April 12 Daily Devotional

Scripture for Day 102—James 5:12

¹² 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.

Devotional:

This seems so abrupt. What does God's Word teach about oaths and swearing?

What are oaths and vows? Look at the Westminster Confession of Faith, chapter 22. The Bible scholars and theologians who drafted the Confession tried to take the whole of the Bible's clear teaching on topics and summarize it. Notice:

1. A lawful oath is a part of religious worship, wherein, upon just occasion, the person swearing solemnly calleth God to witness what he asserteth, or promiseth, and to judge him according to the truth or falsehood of what he sweareth.

5. A vow is of the like nature with a promissory oath, and ought to be made with the like religious care, and to be performed with the like faithfulness.

Oaths and vows are common in our land on certain occasions. For example, the oath of office when a civil authority is inaugurated; wedding vows when a couple marries; membership vows when someone joins a church; being "sworn in" to testify in court; oaths upon joining the military or the police. What does it mean? To swear is to solemnly invoke God to be your witness or judge that what you say is true or that what you promise, you will do.

What does swearing do? Hebrews 6:16 answers, "people swear by something greater than themselves, and in all their disputes an oath is final for confirmation." On the one hand, swearing reminds us of the supreme greatness of God—"…people swear by something greater than themselves…" On the other hand, it encourages truth and keeping commitments—"…in all their disputes an oath is final for confirmation."

Why is there such a thing as oaths and swearing? There are two main reasons.

On the one hand, we humans swear because we are naturally liars. If divorce is because of human hardheartedness, swearing is because of human deceitfulness. Our need to take or hear oaths is one more evidence that we are sinners who need a Savior.

On the other hand, God swears because we are naturally unbelievers. In this way, he assures us; he strengthens our faith. "When God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it with an oath, so that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us" (Heb. 6:17–18).

Click here for background on the author of Are You For Real?: Meditations in the Epistle of James for Secret or Family Worship.