Bible Synapse
Is it right to swear oaths?
Hard question · The law of Moses · raised by 3 of the lists sceptics circulate
See the passages joined in the interactive mapThe passages
Whoever makes a vow or swears an oath to the Lord must not break his word.
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.
Israel is to fear the Lord, serve him and swear by his name.
Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God, and serve him, and shalt swear by his name.
Jesus says ‘Swear not at all’, by heaven, earth, Jerusalem or one’s head; let your yes be yes and your no be no.
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: 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. But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil.
James repeats: swear not, by heaven, by earth or by any other oath.
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.
God swore by himself to Abraham, to confirm his promise with an oath.
For when God made promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he sware by himself, Saying, Surely blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee. And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise. For men verily swear by the greater: and an oath for confirmation is to them an end of all strife. Wherein God, willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath:
The objection
The law commands Israel to swear by God’s name and to keep their oaths, and Hebrews says that God himself confirmed his promise with an oath. Yet Jesus says “Swear not at all”, and James repeats it. Are oaths right or wrong?
The answer
Jesus is speaking against the way oaths were being used in his day. People swore by heaven, by the earth, by Jerusalem or by their own head to sound solemn, while holding that such oaths bound less than an oath by God himself; Jesus attacks the same hair-splitting in Matthew 23:16-22, and Gill cites Jewish rulings that those who swore by heaven and earth were not bound. Jesus answers that every such oath really involves God, whose throne heaven is, and that a disciple’s plain word should be as reliable as any oath: “let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay”. The law’s purpose was the same, truthfulness before God and loyalty to him rather than to idols (Deuteronomy 6:13-14; Numbers 30:2). Jesus carries it further, to speech that needs no oath at all.
That he did not mean to forbid every solemn oath appears from the rest of the New Testament. When the high priest put him on oath, “I adjure thee by the living God”, Jesus answered (Matthew 26:63-64). Paul repeatedly calls God as witness to his truthfulness (Romans 1:9; 2 Corinthians 1:23; Galatians 1:20), God confirms his promise with an oath (Hebrews 6:13-17), and an angel swears by him that lives for ever (Revelation 10:5-6). Most Christians have therefore understood Jesus and James to forbid casual, profane and evasive swearing, not a solemn oath before a court.
Other answers Christians give
No oaths at all
Mennonites and other Anabaptists, and the Quakers, take Jesus’ words literally and refuse all oaths, making a solemn affirmation instead. They read James 5:12 as confirming that the rule covers every oath.
Still open
Christians still differ on whether a disciple may take a formal oath; most traditions allow it, while some peace churches do not.
From the classic commentators
Which 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 creaturesJohn Gill, Exposition of the Bible: Matthew 5 (1746–1763), at Bible Hub
Swear not in any of the common and profane ways customary at that time.Albert Barnes, Notes on the Bible: Matthew 5, at Bible Hub
Sources
- John Gill, Exposition of the Bible: Matthew 5, at Bible Hub
- Albert Barnes, Notes on the Bible: Matthew 5, at Bible Hub
- John Gill, Exposition of the Bible: James 5, at Bible Hub