Matthew 5:33-37. This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on January 21, 2024.
We will continue our look at the first section of the teaching of Messiah Jesus regarding fulfilling the Law and the prophets of God. In today’s passage, we see the fourth case study from the law that compares what the religious leaders of that day were emphasizing to what Jesus Messiah was teaching. It is regarding swearing oaths before others.
Many teachers connect this to the third commandment, “You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain” from Exodus 20. That commandment is about representation. The word translated “take” has the concept of carrying God’s reputation, and is about far more than our speech. It means that we should not carry God’s name around in an empty, unworthy manner.
We can probably all remember receiving “The Speech” from our parents or a coach. “You represent the (insert family name, High School, etc.), so be on your best behavior because you represent our (family, school…LORD).
Yet, it is even more specific to connect Matthew 5:33-37 to Leviticus 19:12. “And you shall not swear by My Name falsely nor shall you profane the Name of your God: I am the LORD.” So, what is the connection between swearing oaths and truth?
Swearing oaths has to do with convincing others that you are telling the truth about something. This can be in the context of kids, friends, court or business. I remember the line as a kid, “Cross my heart, hope to die, poke a needle in my eye.” Not sure of anyone ever following through with the needle when they didn’t prove out to be true.
Swearing here is not so much about cussing, as it is about invoking something serious to back up a truth claim. Of course, profaning the name of the LORD is to use God’s name in such a way that far below His true greatness. To profane something is to treat a holy thing, person, as if it, or they, were just a common thing. God and Jesus are the most holy beings that we can refer to. IF we use their name as a curse word, i.e., the same way we would use other vile words, then we are taking a holy God and treating Him without the holy respect He is due. His true Name (reputation and power) are empty worthless things to me.
Swearing an oath to back up the veracity of something always requires an invocation clause. We can invoke a horrible consequence, like hoping to die or a needle being poked in our eye. Historically, it has been common to invoke God Himself as a witness. This is powerful because God doesn’t suffer fools. You will not get away with using Him as a manipulative measure to cause others to believe you. Thus, the mention of swearing falsely in Leviticus 19:12.
People often gave oaths in the courtroom (a legal context), and also within business (a contractual context). Today, we still have people swear, or affirm, to tell the truth in court (although there is no hand on the Bible).
So, why do people swear? If I am a person of my word, swearing becomes redundant. Thus, it is really a manipulative tool that supports people in flat out lying to others all the way to simply wanting something so badly that we are willing to swear to its truth.
As per the teachers of their day, a whole realm of traditions had been built up on what you could swear by and what you couldn’t. Rather, what things made an oath valid and binding, versus one that is not binding. Teachers in those days had generally ruled out swearing by God’s name because it put you in direct danger of abusing the Law. Thus, they built a network of fences around this idea to keep people from being bound to swearing falsely.
In this passage, Jesus mentions four such things: swearing by heaven, by the earth, by Jerusalem, and by your own head. Of course, there were far more things. In Matthew 23:16-22, Jesus brings up this area of what makes an oath valid or not.
Imagine if you were an Israelite in those days and took a person to court because they swore to you on the temple (in Jerusalem) that they would fulfill a business obligation. Yet, they welched on the deal and cost you money. Now, imagine that in the courtroom the lawyer of the person who swindled you makes the case that the oath wasn’t binding because it was only on the temple and not on the “gold of the temple.” This is the weasel-like practices, and legal precedents, that had been built up in Jerusalem at the time. The religious leaders taught a whole realm of things that were not binding versus things that were. To them, swearing by the temple was not binding, but to swear by the gold of the temple was binding. To them, swearing by the altar was not binding, but to swear by the gift (sacrifice) on the altar was binding.
Jesus berated the religious leaders for being blind guides. To swear by the temple is to swear by all that it represents, i.e., God! The same is true for the altar. This is not the kind of righteousness that the Law was pointing us them to do, but it was what they had twisted it into.
Their nit-picking over what you swear by demonstrated their lack of respect for Yahweh, and that they represented Him. It is at this point that you know they are not interested in truth, just as you do when you find out that a person in court can get away with lying to you simply because they have a better lawyer who knows just what words to twist. The court says it is legal, but the God of heaven condemns it as lawlessness (in the name of Law).
In all of this, God’s reputation was being lost in the shuffle. Yahweh is the epitome of truth and love, but honesty and truth telling were the last things you would find (or will find today) in a court of “law.”
Verse 34 opens with, “But I say to you do not swear at all…” Quit focusing on the thing you are invoking (heaven, earth, Jerusalem, or your own head), and start focusing on whether you are speaking truth or not. Everything in this universe belongs to the God of Truth, and you have no power over those things. So, just stop swearing oaths, period!
Due to outright lying, half-truths, and manipulative wording that is deceptive, the habit of swearing to something had taken root in the ancient world and is still with us today. Jesus tells us not to be a person who swears oaths in order to get people to believe them.
Instead of swearing oaths, “But let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,” ‘No.’“ If you say ‘Yes,’ then the truth of the matter needs to be ‘Yes.’ The same is true for if you say ‘No.” Yes=Yes and No=No, period! Jesus is calling those who join His Kingdom to be truth-tellers, to be honest. Sometimes it is better to say nothing at all. You may not qualify as a witness, or get that contract, but you will at least have been truthful and honest with others.
We should also notice that Jesus does not say that we should only answer ‘Yes’ or ‘No.’ He says something far more radical. Make sure that every word you speak matches up with the truth, matches up with reality. We are challenged to keep our word, even when an oath wasn’t involved, because we represent the Kingdom of God, the Kingdom of God’s Messiah, Jesus!
Paul references such things in Ephesians 4:14-15. He tells them to “put away lying,” and “Let each one of you speak truth with his neighbors (v. 25). This does not mean that it is okay to lie to the lost.
Now, we should not turn this into a legalistic law that misses the point. It is not about what others say, or require you to do. This is all about your intention. Historically, people have made an issue of not “swearing” when they are in court because of this verse. Because people are liars, courts take time to “swear in” witnesses. It lets them know that they will be held accountable for lying. In a sense, they are admitting they are forewarned. This is not what Jesus is talking about. In fact, we have a similar issue later when Jesus is in front of the High Priest in Matthew 26:62-64.
Jesus has kept his mouth shut throughout the whole trial (kangaroo trial), This exasperates the High Priest and causes him to invoke an oath formula. “I put You under oath by the living God: Tell us if You are the Christ, the Son of God!” Now, Jesus didn’t have to say anything, but any answer following this would be equivalent to swearing upon the living God. Jesus answers the High Priest. He doesn’t make a big deal about not swearing, etc. He simply speaks the truth before God, as he had always done. The point of this is about the underlying issue of dishonesty and manipulation.
Jesus then adds in verse 37, “whatever is more than these is from the evil one.” Again, the point is not saying more than ‘Yes’ and ‘No’ (Jesus did that), but on anything more (or less) than Yes=Yes and No =No, i.e., truth, reality, honoring God in everything you say.
In fact, it is from the “evil one.” This is the devil. We can go into situations intent on saying the truth, but may find ourselves put in a situation where sensitive information may come out, and so we give half-truths. I don’t think Jesus would ever have been manipulated into lying, but we could learn a lesson from him. When his life was on the line, he was not desperately saying anything to get himself off the hook. Instead, he rarely spoke or defended himself. Of course, this didn’t get him off. It is often dishonesty that gets a man off, and truth telling that gets him killed. We fear man more than God, and thereby, we end up imaging the devil instead of our loving Father in heaven.
Other motivations that lead people to manipulation and swearing oaths are desperation to get a contract with others, or to impress others. We may be desperate to get people to sign onto something that we are personally invested in. In such cases, we are often tempted to use the arts of manipulation, even in the Church, which does not please God or honor Him.
Instead of respecting the other person, we reduce them to a means to an end. They become like a mere slice of bread to us. Desperation, in ourselves or in others, is always a red flag.
This brings us to the true motivation. Respect for others is a facet of loving others. When we operate out of love, as Jesus commands us, we will turn away from such methods, and put our trust in God. If others do not believe me, then they will have to answer to God for it. Romans 13:8-10 says, “8 Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. 9 For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 10 Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.”
If you love people, you won’t image the devil in your speech to them. Of course, we immediately feel the protest of our flesh, “No one can perfectly do that!” Listen, the only way you will become perfect is by dying to yourself and putting your faith in Jesus. If you make a mistake in this area, then be quick to admit it and ask forgiveness, from the people first and then from God. None of us will become perfect without the help of Jesus and the Spirit of God. Even then, the process will not be completed until the resurrection. This is not an excuse, but the facts. To follow Jesus is hard on our flesh, but he gives us life through the Holy Spirit.