Above all, my beloved, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or by any other oath, but let your "Yes" be yes and your "No" by no, so that you may not fall under condemnation.
Just one verse to consider today. Few words ... powerful punch ... and mightily relevant for you and I in our particular culture.
James is again reiterating the words of Jesus. In Matthew 5: 33 - 37, Jesus said:
Again, you have heard that it was said to the people long ago, 'Do not break your oath, but keep the oaths you have made to the Lord.' But I tell you, Do not swear at all: either by heaven, for it is God's throne; or by the earth, for it is his footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King. And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black. Simply let your 'Yes' be 'Yes,' and your 'No,' 'No'; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.
When I was growing up, I remember discussions around whether or not a Christian could "take an oath" in a court of law. I think this is the verse that caused the consternation. So we manipulated words and came up with "I affirm" ... so that the word "oath" was not used ... but we do see that the concept is the same, no?
In the Jewish culture of James' day (and Jesus' earthly time) the common practice was to take oaths to make your words binding. There were 2 levels of oaths. If a person invoked the name of God into the oath, it was definitely binding. After all, using His name brought God into the agreement. Binding! However, if an oath was taken using anything else as the witness, one could wiggle around the words. Not necessarily binding.
Jesus, followed by James, steps into that arena and says, "Stop it." You should not need any outside verification to make your word dependable. Live such exemplary lives that everyone knows you to be a person of your word.
Listen to Barclay: "The practice of taking frequent oaths was nothing other than a proof that lying and cheating was widespread. In an honest society, no oath is needed; it is only when people cannot be trusted to tell the truth that they have to be put on oath."
The Greek culture held that the best guarantee of the truth of any statement was not an oath but the character of the person who made it, and that the ideal was for a person to make himself/herself so respected that no one would ever think of demanding an oath from him/her because there could be no doubt that they would always speak the truth.
What would you say about the American culture in our time? How many times do you hear (or perhaps say) "I swear" before a statement is made? We do transactions by contract (and you best read the small print!) ... shaking hands on a deal will not stand up in a court of law. I heard a report on NPR the other day about exonerating people who were in prison wrongly. The most common reason for the incarceration of innocent people? - Perjury. Lying. False Witness.
These words from James have everything to do with the our character - with what kind of people we are. I don't think it has to do with our culture or legal system. The questions these words raise are: Are you dependable? Can your word be trusted? Do you speak straightforwardly? If you say you will do something, do you do it - or at least contact the responsible party if you find that you cannot? Our goal? To be people who can be trusted ... whose words are known to be true ... who are recognized as people who would not deliberately say anything false. Lord, help us ...
Our Father ... we want to be dependable people ... not only because of these words from Jesus and James, but also because You are perfectly dependable ... and we want so desperately to reflect You to our world. Through Your Spirit ... help us.
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