OUR FATHER WHO SENT HIS SON TO DO AND TO TEACH

The Lord Jesus, continuing with the clarification of the Law of Moses to His disciples, referencing the matter of taking oaths that is mentioned in the book of Numbers chapter 30, addresses the expectation of His kingdom pertaining to the swearing oaths.

In Mathew chapter 5 verses 33 - 37, the Lord takes the injunction to fulfill all oaths that are made and escalates the standard to a spiritual elevation.

33 “Again, you have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not break your oath, but fulfill to the Lord the vows you have made.’ 34 But I tell you, do not swear an oath at all: either by heaven, for it is God’s throne; 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 swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black. 37 All you need to say is simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.

The practice of swearing oaths is a mechanism by which one person could assure another that a promise would be fulfilled.

The Lord Jesus establishes that His followers should avoid swearing oaths all together.

Swearing oaths was usually done on a higher authority than the person and ostensibly, this higher authority could be invoked to enforce the oath if the terms were not filfilled so that the name of the higher authority was not besmirched by the failure to fulfill the oath.

The Lord Jesus specified why these mechanisms of swearing on heaven or on the  earth or even on the city of Jerusalem was inappropriate. He explained that because they belonged to God and to the great king, obligating these places and engendering the risk of sullying their reputations by a failure to fulfill the oath was wrong.

To even swear on one's own head was wrong because one's own head was not under the authority of its owner to the degree that he could not even alter the color of a single hair. The person's head was still under the perview of God and thus wrong to swear upon.

The standard set by Jesus was that no oaths were to be sworn. In the life of the spirit that He was authoring for those who believed in Him, everything we say is under oath anyway. None of our utterances are exempt from obligation and everything we say we will do, we must fulfill. 

To fail to fulfill a promise is, as Jesus said, an artifact of the influence of the evil one.

Mathew chapter 12 verses 36 - 37 says;

36 But I tell you that everyone will have to give account on the day of judgment for every empty word they have spoken. 37 For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned.”

Amen.

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