Keep Your Word ~ Matthew 5:37

This section starts out by tell us to be truthful.

³³ “Again, you have heard that it was said to our ancestors, You must not break your oath, but you must keep your oaths to the Lord.^{, 34} But I tell you, don’t take an oath at all: either by heaven, because it is God’s throne; ³⁵ or by the earth, because it is his footstool; or by Jerusalem, because it is the city of the great King. ³⁶ Do not swear by your head, because you cannot make a single hair white or black.

But our verse for today is the last verse of this passage, Matthew 5:37: "But let your statement be, "Yes, yes' or"No, no'; anything beyond these is of evil.

Welcome to the Panhandle on this warm Labor Day. Here in the U.S. This is the weekend that folks bid farewell to summer. The weather will soon be changing, school is back in full swing, and the first day of Autumn is just a couple of weeks away.

Today we are looking at one of Christ Jesus' general commands found in Matthew 5:37. So come on in pull up a chair and lets open our Bibles and chew on God's Word awhile.

“don’t take an oath at all” This isn't the “cursing” kind of oath, instead the sin of using oaths dishonestly to affirm that what is said is true. The Pharisees used all kinds of tricks to sidestep the truth, and oaths were among them. They would avoid using the holy name of God, but they would come close by using the city of Jerusalem, heaven, earth, or some part of the body.

Christ Jesus taught that our conversation should be so honest, and our character so true, that we would not need “crutches” to get people to believe us. Words depend on character, and oaths cannot compensate for a poor character. “In the multitude of words there wanteth not sin; but he that refraineth his lips is wise” (Proverbs 10:19). The more words a man uses to convince us, the more suspicious we should be.¹

Many groups (e.g., Anabaptists, Jehovah’s Witnesses) have understood these verses absolutely literally and have therefore refused even to take court oaths. Their zeal to conform to Scripture is commendable, but they have probably not interpreted the text very well.

1. The contextual purpose of this passage is to stress the true direction in which the Old Testament points—that is to say, the importance of truthfulness. Christ Jesus is addressing oaths that are used evasively and truthfulness is being threatened.

2. In the Scriptures God Himself “swears.” Look at Genesis 9:11-13 ~ "I establish My covenant with you; and all flesh shall never again be cut off by the water of the flood, neither shall there again be a flood to destroy the earth." God said, "This is the sign of the covenant which I am making between Me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all successive generations; I set My bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a sign of a covenant between Me and the earth.” This is not an isolated event you can also find examples in Luke 1:68, 73; cf. Psalms 16:10 and Acts 2:27–31.

God did this not because He sometimes lies, but in order to help men believe: In the same way God, desiring even more to show to the heirs of the promise the unchangeableness of His purpose, interposed with an oath, (Hebrews 6:17).

We also find were the earliest Christians still took oaths, take a look at this example of Paul swearing an oath on God's name: For God, whom I serve in my spirit in the preaching of the gospel of His Son, is my witness as to how unceasingly I make mention of you, (Romans 1:9). And this is just one example of several, for other examples you can check out 2 Corinthians 1:23; 1 Thessalonians 2:5, 10; Philippians 1:8.

Christ Jesus Himself testified under oath: But Jesus kept silent. And the high priest said to Him, "I adjure You by the living God, that You tell us whether You are the Christ, the Son of God." Jesus said to him, "You have said it yourself; nevertheless I tell you, hereafter you will see THE SON OF MAN SITTING AT THE RIGHT HAND OF POWER, and COMING ON THE CLOUDS OF HEAVEN." (Matthew 26:63–64).

3. Christ Jesus is teaching us that swearing is unnecessary, irreverent, and ineffective in that it does not really change anything.

The critical issue is truthful speech. Christ Jesus wants His community of disciples, that is you, me, and all His followers to practice truth in relation to a society that does not necessarily do so, especially among ourselves. Truthfulness is the expression of inner security and of integrity.

Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. (1 John 3:18-20)

Hey, thanks for dropping by, I pray that our Lord and Saviour, Christ Jesus richly bless you and yours.

Until next time, Biblesurfer

1 Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 1, p. 24). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.