The stability of the Cu3+ ion in an oxide matrix such as La(2)Li(0.5)M(0.5)(3+)O(4) (M = Cu, Ni, or Co) or La2-xSrxCu1-yLiyO4 (x = 0 or 0.15, y = 0 or 0.025) is examined. Heats of formation (as measured by solution calorimetry) and Li-7 NMR have been used for this purpose. I:rom the systematic nature of the reported heats of formation of binary compounds analyzed per ligand X ion, Delta H-X, arguments are presented for the existence of a maximum value of Delta H-X corresponding to a maximum ionicity (similar to 660 kJ/g at X). A scheme is then proposed to extract the heat of formation per oxygen, Delta H(Cu)(O), in the CuO1+delta component of ternary copper oxides of metals such as La, Ba, Li, etc. which have Delta H-O close to the maximum value. We then find that the value of Delta H(Cu)(O) in La2Li0.5Mo0.53+O4 (similar to 400 kJ/g at O) is very large relative to that in CuO (similar to 165 kJ/g at O) and suggests an ionic Cu3+-O2- linkage (metal oxidation). In La2-xSrxCuO4 the low value of Delta H(Cu)(O) is consistent with considerable O --> Cu charge transfer and creation of holes on oxygen. These conclusions are supported by Li-7 NMR studies which probe the local environment in the CuO matrix. Advantage is taken of the paramagnetic shifts of the resonance frequency in such anisotropic systems and the dual principal axes (quadrupolar and magnetic dipolar) interaction tensors to understand the Li-7 NMR. The main results of the NMR study are that in La(2)Li(0.5)M(0.5)O(4) systems the quadrupolar splitting of the Li-7 is nearly constant for all M ions indicating a similar LiO6 environment. When coupled with the Delta H(M)(O) data, this implies that there is little O --> M charge transfer. In La2-xSrxCu1-yLiyO4 on the other hand the Li-7 NMR shows three kinds of environments for the Li ions despite there being only a single crystallographic site. We suggest that at least one of these environments is due to the creation of holes on oxygen.