Simple Honesty (Matthew 5:33-37)

We want to live out our faith in a credible enough way to have the opportunity of sharing that same faith with others. Jesus, in the ‘sermon on the mount’, is concerned that his followers can be easily identified as such – “Jesus followers”! We have already seen that one way in which Jesus followers can be identified as such is through being peacemakers. Another way, if we look back to the “beatitudes” (Matthew 5:3-12), is to be “pure in heart”. This is about our motivations and inner life. But it is also about how such inner motivations play out in the public sphere.

Our inner and outer lives should be in harmony on our journey toward wholeness. Jesus says a bit more about a straightforward and uncomplicated way of life in Matthew 5:33-37. This is about a way of life that is honest and truthful … a life that has integrity. Jesus moves the focus away from the need to take oaths and make vows, toward simply speaking the truth, meaning what we say, and fulfilling the commitments that we make.

Jesus doesn’t directly quote any one Old Testament verse here, but rather seems to summarise a number of them. The Old Testament acknowledged the cultural norm of taking oaths and making vows concerning conduct (and doing so in the name of God) – swearing an oath would suggest people were telling the truth, and making a vow about something would suggest that they were going to fulfil their stated responsibility. But history had already showed that such taking of oaths had not achieved a general pattern of truthfulness amongst God’s people. These oaths and vows were often broken, as inevitably happens when a person’s heart is not right, and didn’t really mean what they had said.

So we read this rejoinder in Numbers 30:2 – “When a man makes a vow to the Lord, or swears an oath to bind himself by a pledge, he shall not break his word; he shall do according to all that proceeds out of his mouth”. In a similar vein, but with the added implication of “guilt”, we read in Deuteronomy 23:21 – “If you make a vow to the Lord your God, do not postpone fulfilling it; for the Lord your God will surely require it of you, and you would incur guilt”. Then in Leviticus 19:12 we have the most clear warning – “And you shall not swear falsely by my name, profaning the name of your God: I am the Lord”. Taking so lightly such an oath, right to the extent of speaking dishonestly, or not following through on a promise … greatly dishonoured and demeaned the name of God (right in the face of the One who is Lord of all)! And the full emphasis of this is brought out by it being addressed as the ‘third’ of the ‘ten commandments’: “You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not acquit anyone who misuses his name” (Exodus 20:7, Deut.5:11). This is not so much about using God’s name loosely as a swear word (which is bad enough), but more so about attaching falsehoods and broken promises to God’s name – making God an accessory to a (grave) wrong!

So, having taken an oath or made a vow in the name of God (and calling upon God as a witness) was a very serious matter, and they could expect significant repercussions when they broke such a commitment. So, then … was the truth and commitments really taken seriously? Do we take both honesty and our commitments seriously? We can see from Jesus’ words in Matthew, that instead of just opting for complete honesty, people began to take their oaths or make their vows against a series of lesser terms than God (e.g. heaven, earth, Jerusalem, their own head), saving themselves from judgment (or so they thought), when they inevitably failed or went back on their word. So they would try to avoid the binding nature of ‘swearing by God’, and would utilise this other scale of oaths which they considered to be less and less binding.

Apparently there were great screeds written on these lesser “oaths”, showing that this was widely discussed, and had got totally out of control. These were their escape clauses, sometimes in making promises they really had no intention of keeping. Such promises are made just to put a person in a good light (albeit temporary) or to silence their detractors (for the time being until they are found out). Rather than starting from a point of natural truthfulness and wholistic commitment, people had found ways to allow for and legitimate laxity, equivocation and disloyalty. The commonness of “oaths” actually showed how much dishonesty, untruthfulness and unreliability had become the norm!

How do we do this now? If we are bold enough, a modern alternative might be, “I’ll swear on my mother’s grave …”. But perhaps more likely, in being loose with our language, we might be saying quietly under our breath, (if this still suits me later) I will … , or (if this is still to my advantage) I will … .

Of course, there was really no escape through swearing in the name of heaven, earth, Jerusalem, or even oneself, because all of these terms had linkages back to God – all such things were created by and belong to God. Jesus quotes from Isaiah 66 and Psalm 48 to strengthen his point. And besides, this completely flew in the face of the original intention of the Old Testament law – honesty and true commitment. The fact is, “A community of integrity and ‘right’ relationships does not need oaths that can be used evasively” (Warren Carter). A simple basic “yes” or “no” is emphasised as the way to go! Playing around with the truth or being ambivalent about commitment, comes from the place of evil. W.R.G. Loader wrote, “Nothing but straight honest open communication avoids treating people as less than people and God as less than God”.

This teaching is also found in James 5:12 – “Above all, my beloved, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or by any other oath, but let your ‘Yes’ be ‘yes’ and your ‘No’ be ‘no’, so that you may not fall under condemnation”. I think by implication, the inverse could also be said: If you want to properly represent Jesus to others, you need to develop thorough and consistent truthfulness. Good character and a transparent goodness follows from here. This is the shape of the new community of Jesus. This will be an example that naturally critiques any falsehood and infidelity.

If we form a good pattern of honesty, then this will likely hold when we are put under pressure. Sometimes, rather than responding rashly, we will need to take some time (utilising prayer) before we respond ‘yes’ or ‘no’, until all the facts are in, or until we’ve had time to weigh up all the likely implications. Better this, than to let someone down, or dishonour the name of Jesus. At the same time, because sometimes there is the need for instant responses, we should be nurturing our working relationship with the Holy Spirit.

As an aside – sometimes it is legally necessary for us to take “oaths” – say on the witness stand in court. This is because, although our character may generally stand up to scrutiny, we live in a (fallen) world full of deceit and deception – a world so marred that it often cannot easily tell the difference between truth and error – a world that requires something special to be said before one can be believed. However we should note, that while this is the world we live in, this is not the world we belong to!!