The Christian's Use of the Oath
- What’s condemned.
- Oaths and vows arise because of man’s great proneness to lie, to be distrustful, and to be inconsistent.
- God gifts mankind with the ability to speak, convey thoughts and ideas, and to speak truthfully.
- But sin drastically changed this wonderful gift, making man a natural liar with the instinct to lie.
- An oath puts God before the consciousness of man in three ways.
- A vow is a promise to do or not do something (as Nazarites, Num. 30:3).
- In our text Jesus continues to contrast His concept of righteousness (heart) with the outward show of the Pharisees (Mt. 5:20f)
- Jesus’ instruction (as in the previous instructions of God’s law) does not condemn the thing itself, but its mis-use.
- Jesus’ “swear not at all” is not absolute (prohibit all oaths) in light of other Scriptures.
- “Cometh of evil” (37b) means that anything beyond yes and no is because of the fall (evil). Sin makes oaths necessary.
- Sometimes oaths are necessary to settle controversies and put an end to strife (I Kings 8:31,32; Heb. 6:16).
- Oaths and vows do have a lawful place in the believer’s life: marriage, baptism, confession of faith, ordination into office.
- Oaths ought not be the norm for the Christian because of the work of Jesus and His Spirit within us.
- First, God’s people should so speak the truth that vows are not necessary: “yea, yea; Nay, nay (Matt. 5:37).
- As disciples of the Truth, let our whole life be lived in the consciousness that He is present as our witness.
- Jesus calls His disciples so to live that oath taking is not necessary in our common speech.
- Let us be diligent to perform the vows we have made.
- We may vow, but we must not say them falsely (Lev. 19:12) nor break them (Num. 30:2).
- In this way God’s name (which we carry) is to be honored by us and not blasphemed because of us.