“Again you have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not
swear falsely, but shall perform to the Lord what you have sworn’ But I say to you, Do not take an oath at all,
either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, or by the earth, for it is His
footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. And do not take an oath by your head, for you
cannot make one hair white or black. Let
what you say be simply, ‘Yes’ or “no’; anything more than this comes from
evil.” –Matthew 5:33-37 (ESV).
An
oath involved invoking God’s name, or substitutes for His name. By thus speaking, it was to indicate a
guarantee of the truth of the statement.
Moses taught this about taking vows, as we read in Numbers 20: 1-2
(ESV): “Moses spoke to the heads
of the tribes of the people of Israel, saying, ‘This is what the Lord has
commanded. If a man vows a vow to the
Lord, or swears an oath to bind himself by a pledge, he shall not break his
word. He shall do according to all that
proceeds out of his mouth’” Jesus was essentially saying that it is not necessary
to reinforce your speech by vowing by something you think is solid and sure, as
“I swear by heaven,” or “As I live and
breathe…” A
Christian’s word should be his bond without the necessity of adding anything to
make the vow sound more authentic.
Jesus’ followers are not to swear at all. Their very character and lifestyle should stand
for truth so that they will be believed by their very words. To swear by something is not ever necessary.
What
about being asked to serve on a jury, or to appear in a court of law as a
witness? Is taking an oath forbidden
under these circumstances?. We know that
law requires us to swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the
truth. In Jesus’ admonition to ‘swear not at all,’ was he forbidding
Christians to participate in these obligations of our society? Hardly.
He was looking forward to a time, (ideal, indeed), when truthfulness
will be so binding that oaths will not be necessary, even in the courts of the
land. We certainly have not come to this
point yet in our society. Even at His
own trial before the Sanhedrin, Jesus allowed Himself to be put on oath: “And
the high priest stood up and said, ‘Have you no answer to make? What is it that these men testify against
you?’ But Jesus remained silent. And the
high priest said to him, ‘I adjure you by the living God, tell us if you are
the Christ, the Son of God. Jesus said
to him, ‘You have said so. But I tell
you, from now on you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power
and coming on the clouds of heaven” (Matthew 26:62-64, ESV).
We sometimes fall into undesirable
speech patterns. I cringe when I hear
someone say, “I swear” and then they go on to state what they have to say. Even by the prefactory phrase, “I swear” a
flag goes up and I listen—and also observe the speaker—to see if I can discern
whether the truth is actually being spoken.
To swear by God, by heaven, or by something substantial in nature or in
society does not add an iota of truth to one’s statement. Jesus is teaching that the truth should be
told at all times, and that the character of the speaker should be beyond
reproach so that hearers will know the person speaks the truth. It is not necessary to preface what we say by
an oath. Jesus is teaching in Matthew
5:33-37 that our conversation should be so honest and our character so
trustworthy that we do not need crutches such as oaths to have people believe
us. Words attributed to Solomon in
Proverbs 10:19-20 fit well as we consider that oaths are not necessary to our
speech: “When words are many, transgression is not lacking, but whoever restrains
his lips is prudent. The tongue of the
righteous is choice silver; the heart of the wicked is of little worth.” May we
remember Jesus’ teaching about oaths the next time we are tempted to use an
oath to preface what we say. Just say
what you mean and mean what you say.
