Matthew 5:33-37: Oaths

Tod Kennedy, April 6, 2005

Key Verse of Matthew 5. Matthew 5:20 “For I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.”

1.     Outline of Matthew 5

a.      Characteristics of Kingdom people, the repentant people, or the righteous remnant (Matthew 5:1-16).

b.     Christ’s relationship to the Old Testament (Matthew 5:17-19). Christ fulfills the Law.

c.      Kingdom righteousness contrasted with the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees (Matthew 5:20).

d.     Illustrations of Kingdom righteousness contrasted with the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees (Matthew 5:21-48).

i.        Personal conflicts (Matthew 5:21-26).

ii.      Man and woman relationships (Matthew 5:27-32).

iii.    Vows (Matthew 5:33-37).

iv.    Retaliation (Matthew 5:38-42).

v.      Love your enemies (Matthew 5:43-48).

Matthew 5:33-37 Oaths

1.     Jesus picks up another misapplication of the present generation’s religious leadership—making oaths or vows they did not intend to keep. In Jesus day, the Pharisees made many vows, but found ways around keeping them (5:33). These were primarily in common speech and not in legal situations.

2.     The Old Testament background for vows and oaths is found in Leviticus 19:12, Deuteronomy 6:13, Deuteronomy 23:21, 23.

a.      The Greek word in 5:33”you shall not make false vows” is epiorkeo (ἐπιορκέω). The word vows in “fulfill your vows” is orkos (ὅρκος), which refers to what is promised with an oath.

b.     Jesus is referring to: 1. to swear that something is true when one knows that it is false and 2. to fail to do what one has promised under oath. This goes back to the Old Testament Law.

c.      Vows or oaths that something is true.

i.        Leviticus 19:12 is found in regulations for day to day life. When they swear to something and bring God’s name into it, it had better be the truth and they had better do what they said.

ii.      Deuteronomy 6:13: If anyone swears that something is true and brings God into it, it had better be true and you had better fulfill what you swore to do.

d.     Voluntary vows for service.

i.        Deuteronomy 23:21 and 23: Vows for service were voluntary (Numbers 15:3-8; Numbers 30). The one vowing chose to do something for the Lord. When one vowed, he was to fulfill the vow (Deuteronomy 23:21-23).

3.     So, in Jesus day the Pharisees would say that God was not involved and so they thought the vows or swearing to a truth was not binding. It amounted to failure to fulfill what one vowed to do, or in some instances they perjured themselves. The Pharisees thought they could get around the principle by technical use of words—but this failed in the Lord’s mind.

a.      The Greek word in 5:34 is omnuo (ὀμνύω) to make an oath or to take an oath or to promise with an oath.They vowed by heaven, or by earth, or by Jerusalem and thought this was a way out of the vow (5:34-36).

4.     Jesus taught that the argument they used would not work because heaven is God’s throne and the earth is God’s footstool and Jerusalem is the Messiah’s capital. God cannot be separated from life.

5.     The answer is to not make vows you do not intend to keep, and to not swear falsely. God is involved in each kind of vows they made.

6.     Instead, answer truthfully yes or no and mean it. “Anything beyond these is evil,” means that you put yourself in a place to sin.

a.      The way to avoid false swearing and false vows is to avoid swearing and vows. The word of a righteous person should be enough.

7.     Matthew 5:33-37 does not rule out oaths in a court of law.

a.      In Matthew 26:63-64, Jesus responded to an oath.

b.     Paul spoke under an oath in Romans 1:9 and 2 Corinthians 1:23.

c.      James warns against the Pharisee kind of hedging on oaths in James 5:12.

8.     Applications or So What? from Matthew 5:33-37.

a.      Speak the truth and you do not need to hedge with a oath.

b.     As a general principle do not make oaths that are not thought out and right.

c.      When one makes an oath, then keep it.

d.     Oaths are right in a court of law.

e.      Do not make someone else responsible for your statements.