You shall not swear falsely

"Again you have heard that it was said to those of old, 'You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform your oaths to the Lord.' But I say to you, do not swear at all: neither by heaven, for it is God's throne; nor by the earth, for it is His footstool; nor by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. Nor shall you swear by your head, because you cannot make one hair white or black. But let your 'Yes' be 'Yes,' and your 'No,' 'No.' For whatever is more than these is from the evil one." Matt. 5:33-37

The Old Testament Scriptures forbid swearing falsely and not keeping one's oaths or vows to the LORD.

Leviticus 19:12 says: "And you shall not swear by My name falsely, nor shall you profane the name of your God: I am the LORD." Numbers 30:2 says: "If a man makes a vow to the LORD, or swears an oath to bind himself by some agreement, he shall not break his word; he shall do according to all that proceeds out of his mouth."

Jesus, however, gets to the heart of these commands when He tells us that it would be better not to swear at all. Nor should we think that if we swear by heaven, by the earth, by Jerusalem, or by our own head, that we can escape responsibility for not keeping our word. After all, heaven is "God's throne," earth is "His footstool," Jerusalem is the "city of the Great King," and even our own head is God's creation and under His control.

Rather, Jesus urges us to let our "'Yes' be 'Yes,' and [our] 'No,' 'No.' For whatever is more than these is from the evil one." Though there may be times that an oath is required, even without an oath, our word should be true. Our "Yes" should mean "Yes" and our "No" mean "No." Indeed, the necessity of oaths to get us to tell the truth or keep our word is the working of the devil and the corruption he has bought upon us all.

Since God expects us not only to keep the oaths we take in His name, but every oath and word, we ought be careful what we say and pledge and promise; for many times we make promises and vows which we are uncertain we will be able to keep. While one may be able to promise to give to the LORD a percentage of what he gains, how can he promise to give a certain amount when he doesn't know what tomorrow will bring? A person may promise to complete this work or do that thing, but how can he make such a promise, not even knowing for certain that he will live another hour or day? That is why James cautions believers to say: "If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that" (James 4:15).

As we consider the full content of Jesus' teaching, we quickly see again our failures to measure up to the perfect righteousness of God. We have broken vows, failed to keep our promises, and oft times been less than honest in our speech. And, for this, we deserve God's everlasting wrath and punishment; for the Scripture says, "The soul who sins shall die" (Ezek. 18:4), and "the wages of sin is death" (Rom. 6:23). This is also why we ought to be so thankful for Christ Jesus, God the Son in human flesh! He not only taught the Word of God in truth, but fulfilled the righteous demands of God's law for us and suffered our punishment when He went to the cross. The Bible tells us: "All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way; and the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all" (Isaiah 53:6); and, "Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures ... He was buried, and ... He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures" (1 Cor. 15:3, 4).

O dearest Jesus, for the sake of Your holy and precious blood, shed for us upon the cross, forgive us for failing to keep our words and promises. We thank you for being true to Your word and granting us pardon, peace and life everlasting. Amen.

Devotion by Randy Moll. Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Community on 09/23/2015