds will tell you if you ask them. So, please help me and my men out since we are coming during a festive time. Please give your servants any supplies you can find" (paraphrase of 1 Sam 25:7-8). This note was respectful and quite reasonable, considering that David and his men had been escorting Nabal’s shepherds. 

Unfortunately, Nabal gave an insulting and obnoxious response; “Who is this David guy, and why should I do anything for him?” (paraphrase of 1 Sam 25:10-11). So, Nabal turned away David’s men. Nabal’s servants were alarmed by his response because they knew David and his men were now incited to fight against Nabal and his household. The servants went to Abigail and asked her to intervene: “Please, can you do something? David’s men were so kind to us and protected us while we were herding our sheep. Now, because of Nabal’s response, there’s disaster hanging over our master and your household. Nabal’s such a wicked, crazy guy that no one can talk to him" (paraphrase of 1 Sam 25:14:17).

We read that Abigail acted quickly. She prepared a ton of food, enough to feed an army, and loaded the supplies up on donkeys. Then she told the servants to go ahead of her with the supplies–and not to tell Nabal. 

When Abigail met David, she prostrated herself before him and begged for his mercy. She also said to him, “Please pay no attention, my lord, to that wicked man Nabal. He is just like his name—his name means Fool, and folly goes with him…”(paraphrase of 1 Sam 25:24-31). This is what Abigail said about her own husband, the man she is married to, to David and his men. Can you imagine? She also added when she was talking to David, “May your enemies and all who are intent on harming my lord be like Nabal”  (1 Sam 25:26). This is her husband. She was basically saying that her husband is cursed.

Have you ever heard a sermon on this passage? I haven’t. It’s definitely not easy to follow. We hear a lot of sermons on the role of the husband as the head of the household, but hardly any mention of Abigail’s commendable actions here. 

Let’s be clear–the Bible clearly entrusts husbands with a sobering position of responsibility in the family as the head of the household. But this responsibility does not excuse them from their accountability. When a husband makes it his practice and personality to walk in the flesh and to continue in sinful ways; when they refuse to be accountable or teachable; when they do not listen to anyone in their household, wives are free to override their husbands to follow the Lord. I’m not giving you advice to do that. If it is necessary and you are dealing with an abusive or potentially abusive husband, please be cautious of the potential reactions. What I would like to emphasize here is that when husbands walk in the flesh and disobey God, they are no longer representing God to their wives and children. In this situation, wives are not required to submit to their husbands. The Bible makes this clear even in the strong Old Testament patriarchal culture.

Let’s continue with the story.

David relents from his plans to attack Nabal and praises Abigail for her wisdom and good judgment. Then, the next morning, after Abigail returns home, she tells her husband what she did. How does Nabal respond? The Bible says, “…his heart failed him, and he became like a stone. About ten days later, the Lord struck Nabal, and he died.” (1 Samuel 25:37-38). 

Wow.

In this story, Abigail is definitely vindicated and commended since David praised her. Nabal was struck dead after the incident.

Let’s dig into these stories a bit more. These stories give us some pointers to distinguish when it is appropriate to cover sin, like in the story of Noah, and when it should be exposed, like in Abigail’s story. 

Character

If we compare these two stories, one of the first things that we notice is how the Bible describes the characters. The scriptures say about Noah, “Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked faithfully with God” (Genesis 6:9). Twice, the Bible mentions that Noah did everything God commanded him, in terms of building the ark. Noah was a righteous man, but he stumbled. Overall, this guy was righteous. He listened to God. He loved God. He was a good man. But he failed and fell one night. The way the Bible tells the story implies that this incident was an exception in Noah’s life, not his baseline behavior.

When Ham exposed Noah, he demonstrated an ill intent to expose someone who had a momentary weakness. In doing so, Ham revealed more of his own character flaws than he did of Noah's. While Ham did not have grace and consideration for his father’s weakness in that incident, the two older brothers had a loving response, understood that he was human, and had a loving response to him. We can easily read that out of their love for their father, they covered his sin.

And maybe one night, he got stressed. Imagine going through a natural disaster like a flood that covers the entire earth and destroys all of humanity except for you and your eight relatives, and you have to live in an Ark for 40 days with all these animals; it could cause some stress and anxiety for sure. And maybe Noah needed something to sort of take the edge off of what he's gone through when God basically decided to destroy humanity and start re-populating the earth again with Noah and his sons. So, Noah got a bit drunk one night and passed out. So you have one guy who God says is righteous, who made a mistake, and then there is somebody who appears in the story who is ready to pounce on it and expose it.

The story of Noah isn’t the only space where scripture encourages us to cover people’s offenses. Proverbs says it’s wisdom to overlook an offense (Proverbs 19:11). Remember the powerful scene in John 8 when the Pharisees caught a woman in the act of adultery. They were up in arms, ready to stone her. Jesus responded by telling them, if you're without sin, go ahead and throw the first stone (John 8:7).

Here we see Jesus position himself in contrast with the spirit of condemnation. God is merciful and does not like to throw those who make a single mistake under the bus. It’s that mercy that draws us in, and he calls us to walk in that mercy. That should be our dealings with people in the family of God in general.

The Difference between Slander and Exposing Evil

While God is merciful towards us, he also hates evil.

Evil is like yeast. Just a little bit of it spreads insidiously and takes up ground very quickly. Because evil is so invasive, we are called to have a very different attitude towards it: one of exposure and eradication. However, in exposing evil, we do not do so out of malicious intent towards a person or out of condemnation, which is the motive for slander. Slander seeks to tear down someone’s reputation, which can be incredibly damaging. Slander is evil. But it is also evil to suppress the truth that needs to be spoken or to become complicit in evil through silence.

When we expose evil, it should be done to protect others, to protect the vulnerable who cannot defend themselves, and to protect the flock. Evil needs to be exposed to protect what is good, what is true, what is pure, and what is innocent. 

Evil should be treated like cancer: it should be aggressively exposed and removed so that what is good is not eaten up and destroyed. It is certainly the Devil's work to steal, kill, and destroy. To expose evil is to put a stop to Satan’s work.

The story of Abigail and Nabal is an example of when it is commendable to expose evil, even if it is with someone close to you in your own family. Scripture commends Abigail for her actions. Abigail understood that her servants were clearly innocent. They did not deserve to be slaughtered by David and his men because her husband was being obnoxious. Abigail was right to override her husband, to not submit to him, and to go against his words. And she was commended for exposing his foolish character to David and his men. Nowhere does Abigail wish evil upon Nabal, but she acts in protection for the rest of her household and to dissuade David from angry violence. God backed her up by striking her husband dead. Unlike Noah, who was described as being righteous and a lover of God, Nabal was described as a fool, someone who was mean, insulting, and surly. That was his character. No amount of covering for Nabal would change him. 

Discerning Evil 

This gives us some hints about when to cover someone and when to expose evil. When dealing with someone who seeks to live rightly but occasionally messes up or stumbles, the right response is to cover them and gently restore them.

But when you are dealing with someone who is foolish in their character, who practices certain sinful attitudes and behaviors and sees nothing wrong with it, who has an evil heart but conceals it by making themselves look good, who is not teachable or open to correction, and who is not accountable, then you are called to expose. You are dealing with a deadly cancer.

Here are some other indications that you are dealing with evil. Whenever there is secrecy going on and zero to little transparency, chances are, there is something evil going on. Evil likes to hide. John 3:20 says, “Everyone who does evil hates the light and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed.”

Evil is also cloaked in apparel that looks good and attractive. The Pharisees are a perfect example. Jesus exposed them continuously for their hypocrisy. They presented as being saintly, but underneath, they were anything but. These are some brief, and certainly not exhaustive, tools to identify evil. I hope you find them helpful.

Conclusion

There is a beautiful verse that sums up the issue of covering sin and exposing evil very well. It is Micah 6:8, which says, “He (God) has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you?

I put that question out to you. What do you think the Lord requires of you?

Here is what He says,

“To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” 

This is such an incredible verse. So succinct and yet so powerful. The love of mercy speaks of having a heart to cover people and not judge people who stumble and struggle at times. Instead, you gently restore them while remaining humble and making sure you are not vulnerable to falling yourself. “Walk justly” calls us to stand up for what is right and true. You stand up for the oppressed, for victims, and those who cannot defend themselves. This also includes resisting and exposing evil. Finally, walking humbly with your God—because nowhere do we ever want to fall into the deadly sin of pride.

Try asking yourself these questions if you feel unsure about whether to cover or to expose:
Is this issue an exception in the life of someone who otherwise demonstrates a pursuit of godliness?

What are my motives in this situation?

Is this issue posing a threat to others? Does protecting the vulnerable/the flock require that this is exposed?

Whether you discern that it is appropriate to cover or to expose sin, remember that the Bible gives us direction on how to do both in a loving and God-honoring way. 

I hope this blog was helpful in giving you insight into the difference between slander and exposing evil.

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• How to Pray for a Narcissist Guide
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