Dr. Peter Masters

‘Thou shalt not go up and down as a talebearer among thy people’ (Leviticus 19.16).
‘He that uttereth a slander, is a fool’ (Proverbs 10.18).
‘An hypocrite with his mouth destroyeth his neighbour’ (Proverbs 11.9).

Gossip has been defined as idle talk or compulsive chattering and news-mongering, including the spreading of groundless rumour. It is not always hostile or malevolent. But this article focuses on the kind of gossip that complains about others behind their back, exposing their faults (or supposed faults) and pulling them down in the estimation of all who will listen. This is about the ‘backbitings and whisperings’ mentioned in 2 Corinthians 12.20.

We begin with a few comments about hopeless, persistent gossips. Some people – even some Christians – seem driven to negative gossip about others. The tendency within them has ­become so powerful that they can no longer control it. They are like alcoholics or drug addicts. They prowl like gunboats, their arsenals stacked high with derogatory information about different people, and their radio-antennae sensitive to the latest ‘suspicious’ situations.

As Christians they are certainly in a very sad and sick state of mind, because spiritual interests and harmful gossip are mutually exclusive. It is obvious that their minds now draw their satisfaction from sordid things secretly spread. Gossips are ­undoubtedly backsliders, however consistent they may be in attending meetings, and however vocal in claiming spiritual blessing.

How do some who are believers get into such a state? The forces behind gossip will be identified shortly, but it must be said that people who are inveterate gossips have ­obviously made no attempt to curb or fight their habit. They do not seem to have seen it as a sin, and detested and resisted it. Just as people given to temper tantrums have allowed their muscles of self-­control to waste away, so also hopeless gossips are people who have become disastrously weak. They are to be blamed. This is a ­condition for which they are entirely ­responsible. It is self-induced.

What Triggers the Urge?

Ten causes of both occasional and regular gossiping

‘Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips from speaking guile’ (Psalm 34.13).

First – the devil is the instigator of gossip. From the beginning he misrepresented the character of God in his dealings with Adam and Eve. He insinuated that God was unfairly withholding something from them, and was not truthful to them. He implied that God was unreasonable, tyrannical and threatening toward them. Most of Satan’s words outwardly bore some resemblance to the truth, but they were not the truth. God had certainly withheld the knowledge of evil from Adam and Eve, but not for the ­reasons advanced by Satan. (Gossip is not always entirely untrue, but it misrepresents and distorts the truth until it is no longer true.)

The devil is the father of malicious ­gossip, and first uttered it amidst the beauty of paradise. Ever since, he has ­reproduced his crime using co-operative people. Gossip is planted in the minds of believers by the father of lies.

Secondly – gossips may be motivated by envy, jealousy and pride. Those tempted to gossip should look within themselves. What is the real truth? Are they genuinely hurt and concerned by someone’s wrong conduct, or is there a spirit of jealousy smoldering within? Do the victims of their gossip have advantages in life which cause jealous anger? Do the victims have a degree of acceptance and fruitfulness which arouses the envy of gossips, who proudly think they should have those blessings? Jealousy and pride make virulent gossips.

Thirdly – gossips may be motivated by a general discontent with their lot, or may be suffering the result of personal failure, or under threat of loss. Instead of looking to God for help, and drawing on spiritual ­comforts, some people develop a ­complaining, bitter spirit, hitting out at others through malicious gossip. The devil is always on the watch for dissatisfied and vulnerable people through whom he may mount a ‘moral’ crusade against others.

Fourthly – gossip may be stirred by resentment. Perhaps at some time other Christians have brought necessary and kind words of reproof, but they rankle. To resentful people vengeance is sweet, and gossip is a ‘knife shaped for the back’.

Fifthly – gossips are often motivated by a longing to be listened to. Sad and ­pathetic as it sounds, some people feel that they can attract attention only by having something startling or discrediting to say about others. Gossips have discovered that many people (due to the fallen human heart) are powerfully ­attracted to their stories.

Sixthly – gossips are sometimes motivated by the absence of anything better to say. These gossips (unpleasant as it sounds) have empty heads. They cannot think of anything worthwhile to say. They never read or talk about anything of substance, and so, apart from commenting on the weather, all they can do is criticise others. They are too selfish to think of taking an interest in the circumstances of the people with whom they speak. They are too insubstantial to be anything other than retailers of distorted, hostile stories.

Seventhly – people so often become gossips because they are worldly in their tastes and outlook. After all, gossip is the stuff of worldliness. What are television soaps but dramatised gossip ­administered in massive doses for addicts? If Christians watch serialised television gossip, their attitudes and tastes are bound to be shaped by it. They will become highly ­inquisitive about the minute twists and turns of the lives of others, and especially about their failings and faults. They will focus on the old life, rather than the new life; on earthly gain, rather than heavenly gain. The world of soaps is a world where ­human behaviour is everything, and spiritual behaviour is worth nothing. Here is the ideal mental training of a malicious gossip.

Eighthly – gossips are produced by the old disease of self-righteousness. One might say that the Pharisee who (in the Lord’s parable) went into the Temple to pray, betrayed the marks of a gossip. He prayed with himself, denigrating the tax collector who stood nearby.
By tearing down others, self-righteous people build up themselves. If others can be denigrated, they feel so much better. And by slandering people in the church, the self-righteous gossip succeeds in promoting himself above them. He effectively convinces himself of his ‘high standing’, and at the same time he attempts to convince those who listen to him. For self-righteous people, gossip is a ladder to self-satisfaction.

Ninthly – gossips may be motivated by sheer vindictiveness and malice. Some people do not need a reason for hating others, they just do. There is within them some primitive hostility which they do not attempt to control. They never seem to be challenged by the command of Christ that believers should love one another. They simply do not care if nastiness of character pours out of them. They allow it full rein and feel no shame. They need to see that there is a whole area of their conduct which has not been brought into the work of sanctification. God never gave them the right to declare a ‘no go’ area in their conduct, and if they will not submit this area to his law, he will have to chasten them.

Tenthly (and closely linked with the previous point) – gossips will be encouraged in their sin by the abandonment of regular self-­examination and repentance. If there is no self-review at the close of the day, and no pang of conscience and painful shame, there will be nothing to check the outflow of gossip. To curb the old nature and its sins requires conscientious concern.
Complacency in this leads to a low view of the seriousness of gossip, and even to its justification. (The devil will convince gossips that it is right and necessary to bring to light the ‘misdemeanours’ of others.)

Daily self-examination not only convinces people about the sin of gossip, but it also makes gossips more keenly aware of all their other sins. Then it ­becomes impossible for them to go about denigrating other people. Gossiping is a proud activity, and daily self-examination and repentance dissolves pride.
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Hopefully, the reading of this dismal list of causes will put readers off any desire to gossip. If this is what drives it, we should recoil in alarm and disgust.