Gossip is the opposite of the gospel. In the mouth and the ear of a gossip is a morsel of bad news, not the good news. This bad news — a story of someone else’s sin or shame — can be bad in at least two ways.
Bad information. The story may be false, and if you know that beforehand, then spreading it is not just gossip but slander (Leviticus 19:16; Psalm 15:3; Proverbs 19:5). Or you might only think the story is true (perhaps without good reason), but it turns out to be wrong — hearsay, a rumor, a half-truth (Proverbs 18:13, 17).
Bad news about someone. You might have been taught that “if it’s true, it’s not gossip.” But needlessly sharing shameful truth about someone else can be gossip. One biblical phrase for this kind of speech is “a bad report,” such as what Joseph brought against his brothers (Genesis 37:2). Just because someone actually did something wrong does not mean that we need to, or get to, talk about it with others.
“The sin of gossip is bearing bad news behind someone’s back out of a bad heart.”
Other times, we might spread a wicked story of what might soon happen to someone else. One time when King David was sick, his enemies acted concerned when they visited him but then secretly celebrated his projected downfall and spread the story that he was about to die (Psalm 41:5–8). That was gossip too.
So, in the back of your mind, when any conversation begins to steer toward the topic of other people, you can ask yourself, “Is this story true? How do I know?” “Is this story mine to tell? Is it his to tell me?” “Is this story bad news?”
Persecution Live 