April 13 Daily Devotional

Scripture for Day 103—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:

Is it ever right to swear? Clearly, James was meditating on the teaching of his older brother Jesus—"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.' 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" (Matt. 5:33–37).

Some believers take these verses to mean that Christians may never take oaths or vows. Should Christians refuse ever to give evidence under oath in a court of law? Should they refuse ever to swear an oath for any purpose? The Anabaptists took that line in the sixteenth century and most Quakers still do today.

But consider several things.

First, in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus clearly insists that he did not come to abolish the Law or the Prophets, but to fulfill them (Matt. 5:17).

Second, God himself swears oaths. In fact that's what a covenant is—an oath-bound relationship. For example, Genesis 22, Isaiah 45, and Hebrews 6 remind us that God swore by himself.

Third, God gives commands concerning oaths and vows in the Old Testament. To conclude that Christians may never swear, you need to demonstrate that Old Testament oath-taking was a feature of the old covenant that is now clearly done away in the new covenant—something like circumcision or the dietary laws or the seventh day Sabbath. But what you find instead is that our Lord Jesus used oaths and vows which went far beyond a simple yes or no. When Caiaphas commanded him—" 'I charge you under oath by the living God: Tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God,' then Jesus answered and said, 'Yes, it is as you say' " (Matt. 26:63). Whenever Jesus said things like, "Verily, verily I say unto you" or "I tell you the truth" and how often he used the word "Amen," he was swearing oaths. The apostle Paul also swore oaths—"I assure you before God that what I am writing you is no lie" (Gal. 1:20) and "I call God as my witness…" (2 Cor. 1:23). In Revelation 10:5–7, we even read of an angel who lifted up his hand and swore an oath to God.

So in light of the rest of Scripture, whatever God is saying through James 5:12, he is not teaching that any and every swearing of an oath is prohibited. But for a godly person, it should not usually be necessary. Oath or not, your "yes" should always mean "yes," and your "no" should always mean "no."

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