Of the Making of Oaths
James 5:12
Commentators really are not sure how to understand James 5:12. How does it fit with the context? Is James just including the prohibition against rash oaths in a disconnected way or does the phrase "above all" point to the fact that he is drawing to the close of his letter? I think that James is making a connection between suffering and patient endurance and how such endurance will help you refrain from foolishly making oaths. How so? Times are hard for Pilgrims. We journey from conversion to ultimate glory through a wilderness. We feel the pressure to give up and give in. Suffering presents a particular temptation for our speech and communication. We are tempted to complain, groan and grumble about one another, as well as being tempted to make rash and useless commitments and oaths. In times of distress we may stumble in the irreverent use of God's name. Or we may be tempted to deal with people in a dishonest and manipulative manner. Above all else in times of distress we must endure in holding on to the truth.
How important to you are the words you speak? How much value do you place upon what you say? In what way are your words connected with your reputation? In what way are your words connected with the reputation and honor of your Lord, Jesus Christ? Do your statements reflect the truth? Do the promises you make indicate what your genuine intentions are?
Our sin affects the quality of our communication and choice of our words. We can use words to shade the truth, to distort the truth, to give people the wrong idea or to even lead them astray. We are often afraid to speak the truth because we are afraid of losing friends, upsetting people, getting into trouble.
But when we come to know Jesus who is the truth then our Savior and Master calls us to speak the truth in love. No cover-ups, no scams, no pretense, just the plain old unadulterated truth.
In our morning's text James (obviously quoting Jesus) deals with the whole issue of honesty in our speech. We are to speak the truth instead of giving the impression of doing so, when in reality we are not. Such pretense is really subterfuge and deceit. The issue of honesty is dealt with under the whole matter of "oath taking". Some have taken Jesus here to teach that his followers are not to swear at all. They are not to take oaths at all, even in court.
Certainly it appears that Jesus' statement is absolute. "Swear not at all."
First lets look at what it means to swear or to take an oath. It essentially involves calling on God to confirm your words. It is a way of giving greater weight to what one says.
Oaths in the Bible
An oath was the invocation of a curse upon one if one breaks one's word or is not speaking the truth. (1 Sam. 19:6 and Mark 14:71). Oaths fall into one of two categories.
1. Oaths attached to a promise.
2. Oaths confirming the truth of a statement.
Let's get back to the question. Is Jesus forbidding all oath taking? I would say no! Now here is a very important principle of interpretation. Scripture must interpret scripture. I say no, because of what scripture teaches elsewhere.
Scripture sanctions the taking of oaths in God's name. "Fear the Lord your God, serve him only and take your oaths in his name" Deut. 6:13.
* God is represented as having taken an oath. "The angel of the Lord called to Abraham from heaven a second time and said, "I swear by myself declares the Lord, because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you" Gen. 22:16.
* We have instances where God's saints use oaths to confirm their words. "I call God as my witness that it was in order to spare you that I did not return to Corinth" 2 Corinthians 1:23.
*Jesus consented to be placed under oath. "The high priest said to him, I charge you under oath by the living God, tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of the living God." "Yes it is as you say Jesus replied."
Jesus is not teaching that his followers are never to take an oath. The historic context of the passage is that Jesus is not contradicting the teaching of Scripture, but rather he is correcting the teaching of the Scribes.
We must understand Jesus' comment in Matthew 5:33 in light of the oral interpretations of such passages as Lev 19:12. "Do not swear falsely by my name and so profane the name of your God. I am the Lord."
"Again, you have heard that it was said to the people long ago, 'Do not break your oath, but keep the oaths you have made to the Lord." Matthew 5:33
The Scribes taught that as long as you didn't swear in God's name you weren't bound by your oath. So they held to two standards of truth.
1. If you swore by God's name you were bound to keep your word.
2. If you swore by something other than God's name... heaven, earth, Jerusalem, one's head etc. you weren't bound to keep your oath.
They developed this further and this is reflected in Jesus remarks in Matthew. 23:16-22
"Woe to you, blind guides! You say, ‘If anyone swears by the temple, it means nothing; but if anyone swears by the gold of the temple, he is bound by his oath.' You blind fools! Which is greater: the gold, or the temple that makes the gold sacred? You also say, 'If anyone swears by the altar, it means nothing; but if anyone swears by the gift on it, he is bound by his oath.' You blind men! Which is greater: the gift, or the altar that makes the gift sacred? Therefore, he who swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it. And he who swears by the temple swears by it and by the one who dwells in it. And he who swears by heaven swears by God's throne and by the one who sits on it.”
Jesus says that this is bold hypocrisy. Whatever you swear by has a God-ward reference. Even if you swear by your head, you are swearing by something over which you have no ultimate control. But God does.
The Scribes had a cross-your-finger way out. Jesus teaches that whether you swear or not, God holds you accountable for your promises and statements. So the Scribes failed to see the value God places upon truth. They wanted the benefit from the practice of oath taking without committing themselves to the obligation of oath taking. Jesus is condemning such subterfuge. It is falsehood. It is giving the appearance of truth. It is deceit. It is raw deception. It is this kind of false oath taking which Jesus commands his followers not to perform.
What is Jesus (and James) teaching? They are teaching that your daily conversation is to be as sacred as your oath. For in God's eyes, your words are binding. So you and I should soberly reflect on our words on what we say and what we promise.
Some Applications
(1) Oath taking under certain circumstances is permissible. Taking an oath in court, pledging your honor on an exam. We live in a fallen world, where people lie, where people need to be put in situations where they will be held accountable for their words.
(2) You should view your very words as binding, so they should always reflect the truth. Your yes is as binding as an oath, so is your no. Every effort to skirt around this has the taint of evil to it.
(3) Avoid giving false impressions. Avoid loose or vague language. Do all in your power to make yourself understood. Don’t purposefully engender misunderstanding. This often happens when we are unwilling to commit ourselves. We want to provide and escape hatch from our commitments. So we speak vaguely. It is better to say at this point I am unwilling to commit myself, than to say I'll see or maybe.
(4) Endeavor to be accurate in your statements. In your reporting of information, strive for clarity.
(5) Are there promises you have made that you haven't kept? If you have and fulfilling them would not violate any other Biblical principles, then take the necessary steps to fulfill them. Or at least communicate honestly with the person to whom you made the promise as to your neglect and determine to keep your word.
(6) Avoid rash promises. Think through what you are asked to do. Don't promise what you know or are uncertain you will be able to do.
(7) Avoid using frequent oaths in your conversation to give credence to your words. Some people are always saying, " I swear to God” when no one has even questioned them. Or people say "honestly" or "I cross my heart."
(8) Avoid using the phrase "God" or my God. We are not to misuse or vainly use God's name or titles. This is a violation of the fourth commandment. Exodus 20:7states, "You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.
(9) Endeavor to speak the truth. Ask God to help you do so. Be wise in your use of words. Think before you speak, weigh carefully what you are going to say. Strive to be known as a person of your word. You are to be careful in your speech, honest in your communication, for you bear the name of Jesus Christ, who is the living word; who is the truth. The integrity of your speech or lack of it will reflect upon him.
So mean what you say and say what you mean, any attempt to do otherwise reflects the very character of the evil one who is the Father of lies.
The Encouraging Example of the Patient Prophets
Few things are harder to put up with than the annoyance of a good example.
Mark Twain (1835–1910), U.S. author. Pudd’nhead Wilson, ch. 1, “Pudd’nhead Wilson’s Calendar” (1894).[1]
Exercising self-control in your speech is hard when you are pressed. Again James is writing to believers who are suffering unjustly. He encourages them to patience toward those who are mistreating them and to endurance under the suffering of such treatment. This can be done says James as you establish your heart on the great certainty of the Lord’s Second Coming. As you guard your heart and your tongue look to the examples we find in Scripture of others who have patiently endured.
James calls you to take seriously the example of the prophets (verses 10 and 11). They patiently endured suffering as they served the Lord. He cites this example to bolster and encourage your patience and endurance. You’re in great company, James says. We all know how the example of others can inspire and aid us in similar pursuits. The young aspiring baseball player has his hero. The young gymnast, whose petite frame aches all over after her workout, looks at the portrait of Mary Lou Reten and remembers why she is doing this. If they patiently endured so can you.
Blessed Are You Who Patiently Endure
For further encouragement to endure, James says, that we all recognize and consider those who endure to be blessed of God. James probably has the words of Jesus in mind: "Blessed are you when people persecute you and. falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you" (Matthew 5:11-12). James gives another example. While Job is an example of one who endured suffering, James' focus is on the outcome of Job's life. It is the blessedness of Job's perseverance that James highlights. Some have had a problem with James using Job as an example of patience (you have heard of the patience of Job). Job often complained and groaned. He wasn't always patient and he wavered in his endurance. This is really not a problem. James is not describing perfection, he rather looks at the overall pattern of Job's life and sees one who, by God's grace, persevered and was blessed. William Barclay wrote: "Job's is no groveling, passive, unquestioning submission; Job struggled and questioned and sometimes even defied, but the flame of faith was never extinguished in his heart."
It was God who brought about the outcome for Job. God is not hardened to the hurt and pain that suffering and injustice brings to you. He calls you to patiently endure and strengthen your hearts, but he does so as our Lord who is full of sympathy and mercy. It is because he is merciful and compassionate that he will one day reward those who by faith persevere under trail and hardship. It is important to understand that it is not the particulars of Job's blessed end that we are to look to (Job was blessed by having all his misfortunes reversed and doubled) but rather it is to the fact that he was indeed blessed. Our ultimate blessing will be realized when our Lord returns in power and glory. We are called to endure until the blessing is given. The blessing will be the end of the suffering and the beginning of eternity and glory.
Douglas Moo writes: "Certainly James does not mean that patience in suffering will always be rewarded by material prosperity; too many examples in the OT (Jeremiah) and NT prove this wrong. But he does seek to encourage our faithful, patient endurance of affliction by reminding us of the blessing that we receive for such faithfulness from our merciful and compassionate God."
A Pilgrim's Destiny
The perseverance and patience of your faith are nurtured and sustained by faith's future glance at the certain coming of the Lord of glory. The certainty and the immediacy of the Second Coming are realties that we grasp only by faith. Yet they are true and bring great comfort to us in our suffering and hardships. Yet the Second Coming of Christ is also a challenge to you to remain watchful and awake. His Second Coming is our hope and as a pilgrim people we must refrain from having our roots take hold too deeply in this life and age. Finally the Second Coming of Christ is our hope in the face of death. It will be at His coming that we will realize the fullness of life eternal. Then and only then will we put on immortality. In the mean time those who die in the Lord are kept by His power and sleep in Jesus until that final day.