In the run up to the 1988 Presidential Election, Vice President George H.W. Bush famously said “Read my lips: no new taxes.” He was running on a platform of consistency. He sought to take the policies and success of the Reagan years into a new term. He, in essence, swore an oath, made a promise to American citizens that if they would elect him, he would keep taxes as they are.
I think he said those words with every intention of fulfilling them. As a result, he was elected president that year.
Two years into his presidency, budget shortfalls placed pressure on the economy and on the government’s ability to operate properly. In addition to that, pressures in the middle east were mounting as Iraqi forces invaded Kuwait. War was on the horizon. President Bush had to go back on his word and sign into law a spending bill that raised several taxes. His promise was broken. While that was not his plan, it was the result.
When the next election came around, his opponents and various pundits refused to let him live that down. “Read my lips” became a source of mockery. It became a meme that infused distrust. As a result, President Bush was limited to one term in office.
If you have your Bibles, open them to James 5:12. In this brief verse, James addresses this idea of making promises or swearing oaths. He essentially raises the issue of communication.
James 5:12 ESV
"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."
James’ comments here mark what some commentators have noted as the beginning of the end of the book. He uses the word “above all” and then follows it up with teaching on oaths or communication, prayer, and care. Over the next three weeks, we’ll conclude our series and the book with reflections on these three final instructions from James.
Each week week we will reflect on these from the vantage point of being a covenant community. It is important to remember that…
As a covenant community we are family.
Over the course of this book, James has used the Greek word “adelphos” some 14 times. This word is used to describe a close group of people. Literally and figuratively it refers to someone like a brother or a sibling. Some translations use the phrase “brothers and sisters” to encompass the full application of that word.
The fact that James uses this word so much speaks to the familial nature of his audience, a church. We are more than a collective group of people with a common organization. We are more than members of a social club. We the people ARE the organization.
We are family.
A church is not the building, but the people who share a common confession and allegiance with each other. We are family with or without a building. We are a covenant community with or without an address.
As the Apostle Paul writes, we are “members of one another” (Romans 12:5; Ephesians 4:25).
How does this apply to us?
In many ways, this has been a part of the entire letter as James frequently refers to brothers and sisters in his instruction. James’ message is likely to a group of people in a specific locale or multiple groups in various locations, if this letter was intended to be circulated.
The point being is that this letter is intended for the people who are hearing it who are believers in Jesus Christ - who are essentially part of a covenant community - a church.
We are in this walk together. Our faith is not a lone-ranger faith - it’s a collective, communal faith intended to be lived with each other and expressed toward one another.
One aspect of that covenant community is communication.
In a covenant community…
Honest communication is crucial.
Our communication has an impact on each other and on our outward witness. In the verse we’re considering today, James is speaking specifically about oaths or promises. His words here are very similar to the words that we read earlier from the Sermon on the Mount.
Matthew 5:34–37 ESV
"But I say to you, Do not take an oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. And do not take an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. Let what you say be simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything more than this comes from evil."
In the midweek email I mentioned that as kids we would make promises but we would cross our fingers, meaning that it didn’t count. Some people in Jesus’ day would swear oaths by various things in order to ensure that they be trusted, but then would renege on that because the oath wasn’t made on the right thing. Shortly before going to the cross, Jesus gave various religious leaders this warning.
Matthew 23:16–22 ESV
“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.’ You blind fools! For which is greater, the gold or the temple that has made the gold sacred? 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.’ You blind men! For which is greater, the gift or the altar that makes the gift sacred? So whoever swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it. And whoever swears by the temple swears by it and by him who dwells in it. And whoever swears by heaven swears by the throne of God and by him who sits upon it."
There is a sense in which we could look at this and wonder how it applies to us. Swearing oaths outside of courtroom proceedings is not very common for us.
It seems like the underlying principle is honest communication. If you say that you’ll do something then do it. If you can’t fulfill that, then don’t commit.
But, beyond just looking at commitments, I think it’s important that as a covenant community we should communicate with honesty.
When we see something going on in each others’ lives - some misguided belief or habit - we need to lovingly communicate with honesty. We will consider this more in a couple of weeks when we look at the final verses of the book.
Part of the challenge is that in the age in which we live, truth is subjective, and that is objectively true! (Golding, 161). It’s not uncommon for us to hear phrases like “my truth” or “your truth” as it pertains to a variety of experiences or subjects. Everyone else is expected to accept the fact that your truth is your truth even if it’s not true at all. In other words, if we are letting someone believe a lie, then we are complicit in that lie if we don’t at least address it.
Let’s think about this from the stand point of some of the things that relate to transgender issues and gender dysphoria. There are people who have genetic anomalies - where genetically they have the chromosomes of one gender but the anatomy of another. This showed up some in the olympics this year. People like this might be the very people that Jesus referred to as “eunuchs…from birth.” (Matthew 19:22).
But it seems like the majority of what we see in our age is not that kind of gender dysphoria.
So much of what we’re seeing is people who FEEL like one gender but ARE biologically another gender. So, as these individuals begin to express their feelings, rather than speaking truth to the situation, parents, counselors, and doctors are affirming feelings rather than biology.
One such person is Chloe Cole. As a middle schooler, she expressed to her parents that she was feeling more like a boy. She liked to be around boys, not romantically, but as a friend. She wanted to be a boy. So they went to counselors to seek help. Those counselors referred them to doctors who could provide “gender affirming care.” Rather than changing feelings and speaking truthfully about outcomes, the doctors and counselors sought to change biology. Chloe began hormone therapy that started to change her voice, her muscles, her shape. As a teenager, she went through a double mastectomy. Following the surgery, Chloe experienced multiple complications - infections, secretions, and more. As she looked at her scarred body, the truth that should have been told her from the beginning hit her like a ton of bricks. No matter how many surgeries she would undergo, she would never become a boy. What’s more, now that she had experienced these surgeries, she would likely never be able to have or participate in creating children. She is in the process of detransitioning, but what happened to her cannot be fully undone.
I realize this is a hot-button issue in our day and it’s an extreme example of where honest communication in a family and in a trusted community broke down.
As we pull back from the extreme, it’s easy to let honesty be clouded in niceties and polite rhetoric.
This is part of why we started Community Groups last year. Being able to communicate honestly takes trust. Trust takes time and proximity. We need to be around each other and be able to know each other in order to be able to give and receive honest and truthful communication.
For example, let’s assume that in a sermon I say something that can be received offensively. Maybe I already have. If someone wrote about that on one of the contact cards and put it in the box at the back anonymously - truth could be told, but I have no context - just scolding. However, if someone in our community group talked to me after church or took me aside in our next gather and said, “Joel, you may not have intended it this way, but your words offended me or so and so.” We are in a covenant community together, I can receive those clearly. We have context and relational capital. We are family. At that point, I can choose to accept the comments or reject them, but I can’t deny that clear communication has happened. Honest communication has been conveyed.
When we see each other beginning to slip into a false belief - we need to speak clearly and honestly.
When we see sin creeping in as temptation gets the better of us, we need to speak clearly and honestly.
When we are invited to an event that we really don’t want to go to, we need to speak clearly and honestly - lovingly. If we say we’ll go - then go.
But there is one final part of this clear and honest communication that we need to consider, that is that…
Dishonest communication brings condemnation.
James 5:12 (ESV)
"…let your “yes” be yes and your “no” be no, so that you may not fall under condemnation."
But where does this condemnation come from? I think it comes at us from multiple directions.
At face value, it’s understandable how condemnation would come from above.
Condemnation from above
God is a God of truth and has called his people to be true to their word.
As he was preparing the people of Israel for a return to their homes after the exile, he said this…
Zechariah 8:14–17 ESV
"For thus says the Lord of hosts: “As I purposed to bring disaster to you when your fathers provoked me to wrath, and I did not relent, says the Lord of hosts, so again have I purposed in these days to bring good to Jerusalem and to the house of Judah; fear not. These are the things that you shall do: Speak the truth to one another; render in your gates judgments that are true and make for peace; do not devise evil in your hearts against one another, and love no false oath, for all these things I hate, declares the Lord.”"
God wanted honesty and truthfulness to mark the culture of his people.
While this is centuries later, I think this is a bit of why things were so harsh for Ananias and Sapphira. You can read about them in Acts 5. Essentially, they sold property, like a lot of other people had. The practice at that time was to sell the land and give money to the church. For Ananias and Sapphira, they held back some - which frankly was in their discretion to do - however, they told the church leaders, this is what we received for the property. They lied to the church. They lied to God. As a result, they lost their lives. They received condemnation from above.
But there is another of this condemnation from above that I hadn’t seen until this week. In the area of swearing oaths that we have no intention of keeping, David Nystrom notes in his commentary that “To invoke God’s name falsely, then, is to involve God in a falsehood.” (p. 301). I doing so, we drag God’s holy name into the mud of deceit. He will defend his glory and his honor.
In dishonest communication, I think we do rightfully face discipline from the Lord.
Beyond receiving condemnation from above, we also receive
Condemnation from inside
We get this because breaking our word breaks trust. If I say that I will do something or and don’t follow through - I am committing a breach of trust. Now the person to whom I’ve promised something doesn’t trust me. There is a crack in the cohesion of the family. While we are united in Christ and he truly binds us together, now there is sin in the camp that needs to be mended.
But not only is that condemnation within or among us - inside the covenant community among members - but that condemnation is in us individually. It’s as though the core of who we are as people of Christ has been compromised. There is a stain on our souls. It’s as though we can sing with David…
Psalm 32:3–4 (ESV)
"For when I kept silent (about my sin), my bones wasted away
through my groaning all day long.
For day and night your hand was heavy upon me;
my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. Selah"
Where are we guilty of not following through on what we said we would do?
Where are we guilty of not conveying truth to someone who has bought into a lie?
Where are we facing condemnation because we’ve let dishonesty and deceit get a foot hold in our midst?
There is one final place from which we receive condemnation, that is…
Condemnation from outside
We essentially harm our witness. The body of Christ is supposed to be what Mark Dever and Jamie Dunlap call a “compelling community.” How compelling is that community when deceit lingers, dishonesty remains, and honest communication is unclear.
Now, we do need to be careful about thinking too much about this external condemnation. Some of the condemnation the world will point our direction is unbiblical and based on worldly values. We can and should receive that condemnation, but when hypocrisy hinders holiness, even the unholy can see that.
Closing thoughts
James calls us as a covenant community to be clear in our communication. To be truthful and to fulfill our words. No extra swearing or oaths are needed - simply yes and no.
But thankfully, we serve a God who is able to redeem even our most heinous failures. We serve a God who is true to His word. We serve a God who gives second, third, fourth chances and more.
1 John 1:9 ESV
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Romans 10:9–10 ESV
because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.
Friend, if you’ve not yet believed, then come to the truth of who God is. He is assembling a community of people who are sinners, saved by grace. We are far from perfect, but are in the process of being made holy.
Beloved, let’s be honorable and honest in our communication with each other and with the world. In doing so we honor God and strengthen our bonds.
Let’s pray.
Benediction
1 Corinthians 15:58 CSB
Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, be steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the Lord’s work, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.
Questions for reflection and discussion
Read James 5:12. Consider reading Matthew 5:33-37 and Matthew 23:16-22.
Why do people make oaths?
Why does James (and Jesus) urge us not to make oaths?
What is the underlying instruction from this (these) verse(s)?
Why is this instruction so important for a covenant community, a family of believers?
How is this instruction different than what the world affirms?
Sources:
Golding, Robert. “Swimming in a Sanctimonious Sea of Subjectivity: A Proposal for Christian Authenticity in a Made-up World.” Themelios 49, no. 1 (2024): 159–172.
Mangum, Douglas, ed. Lexham Context Commentary: New Testament. Lexham Context Commentary. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2020.
Moo, Douglas J. The Letter of James. The Pillar New Testament Commentary. Grand Rapids, MI; Leicester, England: Eerdmans; Apollos, 2000.
Moyter, J.A. The Message of James. The Bible Speaks Today. Downers Grover, IL; Leicester, England: Inter-Varsity Press, 1985.
Nystrom, David P. The NIV Application Commentary: James. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1997.
