#8 Jesus Teaching About Oaths
Matthew 5:33-37
1. The interpretation of the Scribes about oaths (Matthew 5:33-37).
a. The text used by the Scribes was Leviticus 19:12, which says, “You must not swear falsely by My name and so profane the name of your God. I am Yahweh.”
b. Another Scripture on oaths is Numbers 30:2 which says, “If a man makes a vow to the LORD or swears an oath to obligate himself by a pledge, he must not break his word; he must do everything he has promised.”
c. Another text also is Deuteronomy 23:22, which says, “But if you refrain from making a vow, you will not be guilty of sin.”
2. The meaning of an oath
a. Definition – An affirmation or promise coupled to an appeal to God as a punisher of falsehoods.
b. Examples of oaths
1) 1 Samuel 14:44 says, “And Saul declared, “May God punish me, and ever so severely, if you, Jonathan, do not surely die!”
2) 1 Samuel 14:39 says, “As surely as the LORD who saves Israel lives, even if it is my son Jonathan, he must die!”
3) 1 Samuel 20:3 says, “…. As surely as the LORD lives and as you yourself live, there is but a step between me and death.”
4) Genesis 31:53 says, “May the God of Abraham and the God of Nahor, the God of their father, judge between us.” So, Jacob swore by the respect for his father Isaac.”
c. An oath is an appeal to God to ratify an assertion.
d. Hebrews 6:16 says, “Men swear by someone greater than themselves, and their oath serves as a confirmation to end all argument.
e. The Scribes sinfully adhered to the doctrine of loopholes in their oaths.
1) They said that there is no way out of an oath if one swears by Yahweh.
2) Scribes said one could get out of his oath if he swears by his head, Jerusalem, or the land, etcetera.
3. The Lord Jesus’ teaching on oaths (Matthew 5:34-39).
a. Matthew 5:34-37 says, “But I tell you not to swear at all: either by heaven, for it is God’s throne; 35or by the earth, for it is His footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. 36Nor should you swear by your head, for you cannot make a single hair white or black. 37Simply let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No.’ Anything more comes from the evil one”
1) “Do not swear an oath at all.” (Matthew 5:34)
2) Reasons that this does not refer to every oath:
3) Jesus Himself took an oath while on trial. Matthew 26:63-64 says, “Then the high priest said to Him, “I charge You under oath by the living God: Tell us if You are the Christ, the Son of God.”64“You have said it yourself,” Jesus answered…”
4) The Law of Moses commanded oaths at certain times. Exodus 22:10-11 says, “If a man gives a donkey, an ox, a sheep, or any other animal to be cared for by his neighbor, but it dies or is injured or stolen while no one is watching, 11an oath before the LORD shall be made between the parties to determine whether or not the man has taken his neighbor’s property.”
5) 1 Kings 8:31 says, “When a man sins against his neighbor and is required to take an oath, and he comes to take an oath before Your altar in this temple, 32then may You hear from heaven and act. May You judge Your servants, condemning the wicked man by bringing down on his own head what he has done, and justifying the righteous man by rewarding him according to his righteousness.”
6) One who found lost property must vindicate himself with an oath. Leviticus 6:3 says, “or finds lost property and lies about it and swears falsely, or if he commits any such sin that a man might commit—when they sin in any of these ways and realize their guilt, they must return what they have stolen or taken by extortion, or what was entrusted to them, or the lost property they found,”
7) A suspected wife must clear herself with an oath. Numbers 5:19-22 says, “And he is to put the woman under oath and say to her, ‘If no other man has slept with you and you have not gone astray and become defiled while under your husband’s authority, may you be immune to this bitter water that brings a curse. 20But if you have gone astray while under your husband’s authority and have defiled yourself and lain carnally with a man other than your husband’— 21and the priest shall have the woman swear under the oath of the curse—‘then may the LORD make you an attested curse among your people by making your thigh shrivel and your belly swell. 22May this water that brings a curse enter your stomach and cause your belly to swell and your thigh to shrivel.”
b. So, the Lord Jesus Christ told people not to swear at all, yet there are many instances in the Bible in which people must swear oaths, and even the Lord swore an oath. How can we reconcile this seeming contradiction?
c. The answer is that the Lord Jesus often uses unqualified discourse to make His point. And, in this context, He qualifies the extreme statement that follows.
1) He tells people not to swear an oath “neither by Heaven, earth, Jerusalem, or your head.”
2) He is opposing a customary use of loopholes in oaths. Imagine two people arguing over a sheep.
3) One says, I swear by the land of Israel that that is my sheep.
4) The other says, I swear by the land of Israel that it is my sheep.
5) It goes on and on, each progressively swearing by Heaven, earth, the land, Jerusalem, one’s own head, and finally by Yahweh.
6) It was a practice that you would find among liars.
7) In each case a person would swear something that belonged to God. By that, they hoped to refrain from saying, “so help me God.”
8) By swearing by something that belonged to God, they thought they were lessening their obligation to God. They were reducing God to objects that belonged to God. They were de-personalizing Him.
9) So, the Lord Jesus said for His disciples not to swear that way, but let their “yes” be yes and their “no” be no. He wanted honest disciples.
10) Jesus was telling His disciples not to swear an oath in the way of the guile-laden Jews of the day.
d. In Matthew 5:37, Jesus says, “Simply let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No.’ Anything more comes from the evil one.”
1) A disciple’s “yes” must mean “yes.” It means “yes” with God, so there is no reason to add an oath.
2) A disciple of Christ’s “no” means “no.” The Lord wants us to mean what we say, and say what we mean.
3) God should always be so vividly present in your life that one’s “yes” and “no” are as reliable as an oath before God
4) But the evil society in which we live requires oaths, and we must comply. Romans 13:2 says, “Consequently, whoever resists authority is opposing what God has set in place, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves.”
5) And in Hebrews 6:16, even God takes an oath to certify His promise to sinful man.
6) Hebrews 6:16-18 says, “Men swear by someone greater than themselves, and their oath serves as a confirmation to end all argument. 17So when God wanted to make the unchanging nature of His purpose noticeably clear to the heirs of the promise, He guaranteed it with an oath. 18Thus by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope set before us may be strongly encouraged.”
