The Bible talks about oaths in Matthew chapter 5. Verses 33 to 37 deals with this teaching from Jesus. 

 

Matthew 5:33-37 (Jesus speaking)

Vs 33         “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.’

Vs 34        “But I say to you, do not swear at all; neither by heaven, for it is God’s                   throne:

Vs 35        “Nor by the earth, for it is His footstool, nor by Jerusalem, for it is the                   city of the Great King.”

Vs 36        “Nor shall you swear by your head because you cannot make one hair                   white or black.”

Vs 37        “But let your communication be “yes, yes” or “no no”. For whatever is                     more than these is from the evil one.”

 

            I was curious about the actual word oath, so I looked it up in the Bible Dictionary.  I was surprised to see a whole page on the word oath.  It consisted of six titles:

 

1.Bible terms  2. Nature of Oath  3. Occasions  4. Forms of Oaths  5. Sanctity  6. Christian.

 

            Very interesting reading, if you get a chance you might want to read it.  It is too long to write all of it so I’ll just take some to comment on.

 

            Two terms are employed in the Old Testament to express what we understand by an oath; to take an oath, to swear.

 

            Every oath contains two elements, an affirmation or promise; and an appeal to God as omniscient (having infinite knowledge) and the punisher of falsehoods.  (Now the oath in Matthew 33 was in the “other forms of oath section” in the Bible dictionary).  Other forms of oaths, serious or frivolous, are mentioned, some of which are condemned by our Lord (Matthew 5:33; 23:16-22; James 5:12).

 

            The Christian practice in the matter of oaths was founded in great measure on the Jewish.  Thus the oath in the gospels was an imitation of the Jewish practice of placing the hands on the book of the law.  The meaning of our Lord’s forbidding of swearing (Matthew 5:33) was that “Christianity should know no oath at all.  To the consciousness (thinking) of the Christian, God should always be so vividly present that, to Him and others in the Christian community, his yea (“yes”) and nay (“No”) are, in point of reliability, equivalent to an oath.

 

            So our “Yes” to righteousness and our “No” to unrighteousness has to be ever present before ourselves and to God. It needs to be vividly present 24-7 or we can slip into complacency and the evil ones hands for manipulation.

 

            This can only be done by reading Gods Word, hearing Gods voice (Holy Spirit in us) and doing God’s will in all things.  That’s righteousness!

 

            To bring it into simple terms, I like the way the Message Bible reads for verses 33 to 37:

 

            “And don’t say anything you don’t mean.  This counsel is embedded deep in our traditions.  You only make things worse when you lay down a smoke screen of pious talk, saying, “I’ll pray for you,” and never do it, or saying “God be with you,” and not meaning it.  You don’t make your words true by embellishing them with religious lace.  In making your speech sound more religious, it becomes less true.  Just say “yes” and “no” when you manipulate words to get your own way, you go wrong.

 

Trust and Believe God

 

*Strong’s Exhaustive concordance of the Bible – copyright 1890 by James Strong (under “0” page 800)

*”The Message “ Remix – The Bible in Contemporary Language, Eugene H. Peterson – Copyright 2005- 2006 (page 1436)

 

 

*All scriptures are from: New King James Version of Prophecy Study Bible

General Editor-John C. Hagee unless otherwise stated.