But above all, my brothers, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or by any other oath, but let your “yes” be yes and your “no” be no, so that you may not fall under condemnation.
We’re trying to observe all that Christ commands. All that his Spirit through the apostles is telling us what not to do and what to do. So what is being prohibited here? And what are we to do instead?
First, quick point: by swearing, James is not referring to cuss words. Cuss words aren’t sounds or words that are in a black book up in heaven that are never to cross our lips. Rather, cuss words are words that the current society in most contexts hears as especially vulgar. Christians are not to engage in corrupting talk, talk which degrades – degrades atmosphere, meaning, peace, pursuing virtue – and most uses of cuss words probably fit under that. But that is not what James is referring to here.
Rather, we are NOT to swear by taking oaths. An oath is a statement of fact that is substantiated by an appeal to God or something God adjacent – like heaven – or something that is a fixed certainty – like the good ol’ earth. I’ll get you those parts by next Wednesday, I swear….I swear to God…I swear to heaven…as sure as the sun will rise…
Let’s try to understand why we’re not to take oaths. In the Torah, in Leviticus 19:12, the rule states: Do not swear falsely by my name, profaning the name of your God: I am Yahweh.
This is when someone says I swear to God that I did… or I swear to God that I will… but then he fails to live up to the next words out of his mouth. When someone speaks falsely while invoking God’s name in an oath, the Law implies that two bad things have happened: 1) A falsehood has gone out into the world and 2) God’s name was cheapened. Profaned. Profaned literally means “outside the temple.” That is, God’s name isn’t sacred, it has become commonplace, kinda filler.
This, by the way, is why we should cease and desist saying oh my God. The problem with saying that is not that you’re intentionally being blasphemous or that you mean anything sinister. The problem is that you mean nothing at all, you’re probably using it to bring some rhythm into your sentence. Like, oh my Gawwd. Bringing up God in throwaway phrases unintentionally renders God as a lightweight. But, families of the earth, we are to ascribe to him glory and strength.
Beside using “my God” as filler noise, another common way of profaning God’s name is attaching it to a series of other, non-God nouns. One of the passages by which we understand the deity of the three persons is Matthew 28:19: baptize disciples in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Putting those three persons in a series implies an equality of being.
Which is why we should get a little nervous with slogans like: “Jesus is my Savior; Trump is my President.” Jesus and someone else in a series. No, God’s name is supposed to stand alone in phrases, not in parallel with others. Let’s do the work of careful reverence. It makes a difference.
But back to swearing falsely while invoking God’s name. James’ surprising solution to this isn’t to leave God out of your oath-taking, but rather, just don’t swear at all.
But the Torah prepares us for that. Turn to Deuteronomy 23:
21 “If you make a vow to the Lord your God, you shall not delay fulfilling it, for the Lord your God will surely require it of you, and you will be guilty of sin. 22 But if you refrain from vowing, you will not be guilty of sin. 23 You shall be careful to do what has passed your lips, for you have voluntarily vowed to the Lord your God what you have promised with your mouth.
Now, this passage is talking about vows and in our James passage only the taking of oaths is prohibited. Vows and oaths aren’t the same. A vow is directed to God, promising to do something if he will first do something. If you give me a son I’ll dedicate him to the Lord. We’ve already said that an oath is a statement that invokes the Lord to make it sound more serious. So, vows and oaths are different; only oaths are prohibited.
But even with vows there are cautions raised. The Law says that you should keep your vows. But here’s something to think about: it is permissible simply not to make vows. Consider that. And the reason why you would think twice about making a vow is because you’re taking seriously the God to whom you promised …and don’t want to miss the mark by not following through with him.
Turn to Ecclesiastes 5, and we’ll hear more cautions around any and all speech involving God. What we’ll call “God speech.”
5 Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. To draw near to listen is better than to offer the sacrifice of fools, for they do not know that they are doing evil. 2 Be not rash with your mouth, nor let your heart be hasty to utter a word before God, for God is in heaven and you are on earth. Therefore let your words be few. 3 For a dream comes with much business, and a fool’s voice with many words.
4 When you vow a vow to God, do not delay paying it, for he has no pleasure in fools. Pay what you vow. 5 It is better that you should not vow than that you should vow and not pay. 6 Let not your mouth lead you into sin, and do not say before the messenger that it was a mistake. Why should God be angry at your voice and destroy the work of your hands? 7 For when dreams increase and words grow many, there is vanity; but God is the one you must fear.
The Preacher of Ecclesiastes says, hey, don’t talk so much. And I especially mean in your prayers. Nobody’s demanding from you a lot of God talk. For the most part, including in religious settings, be more of a listener than a talker. Alongside that, any vows to God should be made sslloowwllyy. Better not to vow at all than to not follow through.
So, even though humans are those who walk with God, because God is who he is – OTHER, TERRIBLE, LOFTY – and because humans are who they are – impulsive, impatient, prone to thinking of God shabbily – we are to be deliberate, cautious, reverent about how the name of God crosses our lips.
And our Lord in the new covenant gives an interpretation on all this, some would say an update: Let’s just be done with all manner of oaths, If you’re going to do something, just do it.
Turn to the gospel of Matthew 5:33-37
33 “Again you have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform to the Lord what you have sworn.’ 34 But I say to you, Do not take an oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God,35 or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. 36 And do not take an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. 37 Let what you say be simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything more than this comes from evil.
This sounds very much like what James, the servant of the Lord, says in his letter. When speaking about what you claim to be true, or what is about to be true, what you’re going to do… don’t throw in extra words, especially God talk: do not take an oath at all.
At all. Even if that oath would be bringing God or spiritual things into the conversation, like heaven or Jerusalem. At the risk of sounding less spiritual than you might have otherwise, don’t add bells and whistles to your affirmations by invoking God. Just say what you’re going to say, minus the God talk.
Even if you’re attempting to bring an aura of clarity or certainty to your statement by tying what you’re claiming to something as sure as the earth or some part of the earth. As surely as the sun will rise tomorrow I will get you those parts by the end of next week.
But it’s God’s place to guarantee the earth. It is God’s earth, not yours. The earth is so much God’s earth that he uses it as his footstool. So, don’t by throwing around words pretend as if somehow your actions and the earth’s future are tied together. Only God could claim as much. Reverence! Keep God as OTHER. Ascribe to him glory and strength!
Don’t take an oath, even if you’re tying what you’re about to do, to your head, your life. I swear that I will pay you tomorrow or my life is forfeit to you. But the truth is: your head isn’t yours, your life isn’t yours, you have no final determination over what will happen even to one strand of hair.
Oath taking, as our Lord thinks about it, is a kind of hubris. Inflating one’s statements with God talk is a way of inflating one’s consequence, outsizing one’s influence. It’s getting things out of order: God is sovereign, not us. But when we say stuff like, I swear to God those tomatoes were perfectly ripe when I sold them to you, we’re saying something like God will punish me if I’m not telling the truth. But maybe God won’t punish you…he’s not at the end of your leash.
A big reason not to swear by an oath is that it is a degradation of God’s name, and an elevation of yours. The other reason is simpler: but let your “yes” be yes and your “no” be no. You should always speak honestly. When you hype up your statement as being true with the help I swear by the angels and Jesus himself, you are calling into question the veracity of your other statements that aren’t accompanied by oaths.
When someone would drop in the phrase, “I’ll be honest…” my dad would lightheartedly interrupt him and say, “wait, so you haven’t been honest until now?”
That’s in line with what Jesus is after: Instead of talking up about how you’re telling the truth, just do it. Always tell the truth. Tell the truth so relentlessly that everyone always assumes they’re dealing with a straight shooter.
Tell the straightforward truth, not couched in qualifiers and bloviating and any kind of hype. Don’t exaggerate. Don’t lean hard on superlatives – greatest, very, best. Don’t complicate. Don’t obfuscate. Don’t put on. Don’t spiritualize.
Simple, unvarnished.
Tell the truth even if it’s going to hurt sales, even if it’s embarrassing. Under promise, then overdeliver. Don’t fudge or tell white lies at work in order to buy a little more time to get something done, or to get the customer off your back. There are some jobs – and maybe yours is one of them – where you’re constantly being pressured toward some degree of dishonesty. Push back.
Tell the truth about your Christian experience. Don’t put on airs. If your experience is, Jesus satisfies me completely and I want nothing other than him, well, I guess it’s ok to voice that. Maybe. But if your experience is: I believe Christian doctrine and am gradually coming to know Jesus and I find him to be a complicated, good man, then say that. Or, in my experience a lot of Christianity as it’s lived out is a little awkward and hard but look back over the years I appreciate its benefits over the long run.
Let your “yes” be yes and your “no” be no – This does not mean that you should purge your mind of everything that’s in it and vomit up the whole truth to everyone that is there to hear it! Truth can be concealed without being dishonest. There are several instances in Scripture when the truth is conveyed on a need-to-know basis. When Saul’s dad asked him what Samuel had said, he told him what Samuel had said about his lost donkeys. He concealed the big fact that Samuel had also anointed him as the first king of Israel. This is fine. Jesus said to his followers: I have many thing to say to you, but you’re not able to hear them now. Of course he’s correct.
I remember years ago doing pre-marital counseling with a couple and the guy had a very sensitive conscience (and may have read too much Russian literature). Anyway, whenever his eyes stayed too long on another good-looking girl, he felt obligated to let his fiancé know about that. This was naturally upsetting to her. I advised him, do stop anything like ogling, but when that does take place don’t treat your fiancé as your confessor!
Ok, let your statements of fact be simple and clear and true. Don’t fall under condemnation by trivializing God’s name, by talking like you’ve got some control, by setting yourself up in less consequential moments for fudging on the truth.
Three brief assignments left: a) dealing with passages that seemingly contradict; b) should we take oaths in court, in the military etc.? c) and why does James say “above all”?
In 2 Corinthians 1:23, Paul writes, But I call God to witness against me – it was to spare you that I refrained from coming again to Corinth. In Galatians 1:20 Paul writes, In what I am writing to you, before God, I do not lie!
Are these not transgressions of the rule laid down first by our Lord and then again by his Spirit through James? Isn’t Paul adding some God words to strengthen the truthfulness of what he’s claiming?
And Deuteronomy 6: 13 – It is the Lord your God you shall fear. Him you shall serve and by his name you shall swear.
Well, let’s address the Deuteronomy passage first: there Moses is using the word “swear” differently than what we’ve been talking about. He is talking about swearing fealty – loyalty – to the Lord alone. Don’t divide your loyalties between the gods that you’ll come upon in Canaan and Yahweh your God who brought you safely to Canaan.
In the 2 Corinthians and Galatians passages Paul is calling God as a positive witness (not as a combative witness as the ESV implies) to give added support to his claim as truth. He is certainly invoking God’s name when a simple truth statement was an option. So there is a surface contradiction.
But I think I see a distinction between the two kinds of passages – Matthew/James and Paul’s. Matthew/James is referring to everyday discourse while Paul is formally, deliberately – and rarely! – summoning God to verify that what he’s saying is apostolic truth.
Which is a good segue into the second task: are we permitted to take oaths in court or in other governmental contexts, as Gideon recently had to do and Liam is about to do for joining the military?
Well, perhaps those citations of Paul are helpful in answering that. While we’re not to casually toss around God’s name or regularly invoking God to substantiate what we’re saying…in formal, official settings, calling God as the chief witness to our statements might be permissible, even appropriate and honoring.
I have to admit, though, that I’m offering this possible nuance without complete confidence. Throughout Church history, taking their cue especially from Augustine, most Christians have allowed for oaths in these formal settings. But there’s also been a pretty steady minority opinion that say Jesus/James have to be understood not approximately, but absolutely: no oaths allowed. In fact, in the British and US legal systems there are in many places provisions for people in official settings not to take an oath but merely to provide an affirmation of the truth. I believe that Franklin Pierce is the one US president who didn’t take an oath of office but affirmed.
Let every person be convinced in his own mind. Because of those very rare times in scripture where people are swearing oaths, seemingly properly (as we just talked about), I myself see a place for formal oaths invoking God’s name. But I’m wildly sympathetic to those who don’t. What I especially appreciate is that in refusing to take an oath you’re tacitly stating that Jesus is Lord of all and his word must be obeyed over every earthly authority. And there’s no question about that!
Finally, why does James begin this with above all? Surely James isn’t saying that this command is the most important one in the Bible?
Well, no. Hear the phrase contextually. I think this sentence is a part of the mediation that goes from 5:1-5:18. To the Church facing deep injustice from the authorities James says, among other things, in your time of stress don’t turn on each other. And in these circumstances, above all, don’t take oaths but tell the truth simply. And the above all thought continues: also, pray. So, Church, as you face injustice, instead of grumbling, above all let your speech be simple and full of prayer. Let simplicity and prayer characterize your communication.
So, this don’t swear oaths is only ½ of what’s covered by what James intends in his above all in his message to this particular group. But it’s half! So, important!
Why is the swearing of oaths an important matter? Well, first let me warn against the wrong way of treating it as important. This is the kind of commandment that can produce in us a lot of fussiness and sourness. We can become the sort of Church that is always careful not to say oh my God and would never casually say I swear to God. And our ears perk up when others say it and we think grim thoughts about them. We find ourselves focusing on a certain noise coming out of people’s mouth…mustn’t make that noise!
But with this fussiness you’ll likely miss the spirit of this commandment. And you won’t grasp how it’s important. Which is:
Our speech both reflects our view of God and influences the quality of our relationship with him.
Our speech could demonstrate that we think God is actually overlookable and also lay the foundation for us to treat him as…overlookable.
When we casually insert God’s name into what we’re saying to make ourselves more believable, more interesting, we’re setting ourselves up for a certain posture to God. That is, God is for me to use – when I’m sad, when I’m lonely, when I want some therapy, when I need something that I can’t get myself… I’ll use God. Instead of thinking about ourselves as James declares right from the get-go: James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Speech is that little, important tell of what we think about God…and speech shapes the world in which we think we’re dealing with God. If we tell the truth when we invoke God words but are less concerned about truth when we don’t use God words – we’re walking around with this pretend two-tiered reality that we’ve contrived. Here’s the realm where God is; here’s the realm where I can bypass him and his rules.
But the truth is the only realm where God is. Always speak out of that realm.
The Proverb says: Keep your heart with all vigilance, and the first instruction for doing just that is Keep crooked talk far from you. In several ways these small acts of crooked speech cause us to drift away from God and into perspectives where we do not see him. And how chilling for the image bearer not to see the one he was made to reflect! How that sets him up for depression, confusion, defeat.
But Jesus came to die so that we can be at one again with God. He arose out of the dead, the experienced King. He knows what works and what is dead-end. He knows what’s important. Trust Jesus your Lord and Savior and monitor your words. Our good King isn’t pedantic, petty…if he says that the practice of simply stating the unvarnished truth is paramount – PARAMOUNT – to set you up for a rich, communicative trust in God even under duress, believe him!
AMEN
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