OATHS & VOWS

Transcript:

0:00 Intro

And so as Christians, we ought to speak truthfully as God himself does. 

Today's video is on Oaths and Vows. Looking for some answers, Kyle and I went to Trinity Reformed Church to get Pastor van Eyk's thoughts on the subject. This is Faith to Film 

When we make oaths and vows, we are basically calling on God to witness what we are saying or what we are promising. With the implication of course, that if we are acting deceitfully or with infidelity, God will punish us. 

0:36 Can we swear by anything besides God? 

It is possible to swear by anything. Jesus referred to that in Matthew 5. But to swear by anything other than God is meaningless because only God has the capacity to know the truth about any given situation and only He is in a position to punish if we are untruthful or if we are deceitful. 

1:01 When is it appropriate to swear by God's name? 

Jesus suggests in Matthew 5:37 that there are situations in which it is necessary and appropriate for us to swear by God's name. He talks about our yes should be yes our no should be no, anything more comes from the evil one. And I think that is suggestive that because we live in a world of sin which is filled with both lying on the one hand and incredulity on the other, that God has given us opportunities and situations where it is entirely appropriate for us to underscore the truthfulness of what we're saying or the promises that we're making by calling on God as a witness. And we know from Hebrews 6:13 that God Himself swears by Himself and the Lord Jesus was willing to be put under oath in Matthew 26. The verses 63-64 when He was in that mock trial before Caiaphas. So, there are appropriate times to swear by God's name. When the authority, a lawful authority requires us to do so, we may do so and when there are situations of such weight and significance that it is really important that the truthfulness of what we're saying or the commitment to fulfill the promise that we're making needs to be underscored, we may do so by calling on God to witness. We should be careful never rashly or carelessly because it is a solemn thing to call on the all-knowing God to witness what we are saying. 

2:44 What about when we're not under oath? 

When we're not under oath we are not thereby absolved of speaking truthfully. We belong to the one about whom scripture says He cannot lie. Satan is characterized in the scriptures as the father of lies and so as Christians, we ought to speak truthfully as God himself does. And so as Jesus says in Matthew 5, our yes should be yes and our no should be no. We ought to say what we mean without crossing our fingers, without any mental reservations, without any equivocation. We ought to speak clearly and truthfully at all times.