Do Not Use Oaths 11-03-10

“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” – James 5:12

I want to exhort those who love the Lord Jesus not to swear oaths as James wrote above. The Lord said the same thing in Matthew 5:33-37. Making special inner vows like this: “I swear to God I will never do that again”, etc., and many other such declarations are forbidden to people who walk in the Holy Spirit. Oaths equal condemnation.

Instead we ought to say, “if the Lord wills” or “by the grace of God, I will do this or that”. By swearing oaths, we assert our own will as superior to God’s grace and lead ourselves into temptation. Then we stumble and wonder what happened.

I am prompted to write this as I recently witnessed a major TV ministry do this. As the founder of the ministry was in the process if transferring the ministry responsibility to his son and heir, he asked his son to swear never to sell any of the stations, etc. I nearly swallowed my heart. There were several well-known ministers there and I saw no one object.

What this means is that this ministry will inevitably come into trouble. The son is bound never to sell anything, no matter what happens. That means even if the Lord tells them to, they are bound by this oath not to do it.

This oath needs to be repented of quickly or else it will definitely mean trouble on a grand scale.

As for you and me, let’s just say yes or no or nothing. Say by the “grace of God” or “the Lord willing” I will do this or that. James 4:15 and 1 Corinthians 15:10 make it clear that God wants New Covenant people to defer to Him when it comes to these things.