Matthew 5:33 through 37
Again, you have heard that the ancients were told, YOU SHALL NOT MAKE FALSE VOWS, BUT SHALL FULFILL YOUR VOWS TO THE LORD 34But I say to you, make no oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, 35or by the earth, for it is the footstool of His feet, or by Jerusalem, for it is THE CITY OF THE GREAT KING. 36Nor shall you make an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. 37But let your statement be, Yes, yes or No, no; anything beyond these is of evil.
Deception Typifies This World System
Credibility gaps are not a modern problem. The issue of credibility has been a problem since The Fall. The lack of credibility is one of the major marks of the world system.
The reason for this is that Satan is the prince of this world. The world system follows the design and desire of Satan.
Jesus said this about Satan.
John 8:44
You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.
So the world system designed and dominated by the father of all lies would of course be a system that operates in deception and falsehood.
Beyond that, the Bible makes it clear that because men are born in sin, all men are born liars.
Psalm 58:3
The wicked are estranged from the womb; These who speak lies go astray from birth.
Psalm 62:4
They have counseled only to thrust him down from his high position;
They delight in falsehood;
They bless with their mouth,
But inwardly they curse.
Jeremiah 9:3-5
They bend their tongue like their bow;
Lies and not truth prevail in the land;
For they proceed from evil to evil,
And they do not know Me, declares the LORD.
4 Let everyone be on guard against his neighbor,
And do not trust any brother;
Because every brother deals craftily,
And every neighbor goes about as a slanderer.
5 Everyone deceives his neighbor
And does not speak the truth,
They have taught their tongue to speak lies;
They weary themselves committing iniquity.
Romans 3:13
THEIR THROAT IS AN OPEN GRAVE,
WITH THEIR TONGUES THEY KEEP DECEIVING,
THE POISON OF ASPS IS UNDER THEIR LIPS;
Matthew 15:18 and 19
18But the things that proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and those defile the man. 19For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders.
Although we have a hard time being truthful, we still value truth and know that in many ways we can not exist in a society where there is not some truth.
Our court system for instance. Perjury can carry costly penalty.
We recognize the importance of truth and our conscience normally tells us that truthfulness is the right thing. We simply have a hard time being truthful.
So, we become very adept at making what we say seem truthful.
Vows Help Guard Against Mans Sinful Tendancy
God provided for proper and appropriate oath-giving in His name as an accommodation to sinful human nature.
Designed to give others confidence and assurance of another persons sincerity and honesty in a certain matter.
Leviticus 19:12
You shall not swear falsely by My name, so as to profane the name of your God; I am the LORD.
Numbers 30:2
If a man makes a vow to the LORD, or takes an oath to bind himself with a binding obligation, he shall not violate his word; he shall do according to all that proceeds out of his mouth.
Deuteronomy 23:21 through 23
21When you make a vow to the LORD your God, you shall not delay to pay it, for it would be sin in you, and the LORD your God will surely require it of you. 22However, if you refrain from vowing, it would not be sin in you. 23 You shall be careful to perform what goes out from your lips, just as you have voluntarily vowed to the LORD your God, what you have promised.
Deuteronomy 6:13
You shall fear only the LORD your God; and you shall worship Him and swear by His name.
Deuteronomy 10:20
You shall fear the LORD your God; you shall serve Him and cling to Him, and you shall swear by His name
(As an aside that shows how seriously oaths are taken by God)
Ecclesiastes 5:4 through 6
When you make a vow to God, do not be late in paying it; for He takes no delight in fools. Pay what you vow! 5It is better that you should not vow than that you should vow and not pay. 6Do not let your speech cause you to sin and do not say in the presence of the messenger of God that it was a mistake. Why should God be angry on account of your voice and destroy the work of your hands?
To show why God made provision for giving of oaths and what its purpose was,
Hebrews 6:16
For men swear by one greater than themselves, and with them an oath given as confirmation is an end of every dispute.
Gods standard is absolute truthfulness
Jesus Teaches The True Meaning Of Righteousness as opposed to the self-righteousness the Pharisees had developed by re-interpreting the Scripture to suit their own purposes.
Matthew 5:33 refers to the practice of making vows that had no meaning or integrity behind them. What was particularly despicable that Jesus was especially speaking to was the practice of making a vow and tacking the name of the Lord on it as a way of making it sound really sincere. But if you were less sincere you might make a vow and swear by heaven or earth which would make it relatively less binding.
Example: Jesus teaching in Matthew 23 gives further insight into that practice.
Matthew 23:16 through 22
Woe to you, blind guides, who say, Whoever swears by the temple, that is nothing; but whoever swears by the gold of the temple is obligated. 17You fools and blind men! Which is more important, the gold or the temple that sanctified the gold? 18And, Whoever swears by the altar, that is nothing, but whoever swears by the offering on it, he is obligated. 19You blind men, which is more important, the offering, or the altar that sanctifies the offering? 20Therefore, whoever swears by the altar, swears both by the altar and by everything on it. 21And whoever swears by the temple, swears both by the temple and by Him who dwells within it. 22And whoever swears by heaven, swears both by the throne of God and by Him who sits upon it.
All truth is Gods truth. There are no white lies. No half-truths.
Jesus is simply saying that they should stop this foolish and deceitful practice. When ever the truth s profaned Gods name is profaned.
His point is that God is the Creator and Lord of everything. To carelessly and disceitfully call any part His creation as witness to a false oath is to dishonor God himself. It is wicked and sinful to use anything of God as witness to anything that is deceitful or insincere.
By their deceitful practice the Pharisees had divided truth and life into sacred and secular compartments. Jesus is saying that all of life pertains to God and all truth is Gods truth just like all of creation pertains to Him as Creator. Every lie is against God and therefore any false vow dishonors His name.
William Barclay:
Here is a great eternal truth. Life cannot be divided into compartments in some of which God is involved and in other of which he is not involved; There cannot be one kind of language in the Church and another kind of language in the shipyard or the factory or the office; there cannot be one kind of conduct in the Church and another kind of conduct in the business world. The fact is that God does not need to be invited into certain departments of life and kept out of others. He is everywhere all through life and in every activity of life. He hears not only the words which are spoken in his name; he hears all words and there cannot be any such things as a form of words which evades bringing God into any transaction. We will regard all promises as sacred if we remember that all promises are made in the presense of God.
God has not shades of truth. His standard is and always has been absolute truthfulness.
Psalms 51:6
Behold, You desire truth in the innermost being,
Let Your Yes Be Yes
The matter of truthfulness is a major issue to us today.
Internationally, nations are constantly at odds because no one can believe what the other says.
Korea can not be trusted regarding their development of nuclear weapons.
Iran can not be trusted about their nuclear weapons, about their involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Russia can not be trusted regarding their involvement in the middle east
So on and so on.
How different would the world be if in every circumstance yes as yes and no was no?
In our own nation:
Over 50 percent of couples making marriage vows today will not keep them.
There is wholesale cynicism about our political system because so many vow have been made and broken without compunction.
How different would our nation be if in every case yes was yes and no was no?
