Sermon Tone Analysis

*20—Stop Swearing (**5:12**)*

*But above all, my brethren, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or with any other oath; but your yes is to be yes, and your no, no, so that you may not fall under judgment.

*(5:12)

Fallen men are basically inveterate liars.

Children lie to their parents and parents lie to their children.

Husbands lie to their wives and wives lie to their husbands.

People lie to their employers who in turn lie to them and often to the public.

Politicians lie to get elected and continue to lie once they are in office.

People lie to the government—perhaps most notably on their income tax returns.

Educators lie, scientists lie, and members of the media lie.

Our society is built on a framework of lies, leading one to wonder whether our social structure would survive if everyone were forced to speak the truth for even one day.

That we live in a world of lies should surprise no one familiar with the Scriptures, which designate unregenerate humanity as children of the devil—the father of lies (John 8:44).

That basic dishonesty has led men to impose oaths on others in an often futile attempt to force them to be truthful and keep their promises.

Both the simple oaths of children, the sophisticated oaths often required by cults and other organizations, and everything from legal contracts to peace treaties are necessitated by the recognition of mankind’s basic dishonesty.

Manifesting of this same dishonesty, the Jews not only swore according to Old Testament law by the name of the Lord (and occasionally violated such oaths), but also had developed the practice of swearing false, evasive, deceptive oaths by everything other than the name of the Lord (which alone was considered binding).

They swore by anything other than the Lord for the very purpose of pretending to a truthfulness that they had no intention of maintaining.

Jesus also condemned this practice (Matt.

5:33–36; 23:16–22).

The custom of swearing oaths was a major part of life in biblical times.

It had become an issue in the church, particularly the predominantly Jewish congregations to which James wrote.

Since swearing oaths was an integral part of Jewish culture, Jewish believers brought that practice into the church.

But such oath taking is unnecessary among Christians, whose speech is to be honest (Eph.

4:25; Col.

3:9), and whose lives are to demonstrate integrity and credibility.

For believers, a simple yes or no should suffice because they are faithful to keep their word.

To encourage believers to be distinctive in the matter of speaking the truth, James issues a command to stop swearing.

There are four features of his command that need to be considered: the distinction, the restriction, the instruction, and the motivation.

*The Distinction*

*But above all, my brethren, *(5:12/a/)

The phrase *but above all* indicates the distinction between the exhortation that follows and the others in the epistle and sets it in the primary place.

The Greek particle /de/ (*but*) marks a transition from the preceding passage that discusses facing trials patiently (5:7–11).

Since there is no contrast with the preceding section, it is best to translate /de/ “now,” or “and,” recognizing that it introduces a new subject.

That new subject is not totally divorced from the preceding context, since verse 12, like verse 9, refers to the coming judgment.

The command in verse 12 is the first of several that close out the epistle.

As he winds down his letter, the author gives a final wrap-up to his thoughts and touches on some important concluding matters—a common occurrence in the New Testament epistles (cf. 1 Thess.

5:11–27).

Because it occupies only one verse, some may be tempted to dismiss James’s prohibition against swearing as relatively insignificant.

But the phrase *above all* sets it apart as a preeminent and pervasive command.

That James discusses speech at the close of his epistle is not surprising; he did so in every other chapter as well.

In 1:26 he wrote, “If anyone thinks himself to be religious, and yet does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this man’s religion is worthless.”

Those who fail to control their tongues give evidence of unregenerate hearts, despite their outward veneer of religious activities.

In 2:12 he exhorted, “So speak and so act as those who are to be judged by the law of liberty.”

Those set free from the law of sin and death through Jesus Christ (Rom.

8:2) will give evidence of that liberation in their speech.

In a lengthy passage in 3:2–11, James noted the difficulty of controlling the tongue, then exhorted believers to do just that.

In 4:11 he prohibited speaking against a fellow believer, equating that with speaking against God’s holy law.

How believers speak was of grave concern to James since it manifests what is in their hearts; it is a test of living faith (cf.

Matt.

12:34–37; Luke 6:43–45).

The prohibition against false swearing in verse 12 reflects the truth that a Spirit-transformed heart will reveal itself in honest speech.

How people speak is the most revealing test of their true spiritual state.

People sin more with their tongues than in any other way; one can’t do everything, but one can say anything.

Little wonder, then, that Jesus declared, “For the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart” (Matt.

12:34).

The heart is a storehouse and people’s words reveal what they keep there.

James’s reference to his readers as *brethren* shows that his attitude was not one of condescension, but compassion.

He identified with them as one who also needed to guard his own mouth and speak the truth.

For him, too, the matter of honest speech was of utmost importance.

*The Restriction*

*do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or with any other oath; *(5:12/b/)

The specific speech-related issue James focused his attention on is that of swearing.

In this context to *swear* does not mean (as it often does in English) to use illicit speech, dirty talk, double entendre, filthy jokes, or four-letter words—the type of unwholesome, nonedifying speech the apostle Paul forbids in Ephesians 4:29 (cf.

Eph.

5:4).

Instead, it refers to the taking of oaths.

The Jews of James’s day had developed a complex system of swearing oaths, the influences of which Jewish Christians brought with them into the church.

It is against the abuses of that system that James wrote.

The Jewish system of swearing oaths had its roots in the Old Testament.

In a time when written contracts did not exist, oaths served to bind agreements between people.

To take an oath was to attest that what one said was true, to call God to witness to that, and to invoke His punishment if one’s word was violated.

To call God to witness to the truth of one’s promise and to invoke His judgment if one defaulted on that promise was a very serious matter.

The Bible does not forbid taking oaths, acknowledging that in a world filled with liars there are times when they are necessary.

Certainly it is not wrong to take an oath when testifying in court, being ordained, or getting married.

Oaths are wrong when they are misused with the intent to deceive others, or when taken rashly or flippantly.

The Bible gives examples of godly men who took oaths, lists God’s commands that oaths be taken, and records instances of God Himself taking oaths.

The first recorded instance of someone taking an oath is in Genesis 21.

In the course of a discussion with the Philistine ruler Abimelech and his army commander Phicol,

Abraham complained to Abimelech because of the well of water which the servants of Abimelech had seized.

And Abimelech said, “I do not know who has done this thing; neither did you tell me, nor did I hear of it until today.”

Abraham took sheep and oxen and gave them to Abimelech, and the two of them made a covenant.

Then Abraham set seven ewe lambs of the flock by themselves.

Abimelech said to Abraham, “What do these seven ewe lambs mean, which you have set by themselves?”

He said, “You shall take these seven ewe lambs from my hand in order that it may be a witness to me, that I dug this well.”

Therefore he called that place Beersheba, because there the two of them took an oath.

(vv.

25–31)

Abraham took an oath to validate his claim that he dug the well in question.

Later Isaac made a similar oath with the Philistines (Gen.

26:26–31).

In Genesis 24:2–4, Abraham required his servant to take an oath:

Abraham said to his servant, the oldest of his household, who had charge of all that he owned, “Please place your hand under my thigh, and I will make you swear by the Lord, the God of heaven and the God of earth, that you shall not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I live, but you will go to my country and to my relatives, and take a wife for my son Isaac.”

Joshua 2:12–20 records the oath given Rahab by the two Israelite spies:

[Rahab said,] “Now therefore, please swear to me by the Lord, since I have dealt kindly with you, that you also will deal kindly with my father’s household, and give me a pledge of truth, and spare my father and my mother and my brothers and my sisters, with all who belong to them, and deliver our lives from death.”

So the men said to her, “Our life for yours if you do not tell this business of ours; and it shall come about when the Lord gives us the land that we will deal kindly and faithfully with you.”

Then she let them down by a rope through the window, for her house was on the city wall, so that she was living on the wall.

She said to them, “Go to the hill country, so that the pursuers will not happen upon you, and hide yourselves there for three days until the pursuers return.

Then afterward you may go on your way.”

The men said to her, “We shall be free from this oath to you which you have made us swear, unless, when we come into the land, you tie this cord of scarlet thread in the window through which you let us down, and gather to yourself into the house your father and your mother and your brothers and all your father’s household.

It shall come about that anyone who goes out of the doors of your house into the street, his blood shall be on his own head, and we shall be free; but anyone who is with you in the house, his blood shall be on our head if a hand is laid on him.

But if you tell this business of ours, then we shall be free from the oath which you have made us swear.”

David swore oaths with Jonathan (1 Sam.

20:12–17; 2 Sam.

21:7), Saul (1 Sam.

24:21–22), Shimei (2 Sam.

19:23), and God (2 Sam.

3:35).

The people of Israel under Joshua swore an oath (Josh.

6:26), as did the people of Judah during King Asa’s reign (2 Chron.