³³ Again, ye have heard that it hath been said by them of old time, Thou shalt not forswear thyself, but shalt perform unto the Lord thine oaths: ³⁴ But I say unto you, Swear not at all; neither by heaven; for it is God’s throne: ³⁵ Nor by the earth; for it is his footstool: neither by Jerusalem; for it is the city of the great King. ³⁶ Neither shalt thou swear by the head, because thou canst not make one hair white or black. ³⁷ But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay; for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil

Matthew 5:33-37

I’ve been working on memorizing this section of verses, and the way they continued there is a single big idea, which is taking oaths. Oaths are a way to make our testimony genuine, and they are really taken for granted in our world today. Obviously that was probably true in Jesus time also, since here we have Him tell us not to swear oaths unto the Lord, or Heaven, Earth, Jerusalem or even one’s head.

What’s in an oath? Usually we are using the oath to attest that things are true. In courts generally the oath is “So help me God!”, the idea that if I’m not telling the truth God should deal judgment against me. But do we really mean the oath we are attesting to?

Usually in court there are two stories, and they never quite match up. It’s usually the job of the judge and jury to determine the truth, after all the evidence is given. If the stories did match, then there would be no need for the court system. Jesus is telling his disciples, don’t swear an oath, just tell the truth. Tell people yes or no, don’t embellish or withhold information.

In this fallen world has a hard time determining what is true and what is not true. Truth has become shades of grey, where God’s truth is black and white. Even in the passage, it shows that we don’t actually know all truth, because we don’t even know the color of each of our hairs. Perception of truth is only in our skin, and it’s humbling to know I don’t know everything.

With that said, we should always seek after truth, God knows the truth. If we believe him to be the sovereign king over all things, He knows the truth, and he controls our path to determine the outcome of that truth. If someone confronts you with a sin, and you’ve been committing that sin in secret, tell him the truth, yes. This is God using someone to reveal truth and we must seek after that truth.

Lord, help me always be a truth teller. Let me tell the truth and nothing but the truth that I might honor you, and your Eternal Kingdom.