Oaths and Swearing

Introduction

We live in a world where the satisfaction of our deepest longings are directly dependent on the will, actions, and stability/dependability of another. We long for someone who is trustworthy (not withholding) and dependable (consistent/steadfast, and able). The times when our trust is met with trustworthiness and our dependence is met with dependability are glorious and filled with joy. These are times when the fragrance is true to the flower unseen.

Transition:

Tragically, however, there are times when the fragrance is clearly not the flower - when reality strikes us that all of our relationships are with others who are not always trustworthy or dependable. When this happens we are met with trials, sorrow, and suffering. But, rather than focusing on the lack of these attributes in the other, James is calling us to focus on the lack of these things within ourselves. We are not the flower; but a fragrance. We are beautiful, but broken. We are trustworthy AND untrustworthy. We are dependable AND unstable. There is a suffering that comes when we other is not the flower; BUT there is also a suffering that comes when we are not the flower for others.

Read the Text: What is Swearing?

Swearing and oaths are one of the primary means we employ to be more than who we actually are - to be the flower and more than the fragrance. Part of “remaining steadfast” (James 5:11) is accepting and holding fast to the reality of who we are, and what is true about ourselves in relationship to others. Living in the light.

it is to affirm the veracity of one’s statement by invoking (tying ourselves to/making ourselves seem like) a transcendent entity.

Swearing by something or someone (who is typically seen as more consistent, dependable and authoritative) is our attempt to attach ourselves to that something or someone in order to be seen as more like them and less like who we actually are.

Swearing is something we add to our relationships to protect us and the relationship from suffering, sorrow, and poverty.

In ancient and OT times, swearing was commonplace. So when Jesus came to bless the poor and through them establish the Kingdom of God, he removed it completely: “Again you have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform to the Lord what you have sworn.’ But I say to you, Do not take an oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. And do not take an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. Let what you say be simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything more than this comes from evil.”

Swearing seeks to erase the words of Jesus in this passage “You Cannot.”

we cannot change the fact that We are both trustworthy and untrustworthy. We are both dependable and undependable. We are both steady and unsteady. We both have strength AND we are not in control. Add this to the truth that all relationships put us in intimate relationship with others who deep longings for us to be the former and deep fear that we will be the latter.

Swearing makes sense; but it is far from helpful.

Transition:

Covering our yes’s and no’s with an oath is equivalent to covering our face with a mask. Swearing and deceiving are in the same serpent kingdom. Anything more than a yes or no “ ones from evil. Oath’s fuel our run from reality - our run from home; and asking others to join us in our jog.