Therefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbor: for we are members one of another.
All Commentaries on Ephesians 4:25 Go To Ephesians 4
Augustine of Hippo
AD 430
Let no one mistake this. The apostle is not giving us room to tell a lie to those who are not yet members of Christ with us. The point of the saying is that each of us should consider everyone as we wish him to become, even if he has not become so…. We ought to deal with a person in such a way that he will cease to be an outsider. Regard him as your neighbor already, rather than as an outsider. It may be that, because of the fact that he is not yet a partaker of our faith and sacraments, certain truths must be concealed from him. But that is no reason for telling him falsehoods.
