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.
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. What is he saying then? He is saying that you must avoid trying to manipulate God or people by your pious sounding words.
First, compare James 5:12 to Matthew 5:33–37. James was clearly meditating on the teaching of his older brother Jesus.
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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.
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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.
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Clearly, the main point is that you should be absolutely trustworthy. When I was a child, one of my favorite books was Horton Hatches the Egg by Dr. Seuss. Horton made a promise that turned out to be to his own hurt but he would not renege (cf. Ps 15:4). He kept insisting, "I meant what I said and I said what I meant, an elephant's faithful one-hundred per cent." That's the attitude that Jesus and James commend.
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus was exposing and condemning Pharasaic deceitfulness and word-splitting. Maybe the most infamous modern example is, "That depends on what 'is' means." Jesus says, "Don't play games with words. Let your "Yes" mean Yes and your "No" 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.
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