Anchor My Faith

Oaths

Scripture: Matthew 5:33-37

In the previous lesson we saw the importance of not breaking our word to remain faithful to our marriage partner until death separates us. We made a vow before the Lord and according to Numbers 30:2, we are to do as we say: “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” (ESV).

In this lesson, Jesus looks back to Numbers 30:2 and says: “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.’” (Matthew 5:33 ESV). As in previous lessons, Jesus is correcting another false interpretation of the law. Two other references of this is found in Leviticus 10:12 (ESV): “You shall not swear by my name falsely, and so profane the name of your God: I am the Lord” and in Deuteronomy 23:23 (ESV): “You shall be careful to do what has passed your lips, for you have voluntarily vowed to the Lord your God what you have promised with your mouth.” Bases upon these laws one was forbidden to perjure themselves or to swear falsely, but were to perform literally and religiously what was promised.

What is an oath? An oath was used as a means of guaranteeing that you would do as you said. An oath involves invoking God’s name or a substitute for it to guarantee the truth of your statement. It is an appeal to God for the truth of what is stated and renouncing his favor if what is affirmed is false. It seems that from ancient writings, the Jewish leaders had introduced a number of oaths in which they would swear by the temple, by the head, by heaven, by the earth, but were willing to break these oaths. They were very careful not to swear by the name of God, which they felt couldn’t be broken without grave consequences. Other oaths they seemed to consider could be broken and often they were.

It was this form of abuse that Jesus addresses in this section. These Jewish leaders were not performing to the Lord what they had sword, but had developed a way of swearing an oath with little intent of keeping it. Jesus makes it clear that you shall perform to God what you have sworn, but he continues: Mt 5:34 “But I say to you, do not take an oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, 35 or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. 36 And do not take an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. 37 Let what you say be simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything more than this comes from evil.”

Jesus makes it clear that we as his disciples are not to take an oath at all. He points out why the Jews were wrong in swearing by certain things. He instructs us to simply say “Yes” we will do it, or “No” we will not do it. There should be no reason for us to swear by something greater than us. Our character should be of such integrity that our words can be believed without an oath.

Prayer

Father, as we considered this passage I ask my readers what did they learn. Then, how do they plan to obey what they learned and how will they help others understand this message. It seems to me that we are to take time to hear from God, obey what we heard, and then share what we learned with others. If we did that on a daily basis, I believe we would have an impact on our culture.