James 5: 12 "Above all, my brothers, do not swear, not by heaven or by earth or by anything else. Let your yes be yes and your no, no or you will be condemned."
Swearing with an oath common practice in the Old Testament. James firmly tells Christians not to swear. We frequently use phrases or words of exclamation that often indicate that we do not take the holiness (apartness from us) of God seriously. We use them to get around using the literal name of God when we swear. Such include: "Gosh" "Golly" "G’darn" "Gad," "Jeez" "Gee" etc. These have their origin in or mimic the name of God or Jesus. Even "mild" oaths like "Good Grief" and "Goodness Gracious" are indirectly related to the name of God. "Goodness knows" presumably means "God knows." The use of this kind of language dishonors God. One of the Ten Commandments is, "You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain" Deut 5:11.
I want to believe that James is talking about more than merely swearing using the name of God and its derogative derivatives. It is about needing to prove your word. Swearing to prove the truthfulness of our claims is actually an indication of an undisciplined or uncontrolled tongue. You are likely to find someone who needs to swear to prove they are honest also committing other sins of speech, such as gossiping, lying, malice, filthy language or unkind words. Or they might just be like my friend who says that she puts her foot in her mouth and then has to go home quickly to brush. That is, she speaks without thinking about what she is saying first and therefore ends up saying things that hurt others or puts people off. These are the ways that Paul told new Christians to put to death along with other sins of the body in Colossians 3: 1-11.
James is in fact following Jesus teaching in Matthew 5: 33-37. Both these scriptures references are condemning the flippant use of the name of the Lord or a sacred object to guarantee the truth of what is being said. We are to live with enough purity of heart such that our word as Christians is our bond. Our integrity guarantees his truthfulness. We should be of such holy character that others would never expect us to lie.
What we speak is an indication of what is in our depths “out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks. The good man brings the good things stored up in him, and the evil man bring out the evil stored up in him” Matthew, 12: 34, 35. “A wise man’s heart guides his mouth and his lips promote instruction” Prov. 16: 23. Therefore, “above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life” Prov. 4:23.
God’s standards for our speech as for our purity of body are very high. No matter what the world says or does, he does not lower the bar--not with matters of morality and not with matters of speech. God expects us to be pure in every way. And by prayer, by discipline and by dependence on the Holy Spirit it is possible to uphold those standards. Don't settle for less. Go for God's best in every area of your lifestyle. That includes your tongue.
Especially the tongue. We are in a society where our words have lost meaning. Here is what the Psalmist says "Help, LORD, for the godly are no more;the faithful have vanished from among men.Everyone lies to his neighbor;their flattering lips speak with deception." Psalm 12:1-2.
ReplyDeleteWe all need to re-evaluate our "yes" to Jesus and take it from there. Putting his commands into practice automatically places us at a higher standard and the good news is that He is here with us,fully capable to keep us from falling.