James 5:12 But above all things, my brothers, swear not, neither by heaven, neither by the earth, neither by any other oath… Why "above all things"? Unless that this was one of their chiefly besetting sins. But, indeed, the intrinsic importance of the subject itself is sufficient warrant for the use of such words. It is the great subject of verity - verity of speech. And, indeed, if the verities of speech be trifled with, soon all verity is gone; and if a man be not a true man, of what worth is he? "Swear not." We need not take these words as prohibiting the use of the oath on solemn public occasions. For our Lord himself was put on his oath by the high priest (Matthew 26:63, 64), and accepted the position. Paul also (Romans 1:9; 2 Corinthians 1:23; Galatians 1:20; Philippians 1:8) several times in his public communications with the Churches substantiated his words with some solemn formula. No; the world being what it is, imperfect, and some being so far under the influence of higher realities that, when brought consciously into their presence, they will speak truly, through fear, whereas apart from such avowed appeal to God they might not speak truly, it does appear to be quite lawful for society to take advantage even of this lower religious motive to secure true testimony, as before magistrates. And, this being so, the man who needs no such constraint, who lives always as before God, and whose word is therefore as good as his oath, will yet conform to the usages of society for the sake of their general benefit. It is, then, not the use of solemn speech on such public and special occasions that is here prohibited, but artificial asseverations in the common intercourse between man and man. And we may profitably consider - simplicity of speech, and its reward. I. SIMPLICITY OF SPEECH. 1. And first, as opposed to duplicity. For amongst the Jews certain ingenuities of oath-taking had become a veil for the most flagrant falseness. To the rabbis "the third commandment was simply a prohibition of perjury, as the sixth was of murder, or the seventh of adultery. They did not see that the holy Name might be profaned in other ways, even when it was not uttered; and they expressly or tacitly allowed many forms of oath in which it was not named, as with the view of guarding it from desecration. Lastly, out of the many forms thus sanctioned (as here - Matthew 5:33-37 - and Matthew 23:16-22) they selected some as binding and others as not binding, and thus, by a casuistry at once subtle, irrational, and dishonest, tampered with men's sense of truthfulness" (Plumptre, on Matthew 5:33-37, in Ellicott's 'Commentary'). Our Lord's words, in the sermon on the mount, and afterwards in Matthew 23., were intended to smite through all this sophistry of falsehood; and James, in echoing our Lord's words, "Swear not at all," doubtless has the same end in view. For whether they solemnly invoked God's holy Name, or used some seemingly less solemn formula, or used no formula at all, and yet were false, their lying was in reality lying against God, who is present everywhere, and without whom nothing is real and no speech is sacred. So, then, our Lord's words, and the words of James, smote all the duplicity of the Jews in those days. And does not the same condemnation smite all the prevarications of our day? Whether with or without false oaths, all speech which insinuates the wrong meaning, under whatever cover of seeming veracity, is false, and must for safety's sake be branded with its real name, lying - yes, lying against God! And so all shifty, misleading deeds; all transactions, whether of business or of political life, or in any other sphere, which have for their aim to convey wrong impressions, are lying - lying against God! Oh, let us learn, "Thou God seest me;" and let our yea be yea, and our nay, nay! 2. Again, as opposed to all flippant trifling. Doubtless, then as now, oaths were bandied about lightly from mouth to mouth in irreverent wantonness. This was to trifle with the God to whom the oaths referred. And so still; we make light of him when we lightly use these sacred names! But all flippant speech, whether with or without oaths, is equally a sin against God, if we would rightly regard it. How many there are who can scarcely speak but to jest! to whom life seems one huge comedy! Ah, God is not real to us, when the life which God has given can be so frivolously treated! 3. And yet again, as opposed to all artificial solemnities of common speech for the purpose of attesting its veracity. This leads us back to the thought with which we started. A true character needs "no vouchers. The man who protests his truth is almost certainly a false man; as, if certain coins out of a large number were marked "genuine," we should at once suspect them to be spurious. Or, on the other hand, if they were ascertained to be genuine, we should naturally suspect the coins not so marked to be false; so a fortified manner of speech, if true itself, implies that speech when unfortified is not true. Yes, by our artificial asseverations we lay open our whole converse to suspicion. For all these reasons, then, let your yea be yea, and your nay, nay. Your speech - let it be simple, sacred, true. II. ITS REWARD. 1. The reward of social life. Think of it - when every man may trust his neighbor! Each of us is contributing his part towards this consummation by simplicity of speech, helping to build up the truthfulness of the world. 2. The reward of the man. And this? The man's own trueness. For, as we have seen (on James 3:1-5), a man's speech makes a man's self; truth or falseness distils through all his nature from his words. And what better reward than this: a brave bearing towards men, a true faith in God? Again, as a reminder, "that ye fall not under judgment." Yes, every false asseveration, every false flippancy, every essentially false solemnity, he notes down; and the day of reckoning is at hand! Our untruth will eat our soul as doth a canker; and then? - our own cankered, hollow self forever I Yes, that shall be our portion. For "all liars shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone; which is the second death." Well may it be said, as was said once (Robertson's 'Sermons,' first series, p. 291), "The first lesson of the Christian life is this - Be true; and the second this - Be true; and the third this - Be true." But how? "I am the Truth." Yes, thank God, this is our refuge. And so shall we "have boldness in the day of judgment; because, as he is, so are we in this world" (1 John 4:17). - T.F.L. Parallel Verses KJV: But above all things, my brethren, swear not, neither by heaven, neither by the earth, neither by any other oath: but let your yea be yea; and your nay, nay; lest ye fall into condemnation. |
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