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Matthew 5:33–37 (ESV)
If you were to preach one famous sermon in your whole life, what topics would you cover? What would you leave out?
If you were to write Ten Commandments to summarize how one ought to live a life honoring to God, what would they be?
If you were to write out your own Confession of Faith to describe the important doctrines a Christian ought to believe, what would your chapter titles be?
More specifically, I wonder if your sermon, or your commandments, or your Confession of Faith would include anything about Oaths and Vows.
We are continuing in our sermon series through the Sermon on the Mount this morning. And, though Jesus did preach many sermons over his ministry, this is perhaps one of his most famous summaries of what it means to “live in the Kingdom.”
Over the last few sermons we have covered topics such as anger and relationships, lust and adultery, and marriage and divorce. These are obviously significant moral issues in any culture. Today, we will explore a very specific aspect of our speech. The Bible has much to say generally about our speech, but this morning, Jesus will tackle a specific dimension which we’re not very accustomed to talking about—the issue of taking oaths.
Before we write this off as a bit odd, it’s good to remember that at least two of Moses’ Ten Commandments relate to the truthfulness of our speech (the 3rd and the 9th). And, if you’ve read the Trinity Confession of Faith, you might have scratched your head a bit when you got to Chapter 25 on “Oaths and Vows.”
Broken promises are unfortunately part of our lives—in both directions. We have broken promises and we’ve experienced the fallout from the broken promises of others. They are simply part of the fabric of this fallen world. God’s own archenemy, Satan, is a liar and the father of lies (John 8:44). He is also called the deceiver of the whole world (Rev 12:9).
What should we listen for, then, in a sermon about oaths? We could keep it really simple—lying is bad; truth-telling is good. Done! Though it is true that lying is sinful and that telling the truth is commendable, there is more going on in our text than that. We shouldn’t hear this as a simple moral lesson on truthfulness. The stakes are much higher than that.
God’s honor is at stake. God’s honor and reputation are more significant than us simply embracing a moral lesson that we should tell the truth.
As we have already acknowledged, lying and deceptive speech have been around since Satan tempted Eve in the Garden. We are no longer surprised to encounter false speech in our everyday lives. We expect politicians to lie. We expect companies to stretch the truth in their advertising and quarterly reporting. We have become accustomed to doubting people’s word or to have our own word doubted.
As a parent, it is jarring the first time your child lies straight to your face. We later laugh at these moments, perhaps rightly. We’re not laughing at the tragedy of lying itself, but perhaps of our expectation that our kid would be different. I don’t even remember which of my kids it was, but one of them drew the first letter of his/her name with crayon in huge sweeping strokes on the wall in the hall or bedroom. Addressing the child, “honey, did you draw on the wall with crayon?” “NO! It wasn’t me!”
Unfortunately, we can become more doubtful of our children’s truthfulness over time. As they get older, it sometimes becomes more difficult to catch them directly in the lie.
When I was a teenager, I had a car with a very distinct-sounding muffler. It sounded faster than it was, but it was easily discernible. One night, I was showing off to a friend by going mudding on a dirt road near my own house. We had a great time; we didn’t get stuck. We promptly stopped by a car wash before I returned home. All the evidence was gone. I’ll never forget the awkwardness when my father, who I knew would very much disapprove of my using my car in this way, asked me what I did that night. I gave lots of answers. I didn’t straight-up lie, but I creatively left out the part about going mudding in my car or about going to the car wash. He knew what I had done, and quickly let me know that he had been outside and heard the whole thing. Having a somewhat tender conscience, I immediately owned up to it when I was caught. But the damage was done. My dad was way more disappointed that I tried to deceive him than that I had gone mudding.
Had I been a bit more hardened in my conscience and living during the time of the Pharisees, I might have responded by saying something like, “I swear by heaven that I didn’t do it.” The south Georgia saying would have probably been more even less sacred like, “I swear on my mother’s grave.”
The younger kids version would have been, “I promise: cross my heart and hope to die.” This, of course is a very strange oath since it is often used to hide that you might be lying.
Perhaps these examples might help us understand what Jesus was correcting and addressing with the Pharisees.
During Jesus’ day, swearing and oaths were a much more prevalent way of obscuring deceptive speech. Oaths and vows were solemn speech which promised truthfulness with God as a witness and judge.
We are going to have to dive into the text and some Old Testament scriptures to understand what Jesus is doing.
Matthew 5:33 (ESV)
This “you have heard that it was said” formula is familiar to us by now. Jesus is taking a prevalent understanding or interpretation of an Old Testament idea during his day and showing how the Jews were missing the point or not taking the idea far enough.
One of the interesting things about our text is that it is not a specific quote from specific verses in the Mosaic Law. We can take a stab at which passages he might be referring to, but it’s really a summary of what they said the Old Testament taught. Here are some of the possible texts you might find in your cross-references:
Leviticus 19:12 (ESV) — You shall not swear by my name falsely, and so profane the name of your God: I am the LORD.
Deuteronomy 23:21 (ESV) — “If you make a vow to the LORD your God, you shall not delay fulfilling it, for the LORD your God will surely require it of you, and you will be guilty of sin.
You might notice that we’re dealing with two different ideas here. We have the idea of “swearing and oath” and “making a vow.” These are slightly different ideas. Numbers 30 shows the distinction more clearly.
Numbers 30:2 (ESV) — 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.
A simple distinction would be that vows are only made to God, but that we swear oaths before others in the sight of God.
The importance for our purposes is that both are solemn speech promising truthfulness with God as witness and judge.
We don’t want to miss the primary idea found in the Ten Commandments.
Exodus 20:7 (ESV) — “You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.
We often think of “taking the Lord’s name in vain” as simply using God’s name as a curse-word or in a casual way. But the third commandment means so much more.
We must avoid swearing “in God’s name” if we are not going to fulfill our oath.
This brings us to the issue among the Jews of Jesus’ day.
The Jews had constructed an entire system of oath-taking in the Talmud that specified whether or not one was indeed bound to an oath.
We can see how Jesus is addressing this a bit in vv. 34-36
Matthew 5:34–36 (ESV)
In order to avoid breaking the 3rd commandment and taking an oath in the Lord’s name, they would swear by less important things. Jesus’ point here is that God is over all things, so his holding a person to account cannot be avoided.
Matthew records Jesus’ similar warning to the scribes and Pharisees in Chapter 23 as well.
Matthew 23:16–22 (ESV)
Jesus’ point in Chapter 23 as well as the Sermon on the Mount is that one cannot swear oaths without God as witness since God is over all. Jesus concludes then that we should not swear at all, but simply let our yes be our yes.
Obviously Jesus intends for his followers to be truth-speakers. We must ask, though, exactly what he is correcting in this section of his sermon. Before we move on to the positive instruction of vs. 37, we should clarify what he is forbidding.
It seems to me that the issue was the Jews relying on specific oath formulas that got them off the hook for being held to their words. We know Jesus isn’t “correcting” the Law itself, but rather some pharisaic corruption of it.
We do have to wrestle with what Jesus means by not taking an oath “at all.”
The apostle James summarizes this teaching in his letter this way:
James 5:12 (ESV) — But above all, my brothers, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or by any other oath, but let your “yes” be yes and your “no” be no, so that you may not fall under condemnation.
Again, we hear the same total exclusion—“or by any other oath…”
Does this mean that all oaths and vows are off-limits for the Christian?
I believe the answer to this question is, “no.” Though at first glance, this sounds like Jesus (and James) are forbidding any oaths at all, I don’t think this is the point we should take away.
I particularly like Samuel Waldron’s summary in his exposition of the Second London Baptist Confession.
What, then, does Christ forbid by saying “swear not at all?” He condemns all vain or frivolous use of euphemisms for God’s name in oaths in order to secure credit for our words, while avoiding the obligation of absolute honesty.
- Samuel Waldron, A Modern Exposition of the 1689 Baptist Confession of Faith, pp. 330-331
Do you see the two ingredients here? “securing credit for our own words” and “avoiding the obligation of absolute honesty.”
These two tendencies do capture the nature of “fallen speech in a fallen world.” We want to be treated as though our words are fully trustworthy while avoiding the burden of always keeping it.
Let’s now consider the opposite: truthful speech in a better Kingdom.
At a fundamental level, what Jesus is saying in the Sermon on the Mount is that followers of Jesus should not need oaths to ensure that they speak the truth. God’s Kingdom and God’s people should be known for truth.
We’ve mentioned the Jewish traditions surrounding oaths during the first century. There was another group at the time with a different reputation. John Stott quotes the historian Josephus about the Essenes (a Jewish sect contemporary with Jesus):
They are eminent for fidelity and are the ministers of peace. Whatsoever they say also is firmer than an oath. But swearing is avoided by them, and they esteem it worse than perjury, for they say that he who cannot be believed without (swearing by) God, is already condemned.
- John Stott, The Message of the Sermon on the Mount, 82.
That’s quite a reputation. “Whatever they say…is firmer than an oath.” The Pharisees were promoting oaths, but not always promoting actual truthfulness. The Essenes were the opposite. They avoided oaths, but treasured truthfulness.
This seems to be closer to what Jesus is promoting within the Kingdom of God. “Let what you say be simply “Yes” or “No” (vs. 37). Just “Say it like you mean it.”
Jesus is promoting more than mere ethical living. He’s not just demanding truthfulness because that’s what is required for a well-functioning society. Instead, the character and honor of God is at stake. This is how we imitate our Creator and Savior:
Colossians 3:9–10 (ESV) — Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.
Deception, lies, and broken promises were part of the fallen world, part of our old selves, before we took on the name, “Christian.”
I’m not sure what your earthly father is like (or was like). I don’t know what kind of burden he put on you to be a person of your word. My own father made it very clear that being a man of my word not only reflected on me, but also on him and on our entire family name. My actions and words communicated to friends, enemies, and onlookers realities about my family—it was not just my own reputation on display.
We shouldn’t boil this reality down to reputation or “brand management” for ourselves, our families, our church, or even for God. His reputation is not so fragile as that. But, we do not want to profane his name by taking his name in vain.
Paul appeals for this life and ministry of truthfulness in 2 Corinthians 4.
2 Corinthians 4:2 (ESV) — But we have renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways. We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God’s word, but by the open statement of the truth we would commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God.
The Christian is therefore to speak the truth, not only in the courtroom or in the church building, but in all parts of life, as a reflection or image of the truthfulness of God. We should not need any particular formulas to add weight or veracity to our words.
We are left with an issue that we ought to tackle.
Jesus words in verse 34 seem to sound absolute.
Matthew 5:34 (ESV) — But I say to you, Do not take an oath at all…
However, in our own experience we don’t typically take his words to be an absolute forbidding of all oaths or vows.
Should Christians refuse such oaths? Is there a rightful place for such oaths in our fallen world, even for Christians?
There have been Christian religious groups that have taken this position over the centuries. Most notably, this has been the position of the Quakers, and the Anabaptists before them.
The Westminster Confession of Faith, along with the 2nd London Baptist Confession of faith affirm the place of Christians making lawful oaths. To some degree, these confessions were in response to the Anabaptists of the day who refused to do so.
Our own Trinity Confession of Faith includes this chapter from the 2nd London Confession. Here are the first 3 of the 5 statements about oaths in our Chapter 25.
- An oath is a part of religious worship, in which a person swearing in truth, righteousness, and judgment, solemnly calls God to witness what he promises and to judge him according to the truth or falseness of it.
- The name of God is the only name by which men ought to swear. It is to be used with all holy fear and reverence. Therefore to swear vainly or rashly by that glorious and dreadful name, or to swear at all by any other thing, is sinful and to be abhorred. Yet, in matters of great significance an oath is warranted by the word of God, under the New Testament as well as under the Old. So an oath being imposed by lawful authority in such matters ought to be taken.
- Whoever takes an oath warranted by the Word of God, should duly consider the weightiness of so solemn an act and so affirm nothing but what he knows to be the truth. For by rash, false, and vain oaths, the Lord is profaned, and for them this land mourns.
You may be wondering how we get from Jesus saying, “Do not take an oath at all…” to the overwhelming consensus of Christian history that certain solemn speech including oaths and vows is acceptable and good.
One of our main principles of Biblical interpretation is to let scripture interpret scripture. We believe that all of the Bible is true and authoritative, and it’s helpful to remember what Jesus is doing in this portion of the Sermon on the Mount. He is not correcting or abrogating the Old Testament, but drawing attention to the corrupted application of those scriptures among the religious leaders of his day.
Good Bible commentaries will bring out some of these points, but I found the most helpful summary from Samuel Waldron’s exposition of the 1689 Baptist Confession of Faith. He brought forward eight arguments for the lawfulness of oaths and vows (pp. 329-330). We don’t have time to go over all eight arguments this morning, but they’ll be in the online manuscript with the sermon. For now, I’d like to mention a few.
The very rules surrounding what NOT to do when swearing oaths in the Old Testament means that lawful oaths were appropriate.
Deuteronomy 6:13 (ESV) — It is the LORD your God you shall fear. Him you shall serve and by his name you shall swear.
This doesn’t mean that we should be flippant or casual in invoking the name of God in oaths in normal, everyday speech. But, it leaves room for lawful oaths.
There is a very interesting passage in Hebrews where God swears by himself for Abraham’s sake.
Hebrews 6:13–16 (ESV) — For when God made a promise to Abraham, since he had no one greater by whom to swear, he swore by himself, saying, “Surely I will bless you and multiply you.” And thus Abraham, having patiently waited, obtained the promise. For people swear by something greater than themselves, and in all their disputes an oath is final for confirmation.
God didn’t need to swear to force himself to keep his own word, but he did it to help Abraham have confidence in his promise. An oath is “final for confirmation.”
In case you’d like a New Testament example, we have this from later in Matthew’s Gospel.
Matthew 26:62–64 (ESV) — 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.”
Jesus is on trial, and the High Priest demands that Jesus respond under oath (“I adjure you by the living God”). At this point, Jesus did not pause and explain that oaths are inappropriate. Instead he answers under oath.
The New Testament epistles also tell of times that Paul was under an oath or vow.
I draw from these examples that there is a place for lawful oaths and vows in the Christian’s life.
There is still a place in this fallen world for solemn oaths. Christians shouldn’t need them in order to keep their word, but Christians may participate in them for the sake of others.
What should we take away from our passage regarding “Living in the Kingdom?”
First, don’t try to earn your way into this Kingdom by being an honest person. That’s not the way in, and all of us have already failed the test.
Second, realize that your failures to speak the truth and your sins of swearing falsely or deceitfully or breaking your word don’t have to keep you out of the Kingdom, but they will if you don’t turn to Christ.
Matthew records one of the most damning oaths later in his Gospel. After Jesus had been arrested and taken to be falsely accused and judged, Peter was following behind to see what happened. He was asked if he was one of Jesus’ disciples.
Matthew 26:72–74 (ESV) — And again he denied it with an oath: “I do not know the man.” After a little while the bystanders came up and said to Peter, “Certainly you too are one of them, for your accent betrays you.” Then he began to invoke a curse on himself and to swear, “I do not know the man.” And immediately the rooster crowed.
Maybe you think you’ve done a bit better than Peter. You haven’t denied knowing Christ by swearing a curse on yourself. Maybe you’ve even avoiding swearing oaths altogether. But, it’s not just our oaths that will condemn us in the end.
Matthew 12:36–37 (ESV) — I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak, for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”
We will come under judgment, not just for our broken oaths, but for every careless word. In fact, the sins of our tongue affect every part of us and spread the poison of hell itself.
James 3:6 (ESV) — And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell.
How, then, does Peter or how do we have any real chance of living in the God’s Kingdom?
Psalm 24:3–4 (ESV) — Who shall ascend the hill of the LORD? And who shall stand in his holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to what is false and does not swear deceitfully.
We cannot look to ourselves. We must look to another.
We need a better word than our own. We must look to…
Hebrews 12:24 (ESV) — …Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.
Jesus’ blood shed for us speaks a better word. A word of forgiveness. A word of acceptance. A word on our behalf.
And God keeps his word.
Hebrews 6:17–20 (ESV) — So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it with an oath, so that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us. We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf…
Our great Hope is in the one who keeps his promises and who swore by himself and could swear by nothing higher. He does not change. He cannot lie. He cannot break his promises. The gifts and calling of God are irrevocable.
For all of us who are in Christ—all of his righteous words, and all of his faithfulness, and all of his righteousness are counted to us. We are, therefore, called to put off our old ways of speaking and equivocating, and deceiving, and we are called to put on speaking the truth in love for the good of others, and for the honor of His great name.
- The command not to swear vainly or falsely in God’s name assumes their lawfulness (Exodus 20:7).
- The command to swear only in God’s name assumes their lawfulness (Deuteronomy 6:13; 10:20).
- The example of God himself indicates their lawfulness (Hebrews 6:13-16).
- The example of many Old Testament saints indicates their lawfulness (Abraham, Genesis 24:3; Jacob, Genesis 47:30-31; Joseph, Genesis 50:25; Elijah, 1 Kings 17:1; Nehemiah, Nehemiah 13:25; 5:12; Ezra, Ezra 10:5). All these took or made oaths.
- The law of Moses required oaths in certain situations (Numbers 5:19, 21; 1 Kings 8:31; Exodus 22:11).
- The prophets’ predictions indicate their lawfulness (Isaiah 45:23; 65:16).
- Christ’s example indicates the lawfulness of oaths (Matthew 26:62-64).
- Paul’s example indicates their lawfulness (Romans 1:9; 2 Corinthians 1:23; Acts 18:18).
Samuel Waldron, A Modern Exposition of the 1689 Baptist Confession of Faith, pp. 329-330.
Also, John Piper has an interesting article about whether or not Christians should swear on the Bible.
https://www.desiringgod.org/interviews/should-christians-swear-on-the-bible
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