Swears

James 5:12 and the Meaning of Swearing

Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry coming to you from Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston. No Compromise Radio is a program dedicated to the ongoing proclamation of Jesus Christ, based on the theme in Galatians 2, verse 5, where the Apostle Paul said, �But we did not yield in subjection to them for even an hour, so that the truth of the gospel would remain with you.

In short, if you like smooth, watered-down words to make you simply feel good, this show isn�t for you. By purpose, we are first biblical, but we can also be controversial. Stay tuned for the next 25 minutes as we�re called by the Divine Trumpet to summon the troops for the honor and glory of her King.

Here�s our host, Pastor Mike Abendroth. Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry coming to you from Bethlehem Bible Church. I think I�ve recorded a show, taped a show, for about a week, so I�m happy.

I have my coffee here, my Pete�s coffee, I have my glasses, he�s got glasses, and I�m very happy to be in a Christian nation. We are officially a Christian nation. Not that long ago, Billboard Magazine, Billboard 200, top album, hip-hop artist, Tobe Mack, eye on it.

First Christian album to top the Billboard 200 in 15 years. We are taking back America, one hip-hop album at a time. I�ve actually taken some heat. My friend Mario was here in the studio not that long ago, and I think we had Jovan McKenzie on not that long ago.

I�m not really a hip-hop fan, although I�m a gospel fan, so when gospel is put in hip-hop fashion in a good way, in a nice way, it�s nice, then I like it. Maybe there�s a hip-hop album or two on my iPhone, iPad, iPod, iDevice.

Discernment About Worship and False Teaching

So today, what do we want to talk about? Well, I guess we could continue to talk about why America is a Christian nation, especially as TBN is on the decline and all the trouble with TBN. When you first get saved, though, you kind of like to watch TBN a little bit and you try to make games.

And so the games we played back 25 years ago, 23 years ago, when we first got saved, turn on TBN and see how long it takes you to listen to our spot, a theological heresy, aberration, our foible. How long will it take?

Well, it usually didn�t take very long. And of course, we would wait for the Meister, Burger Meister, Meister Burger, to come on Benny Hinn, and then we actually got to see things. It counts if they do things that are unbiblical.

They don�t have to say unbiblical things, they can just do unbiblical things. By the way, on a real serious side note, sometimes ask the question to yourself when you�re sitting in a worship service, say, �Why are they doing these things

What aren�t they doing at the service today? That�s a good way to think about worship services. What don�t they do? In other words, maybe they don�t have the creeds read. Maybe they don�t have responsive reading.

Maybe they don�t have an altar call. Maybe they don�t have women doing Scripture reading. Maybe they don�t stand in a pulpit. There�s a lot of questions you could ask yourself, and that�s a good question.

When you go to a church, what don�t they do? Because churches do things or don�t do things because of a theological reason. Now, sometimes they�re ignorant to the theological ramifications that show themselves in methodology.

Easy for me to say. So today I�d like to talk about James chapter 5 and oaths and cursing and swear words. When we moved to New England, the kids learned that instead of, when I grew up, no cursing, no cussing.

I think we said cussing more than anything else, no cussing, dirty cuss, you know, that kind of language. Well, now the kids here in New England say they do swears. You wonder why my English is so bad.

She said some swears. So it�s not swearing. She was swearing. She had lots of swear words that came out of her mouth. It�s just all put together into one big English New England bag. She said some swears.

Thomas, Christology, and the Confession of Thomas

So we�re going to look today at James chapter 5 and see if that�s what it talked about. Actually, I was reading a commentary the other day that said some liberals, when Thomas finally believed in the Lord Jesus Christ in his resurrected body, and he exclaimed in John, �My Lord and my God that some liberals say that is not a Christological confession, right?

One of the great confessions, �My Lord and my God. Can you imagine a Jewish person saying that about a human being? �My Lord and my God. The ramifications are tremendous, and so we have this great affirmation, �God incarnate.

And Thomas, of course, was able to recognize that by the grace of God. So some liberal commentators don�t want Jesus to be God, so they have him, of course, walking on the sandbar in Mark chapter 4, Mark chapter 6.

They have the Pharaoh�s army chasing Israel and drowning in two inches of water. You know, that type of thing. William Barclay, one of the favorite commentators for most evangelicals, because that�s just the commentary found in most church libraries, sometimes the only one found.

Maybe there�ll be some Warren Wearsby books, the B-series, and there�ll probably be some J. Vernon McGee stuff, but the last two were good, of course. And Barclay actually has some good comments, but the guy�s liberal.

He�s denying supernatural events, and so back to the point here, �My Lord and my God. One commentator, a liberal commentator, said that was like saying, �My word. When you recognize the resurrected Jesus and He shows up in a room with you and doesn�t even walk through the door, of course, they don�t say that part, but He just shows up and He appears, right?

The resurrected glorified body of the Lord could appear and disappear at will. That Thomas just exclaimed, �My word, my Lord, my God swears. So, is that what happened? That�s what made me think of this the other day.

�My God. No, what did Thomas say? �My Lord and my God. He did that with an act of reverence, with an act of affirmation, with an amen, with a verily, verily. Here we have maybe the most famous Christological statement that should be your statement.

And if you�re a Christian, God has revealed this to you, and you have responded with your own faith. God didn�t believe for you. God didn�t confess for you. God didn�t repent for you. But God regenerated you and gave you monergistically new life.

He made you alive, Colossians 2. He made you alive together with Christ, Ephesians chapter 2. An alive person, a person who had been dead and now is alive because of the rich mercy of God, because of the kindness of God, because of the good intention of God, because of the grace of God, because of the sovereign working of God, responds with, �My Lord and my God.

Now, that�s a lot different than some swears, isn�t it? So, let�s talk about oaths in general. Let�s talk about being truthful in areas of our life in general. And we�re going to today go to the book of James.

James 5:12 on Oaths, Not Profanity

Here�s what James chapter 5 says in verse 12, and then we can talk about what this means and how does this apply as we live out our lives. But above all, my brethren, James 5, 12, do not swear. He doesn�t say do not swears.

Do some swears. Above all, my brethren, don�t do some swears. Do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or with any other oath, but let your yes be yes and your no be no, so that you may not fall under judgment.

So, here James says, above all, especially, guard yourself against this. This is the idea. He�s not saying this is the preeminent truth in the book of James. I almost said the gospel of James. Here, it�s interesting, we don�t even have the gospel in James, but that�s another story, 108 verses, 54 imperatives.

There�s a little bit about Jesus in chapter 2 early on, but here he says, guard yourself against this particular sin. That�s what he means when he says, but above all, my brethren. He is not saying that doing some swears is worse than other sins he�s just mentioned, but he�s saying this is a very important topic, this swearing and this giving of false oaths.

Well, what�s the big context here in James? Let�s think about this rightly. James is writing to a bunch of Christians who are getting persecuted, and they have lots of trials. Remember James chapter 1?

�Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter or are surrounded by various kinds of trials, variegated trials. Joseph had a lot of colors in his coat, and you�ve got a lot of trials in your life.

And if you�re not careful, living in such a persecution-driven society that you could give an irreverent or a hasty oath, you could say something wrongly to get out of a situation. You could lie, or you could do the two-step with your truth, a two-step truth during persecution.

Remember this? �Now Peter was sitting outside in the courtyard, and a certain servant girl came to him and said, �You too were with Jesus, the Galilean. But he denied it before them all, saying, �I do not know what you�re talking about.

When he had gone out to the gateway, another servant girl saw him and said to those who were there, �This man was with Jesus of Nazareth. And again he denied it with an oath, �I do not know the man.

And a little later the bystanders came up and said to Peter, �Surely you two are one of them, for the way you talk gives you away. Then he began to curse and swear. So now we have something here about an oath, about a curse, about a swear.

�I do not know the man. And then what happened? �And immediately a cock crowed. And Peter remembered the words which Jesus had said, �Before a cock crows, you will deny me three times. And he went out and wept bitterly.

The point being today on No Compromise Radio, that when you're in a sticky situation, a tough persecuted time, a time of trial, that you're tempted to do the wrong thing with this exact kind of swearing, our oath, our lying, our denial.

And so James chapter 5 verse 12 says, �But above all, my brethren, do not swear either by heaven or by earth or with any other oath. Well, what is this swearing then that he's talking about? Well, it's not dirty and profane language.

That's bad, but that's not the context here. So all my talk about swears and stuff like that, although bad, condemned elsewhere in the Bible, here in James 5, he's not talking about cursing or using foul language complete with four-letter words.

The oaths here talking about were solemn declarations that invoke God as a witness. So I'm going to say something, and instead of me just saying this is the truth, I need to reinforce what I'm going to say by saying God as my witness.

Biblical Oaths, Vows, and God’s Witness

Westminster Confession of Faith says, regarding definitions of vows, vows are promises given to God under oath, a promissory oath. So we are saying we are going to call on God's name to guarantee the truth of what we say.

Now, I'm not saying these are oaths like a doctor would take, a Hippocratic oath. I'm not saying you can't swear to tell the truth and nothing but the truth in a courtroom. These are voluntary things that you just flippantly say, and you needlessly say, and you promise with God's name attached.

That kind of thing, James says, don't do. Discontinue that. Do not swear. Now, immediately we begin to think, what does the Bible teach as a whole? What does the Bible say elsewhere? If we are going to say every oath is bad, then we need to step back a little bit and telescope our thoughts back.

Vows in the Old Testament actually were encouraged. Deuteronomy 10, you shall fear the Lord your God, you shall serve Him and cling to Him, and you shall swear by His name. Actually, sometimes oaths were commanded in certain circumstances.

You can go to Numbers chapter 5 and Numbers chapter 30 to find some of those. Abraham gave vows, Rahab gave vows, David gave vows. I even think of Paul, Romans chapter 1, for God whom I serve in my spirit in the preaching of the gospel of His Son is my witness as to how unceasingly I make mention of you.

Do you know angels actually gave some vows? And an angel whom I saw standing on the sea, Revelation 10, and on the land lifted up his right hand to heaven and swore by Him who lives forever and ever, who created heaven and the things in it and the earth and the things in it and the sea and the things in it, that there should be delay no longer.

And did you know that actually God Himself made a vow? Now, He might have made more than one vow, but I'm going to focus on this vow right here. Hebrews chapter 6, for when God made the promise to Abraham, since he could swear by no one greater, He swore by Himself, saying, I will surely bless you and I will surely multiply you.

And so He gives that assurance. It says later in Hebrews chapter 6, in order that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we may have strong encouragement, we who have fled for refuge in laying hold of the hope set before us.

And speaking of God giving an oath, how about Jesus Himself? The high priest said to Him, I adjure you by the living God that you tell us whether you are the Christ, the Son of God. And Jesus said to Him, you have said it yourself.

And so Jesus, not giving an oath, but speaking under oath. So what gives here? Where else could we turn in sacred Scripture to have some additional insight for this conundrum? Don't have some oaths, but there are some Bible people who had some oaths.

You could easily say, well, God can make all the oaths He wants. We don't have to do exactly what He does. That would be a good way to think. But how about this? I think James is echoing what Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew chapter 5, sinful oaths.

Jesus, Matthew 5, and the Abuse of Oaths

I think that's the issue here. He's not saying don't ever make an oath. He says, don't make a sinful oath. Let's find out. You can see a lot of similarity between James and the Sermon on the Mount, between James and Jesus, and the reason is patently obvious.

Matthew chapter 5, again, you heard that the ancients were told, you shall not make false vows, but shall fulfill your vows to the Lord. But I say to you, make no oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, or by the earth, for it is the footstool of His feet, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King.

Nor shall you make an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. But let your statement be, yes, yes, or no, no, and anything beyond these is evil. Now the backdrop here is, oaths were abused big time during this time period, and earlier.

And how do you tell the truth? Well, instead of just saying, yes, you have my word, yes, I'll do that, yes, that's true, you had to put all kinds of topping on it. You had to put all kinds of, what's the icing on the cake?

See, the icing, that's what I'm after. By heaven, I swear. By earth, I swear. By Jerusalem, I swear. I name God, and then I have to add something else, which ends up making a mockery of the whole business.

Some would say, I swear by my beard, I swear by your life, stick ten needles in my eye, hope to die, whatever that one's called. Swearing became a fine art, Archant Hughes said. That depends on the definition of what is, is.

See, isn't this very, this is for today. Rabbi said, one rabbi, if you swear by Jerusalem, you are bound. But if you swore toward Jerusalem, you are not. See, lies became cloaked by these complicated, lawyer-esque kind of oaths.

In other words, swearing of oaths had degenerated into a system where you could easily lie and try to get away with it, at least before other people. And so there was kind of an art to this, there was kind of a deal to this, and you could have actually two categories.

Things that I say that are true, things that I say that aren't, even though both times I say, yeah, they're true. Smokescreens for frivolous excuses, John Calvin called them. I think of Jesus' condemnation of people who did this kind of thing, especially the leaders, Matthew 23, woe to you blind guides who say, whoever swears by the temple, that's nothing.

But whoever swears by the temple, the gold of the temple, he is obligated. You fools and blind men, which is more important, the gold or the temple that sanctified the gold? And whoever swears by the altar, that is nothing.

But whoever swears by the offering upon it, he's obligated. You blind men, which is more important, the offering or the altar that sanctifies the altar? Therefore, he who swears by the altar swears both by the altar and by everything on it.

And he who swears by the temple swears both by the temple and by him who dwells within it. He who swears by heaven swears both by the throne of God and by him who sits upon it. If you're going to go through this complicated checklist of how to swear, at the end of the day, you're having God's name attached.

Everything is God. And if you swear by anything, you're referring to God. If you swear by the tree, if you swear by the moon, if you swear by the cloud, if you swear by your head, your hair, your beard, God's glory has set itself over and upon all things.

So don't swear wrongly. He's not saying never have an oath. Now, some have determined that's exactly what Jesus is after. Anabaptists, Jehovah's Witnesses, the Quakers, George Fox. You know, you don't have to put your hand on the Bible and say, so help me God these days.

I think you can just say, I do, right? So I'm not against having an oath. I think I gave an oath on my marriage day 23 years ago. Actually, it was kind of a funny story to break this up in No Compromise Radio.

Marriage Vows, Truthfulness, and Final Exhortation

My wife, something happened with her driver's license or passport, and they asked for her marriage license because her name was under Kimberly Duncan, which was her last name. Everything runs on Duncan.

And so she said, could you give me the marriage license? And I said, well, you know what? For some reason, I can't find our marriage license. So we called California to try to find it, and they said, we have no record of your marriage license.

So here's what we thought. We thought that when we went to that Scotts Valley Church in 1989, June 6th, and said, I do, I think that was an oath. Don't you think that was a promise? I think that was, I was trying to tell the truth.

That we, you know, my foster father-in-law was officiating in Glennon, and we said, I do. We ran off, and I thought I signed some paperwork, but we thought, you know what? It's not filed. So Pastor Mike and Kim were married, at least in their eyes, maybe in God's eyes, that we had the right motives.

But if we don't have this paperwork, it wasn't filed, maybe the state doesn't recognize it, and hence our problem. We don't have the right paperwork because she's still coming up under her maiden name.

Well, that was quite the interesting time period, because here's what I thought we would end up doing. So Kim and I talked, and we thought, all right, here's what we'll do. If we aren't legally married under the state of California, then we're going to have a big wedding ceremony at Bethlehem Bible Church, and we can say, you know, for 23 years we thought we were married, but we weren't technically married, so please come to Pastor Mike and Kim's wedding, where I'll give the real oaths.

That would have been quite the scene. I can just hear the people in the newspapers locally write about it, although the people in the newspapers locally don't write much about religion, so maybe scandals they would write about.

So today on No Compromise Radio, what have we done? What have we done? Well, we've just put our toe into the freezing ice-cold water that's out in the ponds right now here on this cold November day when I'm recording the show, but we've tried to talk a little bit about oaths, and so we went to James chapter 5.

Here's what I'll say towards the end before we go to part two next time. You should just be a man or a woman of your word. You should not have a complete set of ways to disguise your words. Simple yes, simple no.

God is a God of truth, and He wants you to be a God of truth. Jesus Christ was a truth-telling God-man, and we ought to be as well. We are thankful that all the times we've tried to shave the truth and put shade over the truth that we have a wonderful Savior, and so in light of the sins that have been forgiven us, including lying with deceitful oaths, then let's respond with, we want to tell the truth.

So today on No Compromise Radio, Oaths, James chapter 5, write us at info at nocompromiseradio .com. You can also visit us at wvnechurch .org or by phone at 508 -835 -3400. The thoughts and opinions expressed on No Compromise Radio do not necessarily reflect those of WVNE, its staff or management.