As Lord Jesus continues to teach His disciples, and in the process condemns some of the practices of both the Pharisees and the Sadducees, he comes to another common Jewish abuse. I could just summarize what Christ says here, and describe how this applies to us. But I think that illustration from my life points out that we need to see the context – as well as the lesson.
So let’s start with the common Jewish misconception.
“Again, ye have heard that it hath been said by them of old time, Thou shalt not forswear thyself, but shalt perform unto the Lord thine oaths.” Once again, once we understand the words, this sounds like something good – something out of the Law. But I just about guarantee that not everyone here understands the word “foreswear.” If I didn’t already know the word, I would guess that it meant to “make a vow” or “to make a promise.” But actually that is precisely the opposite to its meaning. It is the word “epiorkeo” (ep-ee-or-keh’-o), and it is found only once in the Bible. It means to “swear falsely.” It refers to perjury. It speaks of promising to tell the truth, but to break that promise. And the English word, means the same thing, but we don’t understand it because we don’t often use it. “Forswear” means to ”forgo,” “to relinquish,” “to waive” or “to dispense with” the truth. “Ye have heard that it hath been said by them of old time, Thou shalt not (perjure) thyself, (or to falsely make a vow or promise,) but shalt perform unto the Lord thine oaths.” That is absolutely true.
God in His Word says things like: “Ye shall not swear by my name falsely, neither shalt thou profane the name of thy God: I am the LORD” – Leviticus 19:12. “If a man vow a vow unto the LORD, or swear an oath to bind his soul with a bond; he shall not break his word, he shall do according to all that proceedeth out of his mouth” – Numbers 30:2. The Lord’s reference to the Jews’ interpretation of this precept indicates that what they were teaching was basically accurate. But historians and the recorded statements of the ancient rabbis indicate that the Jews had also so limited God’s words that they became tools of mass confusion and abuse.
Is there a difference between making a promise and making a promise while crossing your fingers behind your back? There is a difference, but only in the minds of little children. Despite the foolishness, that in essence was a common practice of the Jews. Is the statement “I swear on my mother’s grave that I am telling the truth” more powerful or trustworthy than simply stating the fact? Children may think so, and the Jews may have thought so, but it is definitely not so. So Jesus went on, “But I say unto you, Swear not at all; neither by heaven; for it is God’s throne: Nor by the earth; for it is his footstool: neither by Jerusalem; for it is the city of the great King. Neither shalt thou swear by thy head, because thou canst not make one hair white or black.” How do verses 34-36 relate to verse 33 – or to crossing one’s fingers?
The Jews had been taught for centuries that promises made in God’s Name were binding, but those same promises uttered with any other form of a vow were not binding. Making a promise or vow, while crossing your fingers isn’t a bind vow. John Gill quotes a couple of Jewish examples – “He that swears by Heaven, and by the earth, and by the sun, and the like, though his intention is nothing less that to him that created them, this is no oath.” “They that swear by Heaven and earth are free” – that is, free to do as they please despite the oath. Philo says that his forefathers believed that swearing by Heaven meant that they were invoking God’s witness, nevertheless, they were not bound to keep that kind of promise, because they didn’t actually use the Name of God. As far as the Jews were concerned only those promises, oaths and vows which invoked the name of God were binding.
Christ’s Explanation.
“But I say unto you, Swear not at all.” When I took that witness stand three decades ago, it was with every intention of glorifying the Lord. I don’t believe that I brought shame to myself and I didn’t hurt the Name of the Lord. But with a few more years of Bible study under my belt, I don’t believe that I needed to do what I did. As far as I know, all of the commentaries that I have say that Jesus’ words here were not absolute. Jesus was not forbidding us from ever making a vow. For example, is the Lord commanding us not to make any vows at our weddings? John Gill says – this “must not be understood in the strictest sense, as though it was not lawful to take an oath upon any occasion, in an affair of moment, in a solemn serious manner, and in the name of God; which may be safely done: but of rash swearing, about trivial matters, and by the creatures; as appears by what follows…” Jamison, Fausset and Brown – “That this was meant to condemn swearing of every kind and on every occasion – as the Society of Friends and some other ultra-moralists allege – is not for a moment to be thought.”
At first glance we might think that men such as these are denying the obvious just to suit their own ideas. The Lord Jesus said, “I say unto you, Swear not at all.” But as the Baptist and Greek expert A.T. Robertson says, “Certainly Jesus does not prohibit oaths in a court of justice – for he himself answered Caiaphas on oath. And Paul made solemn appeals to God in I Thessalonians and I Corinthians.” He goes on to say, “Jesus prohibits all forms of profanity. The Jews were past-masters in the art of splitting hairs about allowable and forbidden oaths or forms of profanity just as modern Christians employ a great variety of vernacular “cuss-words” and excuse themselves because they do not use the more flagrant forms.”
Jamison, Fausset and Brown went on – “For even Jehovah is said once and again to have sworn by Himself; and our Lord certainly answered upon oath to a question put to Him by the high priest; and the apostle several times, and in the most solemn language, takes God to witness that he spoke and wrote the truth; and it is inconceivable that our Lord should here have quoted the precept about not forswearing ourselves, but performing to the Lord our oaths, only to give a precept of His own directly in the teeth of it. Evidently, it is swearing in common intercourse and on frivolous occasions that is here meant. Frivolous oaths were indeed severely condemned in the teaching of the times. But so narrow was the circle of them that a man might swear, says Lightfoot, a hundred thousand times and yet not be guilty of vain swearing. Hardly anything was regarded as an oath if only the name of God were not in it; just as among ourselves, as Trench well remarks, a certain lingering reverence for the name of God leads to cutting off portions of His name, or uttering sounds nearly resembling it, or substituting the name of some heathen deity, in profane exclamations or asseverations. Against all this our Lord now speaks decisively; teaching His audience that every oath carries an appeal to God, whether named or not.” To summarize what these and dozens of others say is – Christ was condemning common blasphemy. He was condemning the modern stream of oaths and swearing – “God this…” and “Jesus that….” And since the disciples used oaths in appropriate places, then they understood that this wasn’t an absolute forbidding of the making of vows and swearing to proper things. When the High Priest ordered the Lord, by God, to tell him the truth, Jesus did so without rebuking him. Matthew 26:63-64 – “And the high priest answered and said unto him, I adjure thee by the living God, that thou tell us whether thou be the Christ, the Son of God.” Jesus said unto him, “Thou has said.”
But why does the Lord tell us not to swear by these other things? “But I say unto you, Swear not at all: neither by heaven; for it is God’s throne: Nor by the earth; for it is his footstool: neither by Jerusalem; for it is the city of the great King. Neither shalt thou swear by thy head, because thou canst not make one hair white or black.” Only a silly child can think that by crossing his fingers, he cancels a promise or a lie. And only a silly Jew can think that calling on heaven is in some way not calling God to be a witness. Every reference to the things of creation are references to the Creator of those things. “Neither shalt thou swear by thy head, because thou canst not make one hair white or black.” The Lord Jesus uses this illustration in other places and in other ways. But the point is in this case, you have no control over something as simple as the color of your hair. That is up to the grace and power of God. Your own head brings no weight to the argument of your honesty or dishonesty. But the God who has numbered and colored every hair on your head is a witness to and a judge of everything.
In essence, we have a great many similar statements, cliches and silly tools, just like these that the Jews had. “I’m telling you the truth, so help me God.” Not only is that bordering on blasphemy – the empty, vain use of God’s name – but it is unnecessary. Tell the truth, or keep your mouth shut. “I swear on my mother’s grave.” I have on occasion heard people say that when in fact their mothers were still alive. Even if she was dead and buried, an oath resting on a grave is no more grave than one resting on our head. “I swear on the life of my son or daughter.” The idea might be that if I am lying, you can kill my child. Worse than foolish – diabolical. “I swear on my own life.”
Verse 37 – “Let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay.” That day in Luna County Family court when I asked the judge not to make me swear, I did promise to tell the truth. Essentially, what I did was what the bailiff was asking me to do, but without invoking the name of God. I made a promise without the oath aspect. I even used words something like, “As a Christian, I always tell the truth to the best of my ability.” I believe that I gave a tiny bit of glory to the Lord that afternoon. I was trying to put into practice what I thought that the Saviour was teaching in this verse. But I am no longer convinced that I needed to take the position which I did – and yet I don’t regret it. And today I might do the same thing, but if the judge ordered me to put my hand on that Bible, and to repeat the bailiff’s words, I probably would. But I’d do so knowing full well – as the judge and the bailiff would know – that others had done the same thing and lied through their teeth. That form of a vow – that oath – cannot produce any more truth than not making the vow in the first place. Perhaps a better practice would be to make the witness say something like: I promise to tell the truth, and I realize that to lie would make me guilty of perjury, which is punishable by a fine of a thousand dollars and three months in prison. In our wicked secular society that pronouncement might be more effective than the standard hand on the Bible recitation. What the Jews were doing with their para-divine oaths, liars do today on a regular basis, even using the Name of God in process.
I remember that shortly after I became your pastor, I commented either publically, or to several of you individually, that I was trying to break a habit that I had developed. Every once in a while in order to emphasize a point I would say, “The truth is,” or “to tell you the truth…” It is something that a great many people do all the time. I pointed out then and I do so again, that the man who has to say that probably shouldn’t be trusted. If he has to tell you that now he is telling the truth, then perhaps when he doesn’t say use that formula he may be lying. Let your communication always be, “Yea, yea,” and “Nay, nay.” Not even for emphasis should we use such words.
And that is part of what the Lord means in this last thought. “Let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil.” The Jews use of all those slick words and tricky cliches was designed to deceive and mislead. They made fools of themselves in doing so, and made them laughing stocks among the heathen. Christ tells us that the citizens of His Kingdom should not join them. Is this important? It is vitally important. James tells us in one of the closing verses of his epistle. “But above all things, my brethren, swear not, neither by heaven, neither by the earth, neither by any other oath: but let your yea be yea; and your nay, nay; lest ye fall into condemnation.”
Be very deliberate in your use of oaths, not just when, but especially, when invoking the name of the Lord. “Thou shalt not forswear thyself, but shalt perform unto the Lord thine oaths.” Does that mean that we should never make a vow before God? Not necessarily, but it better be one that you intend to keep, and that is in your power to keep. But as to the proliferation of useless, vain and stupid vows, oaths and swearing, keep your mouth shut. Rather simply let your “yea” always be “yea,” and your “nay” always be “nay.”