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. (ESV)
Kids can be creative in so many ways. They have a great ability to see animals in the clouds, play with imaginary friends and make up wonderful stories. Unfortunately, at times the line that separates fact from fiction is not drawn clearly enough. That wonderful faculty for imagination can be misused in lying or deceiving others.
Fundamental to relationships is the aspect of truth. When we believe what someone is saying we can form a relational bond that results in the sharing and depths of thoughts and feelings. When we think that someone is lying to us or covering something up we tend not to trust them and share little with them.
In their consciences people know that truth is right and essential. That is one reason even when people seek to deceive, they go to such lengths to make what they say appear to be truthful. Unfortunately, people are inclined to the truth only when it benefits them. The question for each of us is what is the pattern of our speech? Are we prone to say something and not follow through? Do we play word games and assure ourselves that “at least we didn’t lie”? If so, we do well to look at the teaching that Jesus has for us and learn from the Jews of Jesus’ day.
The ancient Jewish rabbis revered the idea of truth in principle, but in practice it was buried under their system of tradition, which over the centuries had continually cut God’s law down to fit their own sinful perspectives and purposes. In Matthew 5:33-37 Jesus proceeds to expose the convenient distortion and contradiction of the divine revelation they claimed to love and teach. In these five verses Jesus sets forth:
1) Promising Speech (Matthew 5:33a), 2) False Speech (Matthew 5:33b), distinguished from 3) Godly Speech (Matthew 5:34-37).
God’s expectation of Sincere Speech, is distinguished from:
1) Promising Speech. Matthew 5:33a
Matthew 5:33a [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).' (ESV)
The traditional teaching that Jesus quotes here was a composite of ideas based on Leviticus 19:12, Numbers 30:2, and Deuteronomy 23:21. The two vows mentioned here are from two different, but related, Greek terms. The first is from the verb epiorkeo, which means to perjure oneself, to swear falsely, to swear falsely/make false vows. The second is from the noun horkos, which literally means to enclose, as with a fence, or to bind together. The truth of an oath or vow is enclosed, bound, and therefore strengthened by that which is invoked on its behalf. A clear description of an oath is given in the book of Hebrews: Hebrews 6:16 For people swear by something greater than themselves, and in all their disputes an oath is final for confirmation. (ESV). The name of something or someone greater than the person making the oath is invoked to give greater credibility to what is said. Any oath calling on God invites Him to witness the truthfulness of what is said or to avenge if it is a lie. An oath was therefore generally taken to be the absolute truth, which made “an end of every dispute,” because it invited judgment on the one who violated his word. (Neh. 10:29). God provided for making oaths by His name (Lev. 19:12). Even God The Father Himself made oaths on certain occasions. (Gen. 22:16-17). (Heb. 6:13-14, 17). (Ps. 89:3, 49; 110:4; Jer. 11:5; and Luke 1:73.). The Mosaic law forbade irreverent oaths, light use of the Lord’s name, and broken vows. Once Yahweh’s name was invoked, the vow to which it was attached became a debt that had to be paid to the Lord. (Carson, D. A. (1984). Matthew. In F. E. Gaebelein (Ed.), The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Matthew, Mark, Luke (Vol. 8, p. 153). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House.)
• Making a solemn promise is a serious thing. Should there be an occasion for a child to do so an authority should provide the necessary counsel.
Please turn to Matthew 26
Jesus many times used the phrase “Truly I say to you” (Matt. 5:18, 26; 6:2, 5 16; etc.), and the even more emphatic “Truly, truly, I say to you” (John 1:51; 3:3, 5; 5:19, 24; etc.), to call attention to a teaching of special importance. As with God’s oaths, the words Jesus introduces with “truly” are no more truthful than anything else He said, but emphasize the unique importance of certain of His teachings. It is important to note that Jesus Himself swore an oath before Caiaphas:
Matthew 26:63-64 [63] But Jesus remained silent. And the high priest said to him, "I adjure you by the living God (I charge you under oath), tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God." [64] Jesus said to him, "You have said so. But I tell you, from now on you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power and coming on the clouds of heaven." (ESV). “Now down to verse 69”
We seek the righteous oath in Matthew 26:63-64 and the sin quickly following:
Matthew 26:69-74 [69] Now Peter was sitting outside in the courtyard. And a servant girl came up to him and said, "You also were with Jesus the Galilean." [70] But he denied it before them all, saying, "I do not know what you mean." [71] And when he went out to the entrance, another servant girl saw him, and she said to the bystanders, "This man was with Jesus of Nazareth." [72] And again he denied it with an oath: "I do not know the man." [73] After a little while the bystanders came up and said to Peter, "Certainly you too are one of them, for your accent betrays you." [74] Then he began to invoke a curse on himself and to swear, "I do not know the man." And immediately the rooster crowed. [75] And Peter remembered the saying of Jesus, “Before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times.” And he went out and wept bitterly. (ESV)
• That swearing was not profanity, but an oath given with special vehemence. Peter increased the strength of his oath, but that did not increase the truth of what he said. It was bad enough to have lied; it was even worse to call God as a witness to the lie. In addition to denying His Lord, Peter used God’s name in vain. It is small wonder that he “went out and wept bitterly” (v. 75).
God established the seriousness of keeping an oath. Leviticus 5:4-6 or if anyone utters with his lips a rash oath... the priest shall make atonement for him for his sin. (ESV) Joshua 9:20 punctuates how essential keeping an oath is: Joshua 9:20 [20]This we will do to them: let them live, lest wrath be upon us, because of the oath that we swore to them." (ESV)
Illustration: In the movie Mary Poppins, the two children, Jane and Michael Banks, jumped into bed after their incredible first day with the amazing Mary Poppins. Jane asked, “Mary Poppins, you won’t ever leave us, will you?” Michael, full of excitement, looked at his new nanny and added, “Will you stay if we promise to be good?” Mary looked at the two and as she tucked them in replied, “Look, that’s a pie-crust promise. Easily made, easily broken! (Green, M. P. (1989). Illustrations for Biblical Preaching : Over 1500 sermon illustrations arranged by topic and indexed exhaustively (Revised edition of: The expositor's illustration file). Grand Rapids: Baker Book House.)
• If we are going to reflect the character of God, we need to be people of our word.
God’s expectation of Sincere Speech, is clearly distinguished from:
2) False Speech (Matthew 5:33b).
Matthew 5:33b [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.' (ESV)
The tradition Jesus mentions in verse 33 seemed to be biblical, but it had several flaws that made it fall short of what the Old Testament actually taught. First, it had a missing ingredient, and second, it had a misplaced emphasis. The missing ingredient was a proper circumstance for making an oath. Virtually any kind of oath, used for almost any kind of purpose, was acceptable for the Jews-just as long as someone did not swear falsely and the person would perform to the Lord what (they would) have sworn. The missing ingredient of a serious circumstance led to frivolous, meaningless oath-making that completely violated the legitimate purpose of oaths. People would declare anything and promise anything with an oath, while having no qualms about providing means by which lying or breaking their word could still be done. Indiscriminate and insincere vows became so commonplace that no one took them seriously. Instead of being a mark of integrity they became a mark of deceit. Instead of prompting confidence they prompted skepticism.Their misplaced emphasis was in limiting the honest oaths to vows to the Lord, to oaths made directly to Him or in His name. The keeping of those oaths to the Lord was rightly regarded as mandatory, whereas the keeping of oaths to others they falsely made optional.The system of oaths between one person and another was like a giant game. People would swear by heaven, by the earth, by the Temple, by the hairs on their heads, and by any other thing they thought would impress those they wanted to take advantage of. That kind of routine oath-making was usually lie-making; and it was considered by those who practiced it to be perfectly acceptable as long as it was not in the name of the Lord. This goes back to a time when people thought that a lie between people did not concern God, whereas if the divine name were invoked “His dignity and honour were at stake”; people would expect perjury to be punished. (Morris, L. (1992). The Gospel according to Matthew (p. 123). Grand Rapids, MI; Leicester, England: W.B. Eerdmans; Inter-Varsity Press.)
• In our time this custom is found in phrases such as: “I swear by God,” “cross my heart and hope to die,” “stick a needle in my eye” or “I sear on my mother’s grave or I’d swear on a stack of Bibles.” We must be very careful that the need for truth is seen as necessary for all people. Kids should not just be encouraged to tell the truth to adults, thereby implicitly instructed that it’s OK to deceive other kids.
Please turn to Psalm 15
God commands: Leviticus 19:12 You shall not swear by my name falsely, and so profane the name of your God: I am the LORD. (ESV). This was misrepresented and interpreted to mean that swearing falsely by any other name was allowed. If we presume upon Gods grace, we put ourselves in a dangerous position of Him having to get our attention as to the concern that he has for those bearing His name. The most severe punishment for children should be reserved for lies. Not only does this highlight how important truth is to God but kids will be encouraged to be truthful if they know that deception will be treated more serious than any infraction.
The psalmist, in describing the kind of person who may enter God’s holy presence, makes clear that one mandatory requirement:
Psalm 15:1-4 [15:1] O LORD, who shall sojourn in your tent? Who shall dwell on your holy hill? [2] He who walks blamelessly and does what is right and speaks truth in his heart; [3] who does not slander with his tongue and does no evil to his neighbor, nor takes up a reproach against his friend; [4]in whose eyes a vile person is despised, but who honors those who fear the LORD; who swears to his own hurt and does not change; (ESV)
• This is a person whose word is more important than their welfare. Keeping oaths made to God is the mark of a true worshiper. To put it another way, true sons of the kingdom hate lies (Ps. 119:29, 163; 120:2). The lesson for people of any age is how serious God regards truth and how severely lies interfere with our relationship with God and with one another.
Quote: There are many applications for our lives in this but one that Samuel Johnson wrote is a good reminder for all of us: “Accustom your children constantly to this [the telling of the truth]; if a thing happened at one window, and they, when relating it, say that it happened at another, do not let it pass, but instantly check them; you do not know where deviation from truth will end.… It is more from carelessness about truth than from intentional lying, that there is so much falsehood in the world”. (William Barclay, Ephesians (Philadelphia: Westminister, 1976), p. 183.)
Finally, God’s expectation of Sincere Speech, is properly manifested through:
3) Godly Speech. (Matthew 5:34-37)
Matthew 5:34-37 [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. (ESV)
In contrast to those alterations of the divine will, Jesus simply reasserts the Old Testament standard that had been misconstrued and perverted by tradition of the scribes and Pharisees. Jesus says: Do not take/make no oath at all. Oaths are to be used only on important occasions and are to be given only in the name of the Lord. Though the Greek construction here is an unconditional negative (me ... holos), that does not preclude all oaths. What we have here in Matthew 5:33-37 (cf. James 5:12) is the condemnation of the flippant, profane, uncalled for, and often hypocritical oath, used in order to make an impression or to spice daily conversation. Over against that evil Jesus commends simple truthfulness in thought, word and deed. Jesus had just said that He did not come to destroy the smallest part of the law (Matt. 5:17-18), a law that taught proper oath-making by both precept and example. We see this in specific Old Testament teaching approving oaths, in light of Jesus’ use of such phrases as “truly, truly,” and in light of God Himself making oaths (Heb. 6:13-17; cf. Luke 1:73; Acts 2:30; etc.). Additionally, in the early days of the church, even the apostle Paul gave a type of oath in saying to the Romans, “I am telling the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit” (Rom. 9:1). He called on Christ and the Holy Spirit as witnesses with his own conscience to the truthfulness of what he was about to say. That is swearing by God. It cannot be rationally interpreted that Jesus here forbids the making of any oath under any circumstance. (William Hendriksen. Exposition of the Gospel According to Matthew [Grand Rapids: Baker, 1973], 309).
So, in accordance with the Old Testament standard, we are to swear by no other name but God’s-not “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.Other such things were considered by most Jews to make their oaths less binding. An oath would be mistakenly considered least binding if made as verse 36 and onwards forbids: “And do not take an oath by your head”. The important thing, Jesus is saying, is to tell the truth and keep one’s pledges without insisting that a certain form of words must be used if it is to be binding. No oath is necessary for the truthful person. ( Morris, L. (1992). The Gospel according to Matthew (p. 124). Grand Rapids, MI; Leicester, England: W.B. Eerdmans; Inter-Varsity Press.)
Please go forward to Matthew 23
The common attitude toward oaths is also seen in Jesus’ great series of woes in Matthew 23 against the hypocritical Jewish leaders.
Matthew 23:16-20 [16]"Woe to you, blind guides, who say, 'If anyone swears by the temple, it is nothing, but if anyone swears by the gold of the temple, he is bound by his oath.' [17] You blind fools! For which is greater, the gold or the temple that has made the gold sacred? [18] And you say, 'If anyone swears by the altar, it is nothing, but if anyone swears by the gift that is on the altar, he is bound by his oath.' [19] You blind men! For which is greater, the gift or the altar that makes the gift sacred? [20] So whoever swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it. (ESV)
Keep your place in Matthew 23
• Exhibiting twisted logic, it makes no sense that something which is less valuable make an oath more binding. But the greatest error in the system was not in its illogic but in its basic deceptiveness and dishonesty. As a matter of accepted policy, some oaths were used to undermine the very purpose they purportedly were meant to serve: the truth. In spite of the fact that an oath supposed to be given to reinforce and emphasize the truthfulness of a statement or the reliability of a promise, over the years an intricate system of duplicity had been devised that virtually promoted the use of oaths for deception.
Jesus therefore went on to condemn the system still further:
Matthew 23:21-22 [21] And whoever swears by the temple swears by it and by him who dwells in it. [22] And whoever swears by heaven swears by the throne of God and by him who sits upon it. (ESV)
• Jesus’ point was that God is the Creator and Lord of everything and is the God of truth in everything. To carelessly and dishonestly call any part of His creation as witness to a false oath was to dishonor God Himself, whether or not His name was invoked. God has no separate categories of sacred and secular. Everything that pertains to Him is sacred, and all truth is His truth, just as all creation is His creation. Every lie is against God, and therefore every false oath dishonors His name. However and whenever the truth is profaned, God’s name is profaned.
Here is a great eternal truth. Life cannot be divided into compartments in some of which God is involved and in others 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 thing 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 presence of God. Christians bear God’s name and every action or inaction is a reflection on God. The most damaging impact that a faulty testimony can have therefore: Romans 2:24 For, as it is written, "The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you." (ESV) (Barclay, William: The Gospel of Matthew, 2 [rev. Philadelphia: Westminster, 1975], 1:160).
God’s absolute, unchanging standard is truth and sincerity in everything. Not only should oaths be totally truthful and dependable, but even the most routine conversations should be truthful in every detail. That is why Jesus summarizes what sincere speech is in verse 37 “Let what you say be simply 'Yes' or 'No'; anything more than this comes from evil”. Much like what Paul said to the Ephesians in Ephesians 4:29 Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. (ESV). God is a holy God, His kingdom is a holy kingdom, and the people of His kingdom are to be a holy people. His righteousness is to be their righteousness, and anything less than His righteousness, including anything less than absolute truth, is unacceptable to Him, because it comes from/is of evil. So, our Lord shatters the fragile glass of their hypocritical oaths, which they used to cover lies. Lest you think that I am just nitpicking today, consider at the destiny of those who habitually continue in lies: Revelation 21:8 But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death." (ESV).We also need to remember that our Lord hears every word, not just the oaths, and that we will give account of all our words: Matthew 12:36 I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak, (ESV). Our language and conduct must be such that we need not invoke oaths to make people believe we are telling the truth (Chrispin, G. (2005). The Bible Panorama: Enjoying the Whole Bible with a Chapter-by-Chapter Guide (p. 399). Leominster, UK: Day One Publications.).
Prayer
Father, as we think about how we have been dishonest, help us to be honest with our spouses, help us to be honest with our employers, help us to be honest with ourselves, help us to be honest with you.. How we would love to be a community in which, in a place where people more and more are falling away from the truth, we are characterized by integrity, uprightness, dependability. O Father, give us this. Give us this or we lose everything. Help us to begin to fight the battle with your help in every yes and no the minute we get up from here and begin to speak to each other. We pray this in Jesus’ name, amen. (Keller, T. J. (2013). The Timothy Keller Sermon Archive. New York City: Redeemer Presbyterian Church.)
(Format note: Some notes from: MacArthur, J. F. (1985). The MacArthur New Testament Commentary. The MacArthur New Testament Commentary (Mt 5:33). Winona Lake, IN: BMH Books).
