A stunning woman, bored with her marriage to a powerful older man, tried without success to convince her husband’s assistant to pay her attention. He was young and strong and good-looking. She was determined to have him. But he had found numerous ways to successfully put her off and had made it very clear he had no intention of betraying his employer.
Finally, the day came when the insult she felt at his refusals boiled over, and she cornered him—literally. Rather than giving his usual cool refusal, he pushed past her to escape. When she grabbed at his jacket sleeve, he’d slipped right out of it in his haste to get away.
Disbelieving the lengths he would go to in refusing her, she was filled with rage and a fiery determination to ruin him.
If I can’t have you, I will destroy you, she seethed inwardly. Then she took a deep breath and screamed, causing the maid to come running, along with the gardener who heard her through the open window.
She hysterically accused him of accosting her, pointing a shaking finger at his retreating back. Her husband hurried home at a call from one of their household staff, and she repeated the accusation to him, adding an extra dose of tears for his benefit.
She dabbed at the false tears and hid a smug smile with her hand as he barreled out of the room, shouting orders to find the young man.
Mission accomplished. He’ll be ruined now.
If you didn’t recognize it, this is the story of Joseph and Potiphar’s wife in Genesis 39, and it is a perfect example of slander. It contains all the necessary components:
A verbal statement (made twice—to the servants and to her husband)
The claim made is false (in reality she was accosting1 Joseph, not the other way around)
It has the purpose (or effect) of damaging reputation (Joseph ends up with the reputation of a sexual predator and in prison indefinitely—if not for the later events God brought to pass)
Let’s talk a little more about these three ingredients that make up actual slander.2
1. Verbal
Words do matter, so in the interest of being very accurate, it’s important to note that if a false statement that damages the reputation is written rather than spoken, the term for that is “libel” rather than “slander.”
Libel is essentially the written equivalent of slander.
2. False
The falseness of the statement is an essential component of what makes something slander. This is the component I see blatantly ignored the most when people try to use the term “slander.” If the statement is true, not false, other terms should be used. It has no business being labeled “slander.”
3. Damaging
The last essential component of “slander” is that the statement causes damage to another’s reputation. It is typically the intended outcome of the slanderer and points to the malice and hostile intent behind the statement.
Without these 3 components, you do not have a case of slander. Let me explain. Here are some things that cannot, by definition, be called slander:
A truthfully-given witness statement of who was at fault in a car accident you observed. Yes, it is verbal. No, it is not false. Yes, it will cause reputation damage. It is not slander. It is truth.
A text message making the false claim a manager at your workplace has a history of embezzlement. No, it is not verbal. Yes, it is false. Yes, it will cause reputation damage. It is not slander. It is libel.
A minor discloses the molestation they’ve experienced at the hands of a trusted family member. Yes, it is verbal. No, it is not false. Yes, it will cause reputation damage. It is not slander. It is truth.
A joking statement of “he’s a menace!” in a light-hearted discussion between two couples (about each of the husbands missing the clothes hamper when dunking socks). Yes, it is verbal. No, it is not false (in a joking sense, of course!). No, it will not cause reputation damage. It is not slander. It is non-malicious, light-hearted teasing.
A warning to a friend to avoid a certain Christian counselor, based on your experience of them disclosing your personal information without consent. Yes, it is verbal. No, it is not false. Yes, it will cause reputation damage. It is not slander. It is truth.
The instances above of truth may be deeply uncomfortable. Life may be much nicer if they’re never brought up. But discomfort does not mean slander is occurring. And discomfort is far from a legitimate reason to demand silence.
Sometimes I hear “Gossip” and “Slander” used almost interchangeably
Yes, this happens frequently. There’s a good distinction mentioned in this article:3 “Gossip collects someone’s secrets and passes them to others; slander makes up its own secrets and broadcasts them wherever they will do the most harm.”
Have you ever seen Uno Reverse Slander?
A leader is in need of Biblical, open correction. The people who speak this truth are immediately labeled “slanderers” by the leader at the very next gathering. This causes the congregation to look down on them, shun them in some cases, and call them out for this supposed sin in other cases.
In a funny (not funny) case of Uno Reverse Slander, the person crying “Slander!” is, in fact…
…making a verbal statement
…that is false (because truth-telling is not, and cannot be, slander)
…and causing reputation damage.
These kinds of weird things happen when we don’t walk in humility and sensitivity to the movement of the Spirit among His children.4
Before you accept an accusation of slander…
…ask yourself: is what they said verbal, false, and damaging? If any of the three is missing, you have something else—not slander.
And I highly encourage you: when considering whether the statements are true or false, do your maximum due diligence. Consider the source of your information. If it is a second- or third-hand source—or especially if you get the information from the person they spoke against—go to the actual source.
You owe it to your siblings-in-Christ to go to all lengths to determine the veracity of their statements rather than taking someone else’s word for it. You wouldn’t want to participate in Uno Reverse Slander.
It made it into God’s Top Ten, after all…
“Do not give false testimony against your neighbor.”
Exodus 20:16
A fancy way of saying she was sexually harassing him.
If you’d like to read more about the dictionary definitions of slander from a Christian perspective, these links can get you started:
https://www.gotquestions.org/Bible-slander.html
https://www.biblestudytools.com/dictionary/slander/
https://www.gotquestions.org/Bible-slander.html
I have heard of a giant case of Uno Reverse Gossip in which a leader read private messages between 2 third-parties out loud for a large gathering in an attempt to accuse the message-sender of gossip. Effectively… he became a gossiper!