In our previous reflection on the Sermon on the Mount, we emphasized that the Christian faith is not about adhering to a set of religious rules but about entering into a living relationship with the indwelling Christ. This is the very heart of the gospel. Christianity does not begin with our striving to be better people; it begins with receiving the life of Christ. He gave His life for us so that He could give His life to us and then live His life through us. This is the genius of the Christian life: Christ in you, the hope of glory.
We now come to Matthew 5:33–37, where Jesus addresses the issue of oaths and vows. At first glance, this topic may seem less relevant to us than His earlier teachings on anger, lust, and reconciliation. But as we will see, the issue of our speech—our truthfulness, our integrity—is deeply connected to the kind of righteousness Jesus calls His followers to embody.
Jesus says, “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.’” While this statement does not appear verbatim in the Old Testament, it summarizes several teachings found throughout the Law. For instance, Exodus 20:7 warns, “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.” Leviticus 19:12 similarly states, “You shall not swear falsely by My name, so as to profane the name of your God.” And in Numbers 30:2 we read, “If a man makes a vow to the Lord, or takes an oath to bind himself, he shall not break his word; he shall do according to all that proceeds out of his mouth.”
In short, the Old Testament permitted oaths but warned that they should not be made lightly. To swear an oath in the Lord’s name was a solemn act, not to be done casually or deceitfully. It was a way of calling upon God as a witness to the truthfulness of one’s words. It was meant to underscore sincerity and reliability.
However, over time, the religious leaders began to manipulate this system. They developed elaborate traditions that essentially created loopholes. If you swore by God, your vow was binding. But if you swore by lesser things—by the temple, by the altar, or by heaven—it wasn’t considered quite as serious. The result was a culture where truthfulness became negotiable, where people crafted their language carefully to avoid actual accountability. Their speech was filled with technicalities and evasions, not integrity.
Jesus directly confronts this system.
In Matthew 23, Jesus criticizes the Pharisees and scribes for this very practice. He says, “Woe to you, blind guides, who say, ‘Whoever swears by the temple, that is nothing; but whoever swears by the gold of the temple is obligated.’” He goes on to call them “fools and blind men” and exposes the absurdity of their distinctions: “Which is more important, the gold or the temple that sanctified the gold? … Whoever swears by heaven, swears by the throne of God and by Him who sits upon it.”