Mat 5:34 | KingComments | STEP | The oath to which the Lord Jesus refers here relates to the communication between people in everyday life. Many have the habit of reinforcing their words by swearing an oath when their honesty is questioned. It may also involve the ratification of a promise. However, people sometimes say more than they mean or can live up to. A false oath is an oath that is not kept consciously or unconsciously. A false oath is an overconfidently pronounced oath that reveals a great lack of self-knowledge. Much pomp and ceremony is used to announce intentions, but in practice nothing is done about them. One’s own possibilities are overestimated or hypocritically advertised and others experience the adverse impact of this. The Lord shows how misplaced every form of self-confidence is. This is not about an oath in front of the government. Taking such an oath is nothing more than the recognition of God’s authority to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth before Him and with His help. The Lord Jesus is silent on all accusations made by the High Priest. But when he adjures Him by the living God he responds. Introduced with “but I say to you”, the Lord impresses upon the heart of His disciples that it is better not to make an oath at all and thus refrain from using swear words. When the Jews make an oath, they invoke all kinds of higher things. With this they claim that a higher authority stands behind their words and they can therefore be trusted in what they say. But such a claim is extremely misplaced and misleading. We must not lower God and everything connected to Him to our level. He expects us to be reliable. If we say ‘yes’, we also mean ‘yes’ and act accordingly. The same applies to saying ‘no’. A person who endorses almost every statement with an oath cannot be trusted in his ordinary statements. If you are reliable, you don’t have to emphasize what you say with all kinds of power terms. Such emphasizes do not come from God, but are out of the evil one, that is satan.

‏ Matthew 5:34

The Oath

The oath to which the Lord Jesus refers here relates to the communication between people in everyday life. Many have the habit of reinforcing their words by swearing an oath when their honesty is questioned. It may also involve the ratification of a promise.

However, people sometimes say more than they mean or can live up to. A false oath is an oath that is not kept consciously or unconsciously. A false oath is an overconfidently pronounced oath that reveals a great lack of self-knowledge. Much pomp and ceremony is used to announce intentions, but in practice nothing is done about them. One’s own possibilities are overestimated or hypocritically advertised and others experience the adverse impact of this. The Lord shows how misplaced every form of self-confidence is.

This is not about an oath in front of the government. Taking such an oath is nothing more than the recognition of God’s authority to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth before Him and with His help. The Lord Jesus is silent on all accusations made by the High Priest. But when he adjures Him by the living God he responds.

Introduced with “but I say to you”, the Lord impresses upon the heart of His disciples that it is better not to make an oath at all and thus refrain from using swear words. When the Jews make an oath, they invoke all kinds of higher things. With this they claim that a higher authority stands behind their words and they can therefore be trusted in what they say. But such a claim is extremely misplaced and misleading. We must not lower God and everything connected to Him to our level. He expects us to be reliable. If we say ‘yes’, we also mean ‘yes’ and act accordingly. The same applies to saying ‘no’.

A person who endorses almost every statement with an oath cannot be trusted in his ordinary statements. If you are reliable, you don’t have to emphasize what you say with all kinds of power terms. Such emphasizes do not come from God, but are out of the evil one, that is satan.