Matthew 5:33-37 Again, you have heard that it has been said by them of old time, You shall not forswear yourself… In the words before us our Lord brings out the very spirit of the third commandment. We have to distinguish - I. THE SWEARING THAT IS NOT FORBIDDEN. This is of two kinds, viz. religious and civil - spiritual and judicial. 1. Spiritual swearing. (1) The Persons of the blessed Trinity are bound by a conditional oath to redeem and save mankind. This is the covenant of God, in which he swears by himself because he can swear by no greater (see Genesis 22:16; Psalm 105:9; Luke 1:73; Hebrews 6:18, 14). (2) We have to eater into God's covenant in order to be saved. Swearing to God is, therefore, of the very essence of religion. (3) Hence this most solemn swearing is positively enjoined: "Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God" - thy covenant God - "and shall swear by his Name" (see Deuteronomy 6:13; Deuteronomy 10:20; Jeremiah 4:1, 2). This is in effect, "Thou shall engage thyself in his covenant to have no God beside him." It implies that we bind ourselves to worship and serve him only. It means also that we take him for a Witness to all our actions. (4) Christ came not to destroy this Law, but to bind it more closely up by the cords of love. Hence, referring to these gospel times, God says, "I have sworn by myself; the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, That unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear" (see Isaiah 45:23; Isaiah 65:16). 2. Judicial swearing. (1) Swearing in this sense was prescribed in the Law. The "oath of the Lord" was imposed (see Exodus 22:11; Numbers 5:19). It does not appear that Hebrew witnesses were in the first instance sworn, but in matters of important testimony they might be adjured (see Leviticus 5:1). (2) This our Lord does not forbid. It is being sworn rather than swearing. Jesus submitted to adjuration (see Matthew 26:63, 64). In Christian courts of law "an oath for confirmation" remains "the end of all strife" (Hebrews 6:16). II. THE SWEARING FORBIDDEN IS THE PROFANE. 1. False swearing is emphatically such. (1) It is dreadful impiety towards God. It is taking the Name of God in vain. ]PGBR> So "hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity is explained by nor sworn deceitfully (Psalm 24:4). When God is called in as a Witness, as he is when vows are made to men, as well as when they are made expressly to God, these must be performed unto the Lord" (cf. Ecclesiastes 5:4, 5). (2) It is injustice to man. Few men will perjure themselves before a court but for dishonest design. In cursing evils are imprecated. In broken vows the imprecation returns upon the head of the swearer. 2. -Promissory vows are especially to be avoided. (1) These are the oaths that may be "performed" particularized here. (2) Such oaths trifle with contingencies. The affirmation of a fact, with whatever solemnity, is comparatively simple, for truth is immutable. A promise pledging the future may fail through strength of temptation, through pressure of unlooked-for claims, through forgetfulness, through surprise. 3. Habitual swearing is profane. (1) This is an habitual breaking of the third commandment. The irreverent use of the Divine Names breeds a contempt of God which is fearful irreligion. (2) This sin, from its gratuitousness, is the more devilish. Being wanton it has no excuse. It is the unmistakable sign of a graceless heart. (3) "The Lord will not hold him guiltless." He will have to answer for this immediately to God. III. EQUIVOCAL SWEARING IS PROFANE. 1. The elders disputed this. (1) They admitted that it is incumbent upon men to "perform unto the Lord their oaths." But they interpreted that only to be an oath in which the Name of the Lord was mentioned. (2) Thus Philo forbids men to swear by the Supreme Cause; but directs them, if necessary, to call to record the earth, sun, or heavens. So Maimonides, "If any man swear by heaven or by earth, yet this is not an oath." In 'Elle Schemoth Rabba' (sect. 44), "As heaven and earth shall pass away, so an oath taken by them shall pass away." This is a sample. (3) Hence the distinction which the Pharisees made between serious and slighter oaths. Kindred to this is the distinction between "mortal" and "venial" sins. The simplicity of truth knows no such differences. "He that committeth Sin is of the devil." 2. Our Lord insists upon it. (1) He teaches that swearing "by heaven" is virtually swearing by God. For heaven is God's throne. It would be no heaven but for his presence. Swearing by heaven is staking a man's hope of heaven. (2) He teaches that swearing' by the earth is virtually swearing by God. For it is his footstool, under his eye, subject to his providential rule (see Psalm 24:1). His "footstool," viz. at which his mercy is supplicated. Swearing by the earth is staking a man's hope of mercy. (3) He teaches that swearing by Jerusalem is virtually swearing by God. For that which made Jerusalem to the Jew a matter of appeal was its sacredness as the place of the temple and Shechinah. It was "the city of the great King" (see Psalm 46:4; Psalm 48:2). The swearer here staked his interest in the kingdom of Messiah. (4) Swearing by the head, or "by the life of the head," as the rabbins phrased it, is still swearing by God. For so little power has a man over his head that he cannot change the colour of a hair. God's property in a man's head is infinitely more than the man's. God is in truth the Life and the Lifter-up of the head (Psalm 3:3). (5) The principle underlying all this is that men should see God in everything. That the creature cannot be separate from the Creator. Therefore that calling any creature to witness is virtually calling God. All equivocal swearing is consequently profane. "The knave who kisses his nail instead of the book, thinking to release his false testimony from the crime of perjury, fearfully deceives his soul." IV. TRUTH IS PERFECT IN SIMPLICITY. 1. Christ therefore requires it in speech. (1) Let it be yea or nay - simple affirmative, simple negative. And if greater solemnity be required, then let the yea or nay be emphatic. Emphasis was given in repetition by the Hebrews. Our Lord's emphasis was "Verily, verily." (2) But the yea must be yea. There must be no equivocation. There.must be no deception. Even Homer says, "He whose words agree not with his private thoughts is as detestable to me as the gates of hell" ('I1.,' 9:312). (3) Truth is best pledged in simplicity. A true man's word is his bond. A true man loves truth for its own sake. To require more than a word from such a man would be an insult to his honour. His self-respect will shrink from adding anything to his declaration. 2. lie attributes to evil what is added to simplicity. (1) It comes from the evil in the nature of man. Oaths have their origin in man's propensity to deceive. They are encouraged by vanity. They tend to a contempt for sacred things. A common swearer is an habitual perjurer. He that swears will lie. He that lies will steal. (2) It comes from the evil one. Satan is the father of lies. He is the father of liars - of perjurers- of profane swearers of every order. - J.A.M. Parallel Verses KJV: Again, ye have heard that it hath been said by them of old time, Thou shalt not forswear thyself, but shalt perform unto the Lord thine oaths: |
    |