LBCF Chap 23: Of Lawful Oaths and Vows

Lawful Oaths and Vows in the 1689 London Baptist Confession

We're in chapter 23 of the 1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith. As you can.

See, chapter 23 is of lawful oaths and vows. This chapter is divided into two parts, five paragraphs. It's one of the shorter chapters in the whole confession, so I actually did prepare something else if we go through this rather quickly, so we'll see.

All right, this chapter refutes the practice of the Anabaptists who refused to make any oaths or vows at all, all right? That's true to this day. Those who are Anabaptists, Amish, Mennonites, will not make any vows, even to attestations, or if they summon to court, they won't make any vows, all right?

However, it does soften the view of the Westminster Confession of Faith and the Savoy Declaration. Those confessions state this, it is a sin to refuse an oath touching anything that is good and just being imposed by lawful authority, and that phrase in the Westminster was directly to come against the Anabaptists.

Remember, the Presbyterians and the Anabaptists were definitely involved in a feud over doctrine, and this was one of those areas. However, the Baptists, the particular Baptists, the Reformed Baptists, had a soft spot in their heart for the Anabaptists, and so they softened it, and instead of calling it a sin, they just said it ought to be taken, and I'll show you later on where that comes into play, all right?

So, oaths and vows, I'm going to give you just a little bit of a preview. Oaths and vows are similar in nature, and in Scripture are often treated together in the same way, but oaths are basically solemn promises made before the Lord, but to men, okay?

And the purpose of an oath is a confirmation. In other words, I'm going to swear, you know, in court to confirm that what is being testified to is in fact true, all right? Vows are solemn promises made to the Lord, all right?

And the purpose of a vow is commitment, all right? So how would your wedding vows come into play? They're made to God, and there's also an oath part to it because you're making a commitment to God that you're going to love and honor and obey and all those other things, but there's also a confirmation that you will treat your wife or your husband in that same way, but the vow is basically to God, okay?

The Definition of a Lawful Oath

So, lawful oaths. Firstly, their definition. A lawful oath is a part of religious worship. Notice what it says, part of religious worship, all right? We're in the person swearing in truth, righteousness, and judgment, solemnly call God to witness what he swears, and to judge him according to the truth or falseness thereof.

Now here you can see, just look at the definition, and remember, this is pretty much exactly, in fact, it is word-for-word what the Savoy and the Westminster Confession would say. So notice, this is a serious thing.

Taking an oath or making a vow is very, very serious because look at what you're doing. Even the oath is you're swearing, solemnly calling God to witness what you're swearing. So in other words, what you're saying is God is going to be my judge that this is true, okay?

The Sanctity and Proper Use of Oaths

So paragraph 2a now talks about their sanctity. We have the definition. The name of God only is that by which men ought to swear, all right? And therein it is used to be used with all holy fear and reverence.

Therefore to swear vainly or rashly by any glorious or dreadful name or to swear by any other thing is sinful and to be of hort. In other words, if you are going to swear to an oath, don't swear by anything other than the name of God.

That's the only oath that should be taken by a believer in Jesus Christ, all right? And again, notice what it says. Don't swear vainly or rashly because you're invoking the name of God. And this is why we need to be careful.

You know, taking the Lord's name in vain, this is a little bit off track, but people don't realize taking the Lord's name in vain is more than uttering a curse, all right? People say, oh I swear to God.

They've just taken the Lord's name in vain because that's a rash statement and any oath or vow should be taken seriously because you are invoking the glorious and dreadful name of God. Remember, the Jews wouldn't even write out the name of God.

They still don't, you know, the Orthodox Jews, they still don't. You ever notice that it's G-D, you know, because they don't want to write out the name of God, okay? And again, you don't swear by any other thing.

How often do you hear people swear by other things? Well, what do they swear to? Children's grave, my mother's grave, whereas rats are residual to swear my mother's eyes. No, okay. Paragraph 2b is talking about the propriety of oaths, all right?

Yet as a matter of wait and moment for confirmation of truth, now here's the youth and the propriety of it, for confirmation of truth and the ending of strife. In other words, that should be the purpose of an oath is to confirm the truthfulness.

If somebody swears by God's name that something is true, that should be the end of it, all right? So ending all strife, it says an oath is warranted by the Word of God. Notice what the confession is saying.

If you look through Scripture, the Word of God does affirm the practice of lawful oaths, okay? And again, remember we're not going through the proofs for these because it would just take too long. The purpose of this class is just to say what does the confession in fact teach, and if you have any questions, go to chapter 23 in your London Baptist Confession, and everybody should have that nice little leather-bound one with the confession in it.

Yeah, right? No? Okay. Anyway, and look up the Scripture proofs, and you'll see the proofs that would back up what the confession says. So a lawful oath being imposed by lawful authority in such ways ought to be taken, and there's that phrase, all right?

This is the difference between the Savoy, the Westminster Confession, and our confession. We just say it ought to be taken, they say it's sinful not to take it. Could you give an example of one of these oaths?

Yeah, in court. Do you swear that everything, the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth, so help you God. Back when I was still a police officer, we actually put our hands on the Bible and raised our right hand, you know, and it was a serious thing, you know, so and in fact, one of the things, and Dave, you can confirm this whether they did at NASA, I know in Suffolk County, if a person was too young to understand what they were doing, they would do a lesser form of an oath because they didn't want them to swear to God in a false or vain way.

They still have to understand. Yes, but they don't ask them to swear to God if they don't comprehend what that means. So, I mean, even our court system recognized the seriousness of an oath and would not have somebody swear an oath just, you know, as out of rote if a person had some sort of an issue.

Okay.

Do they still say, so help you God, in the courts? No, and you don't swear, you just raise your hand, and you swear to tell the truth, but you don't know if I got it, or not if I got it.

Well, when did they stop that? I don't, I don't know. They were still doing it when I retired, which was back in 1987. Hey, back off.

Yes. This is a little off, but in terms of a legal attestation, you're saying you're swearing this to be true, based on your willingness to be prosecuted for perjury, but not telling the truth. Do you think that's an unlawful or improper attestation, that you're not really swearing before God?

You're saying, oh, I'm telling the truth here. If I'm not telling the truth, I'll be prosecuted for perjury.

Yeah, if it's not invoking the name of God according to our confession, that that would be a false, not a vow that we, an oath that we should take. What we can do is, in fact, if you ever put in that position, you can say, but I want it in, that I'm swearing before God, you know, because that's, I mean, this is serious, because notice what, even under the, did I, what did I do here?

Okay. Notice the definition. It's religious worship. When you swear, right? Paragraph three talks about their solemnity. Whosoever takes an oath warranted by the word of God, and there again, notice the phrase, when it's warranted, not an unwarranted one, there is such a thing as an unwarranted oath.

When it's warranted by the word of God, ought duly to consider the weightiness of so solemn an act. This is what you're bringing up there. It's a weighty thing. So you've got to make sure what you're doing is right.

And there into a vouch, nothing but what he knows to be true. All right. For by, for that by rash, false, and vain oaths, the Lord is provoked. And look at the last phrase. And for them, this land mourns.

What land was he talking about? No. England. Talking about England. In other words, what the framers of our confession are saying is, England is in trouble because the Lord is provoked. Okay. It's an important phrase.

The Plain Sense of Oaths and Jesus' Teaching on Vows

Their sincerity and oath is to be taken in the plain and common sense of the words. Without equivocation or mental reservation. Now, remember, who was guilty of this from Scripture? Huh? No, that's not who I have in mind.

Okay, well, that's a rash one. That was. Yes, the Pharisees. Yeah, they would. They would equivocate on words so that they would say, well, I didn't really swear by the name of God. I swore by the gold on the temple altar.

So therefore, is that really binding? You know, they played games. And that's the whole. And that's when Jesus says, let you, yes, yes, you know, be no, which is make no vow at all. But you have to look at the context, because the Bible clearly says that there are vows you should take.

And and sometimes people will say, well, look at Matthew five. Jesus said, don't make any vows at all. No, what he's talking about is those those vows that were equivocating on on the truth so that they could get out of it.

So they would what they would do is they would say, I will swear to this to be true and you give me X amount of dollars, you know, and then whatever. Then they want to back out a deal. So I didn't really swear by God's name.

OK. Part two is lawful vows. We've been looking at oaths. Now we're going to switch over to vows. OK. Paragraph five eight talks about their exclusive recipient of vow, which is not to be made to any creature but to God alone.

Clear and simple, you do not make vows other than to God. And again, remember, I mentioned wedding vows are really there's two parts to them, but the vow itself is to God. So which is why divorce is very serious.

All right. And very limited in how a man can divorce his wife. OK. Not for burning his dinner. OK. Part B is their careful performance. It is to be made and performed with all religious care and faithfulness.

All right. And then and then five C they put in and of course you can see why they put this in. But popish monastical vows of perpetual single life profess poverty and regular obedience are so far from being degrees of high perfection that they are superstitious and sinful snares in which no Christian may entangle himself.

Now that's very clear. There is no biblical warrant for vows of poverty. All right. I didn't set out to be poor. It just turned out that way. I didn't have to make a vow. You know, when I owned a business, I said that they said, what kind of business?

It's nonprofit. I said, really? I didn't intend it to be that way. It's just the way it turned out. But so no vows of poverty, monastical vows, vows of celibacy, all of those, those are unwarranted vows and should not be followed.

And in fact, if you find yourself in a case where you have made a non-biblical vow, there is remedy for that. Repent of it and then stop it. OK, just stop it or I'll bury you alive in a box. Anybody have you ever seen a Bob Newhart?

If you haven't seen the Bob Newhart skit, you don't get what that is. Any questions on lawful oaths or vows? Yes.

If someone like when you talk about it, you have to swear the oath before God, but if someone just says, I swear on the Bible, is that the same as swearing to God? No, it is not the same.

Nope. In the name of God. OK.