I promise - James 5:12
Pastor Tim Brown, Calvary Chapel Fremont, Sunday May 10, 2009
I promise
James 5:12
Above all
More important than what I have just written is this: do not swear (not: do not cuss). Above all, do not live a life where deceitful words are coming out of your mouth. In Mt. 5, Jesus discussed murder/adultery/revenge – rough neighborhood. And sandwiched in between He talks about false oaths.
But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death. Rev. 21:8
Jesus talks about deceitful speech in Mt. 5, John in Rev. 21, and James here in 5:12.
Do not swear
DEFINITION OF AN OATH
A promise + an oath = swearing. “I’ll be there, so help me God.” “I’ll be there” is the promise; “So help me God” is the oath.
Oaths are not a common part of our lives today, but we still hear people using oath-like language: So help me God/May God strike me dead/I swear to God/I swear on the grave of my sainted mother. We don’t use oath-like language, but the larger principle that James is addressing is truthful speech - he has a lot to say about the words that come out of your mouth – 1:13, 26; 3:1-12; 4:11; 5:9.
PURPOSE OF AN OATH
The oath was a way to insure truth-telling. When an important transaction needed to take place and there were no written contracts, the oath was a way to seal the deal between two parties. An oath was seen as necessary when guaranteeing someone’s honesty. Today – someone says something and the reply is, “Swear to God?” Implied: you can’t be trusted unless you swear.
An oath was meant to give validation to the person speaking. “How do we know you’re telling the truth? How do we know that we can trust you? How do we know that you will do what you have said you will do?” “God is my witness. I call on God to testify as to how honest I am. And may God strike me dead if I am not telling the truth.”
By heaven/earth/other oath (form/ABUSE of the oath)
Purpose of oath: insure truth telling
Intent of oath-maker: avoid truth telling
Mt. 23:16-22 They swore by anything other than the Lord for the very purpose of pretending to a truthfulness that they had no intention of maintaining. They practiced living outside the truth and covering it up with oaths (the appearance of truth).1 Because of their eagerness not to be bound by a potentially inconvenient oath, the Pharisees developed “binding” and “non-binding oaths.”2 To swear by the temple is a binding oath; to swear by its gold is a non-binding oath.
I may ask you, “Will you please help in this-or-that ministry?” You reply, “I’ll pray about it.” Depending on who you are, this is a way to discover or avoid the will of God (w/o losing face).
Purpose of substitutes for God – to avoid using the name of God due to its holiness. And since I’m not using the name of God, what I say is not binding. Oaths became a fancy way of lying, like saying something with your fingers crossed behind your back. Oaths were promises w/ fine print.
The abuse of the oath became widespread among the Jews of the 1st century. Those Jews who embraced Jesus as Messiah brought this practice into the church.
Remember, the purpose of the oath was to insure that the one speaking was telling the truth. But what if the speaker wanted to be taken seriously w/o actually having to be serious – be seen as a truth speaker w/o actually being a truth speaker. The purpose was to speak in such a way as to avoid responsibility for what one said – to evade speaking in the presence of God. A promise creates an expectation – something binding – a chain. How can I get these chains off me?
Yes/no
Do not commit yourself to something outside of a simple yes or no. Your Yes and your No should be enough to bind you and enough for others to believe you.
Historically, Quakers have resisted being sworn in before testifying in court. Their rationale is simple. If they have to promise to be honest for the next few minutes, the obvious implication is that they are dishonest the rest of the time. And if such is the case, why should anyone trust the oath they make?
Fall under judgment
Judgment = condemnation (NIV). In other passages it is equated w/ hell and contrasted to eternal life. This is heavy stuff!
Krisis is never used in the NT to refer to believers' chastening (a different word, paideuō, is used). The sobering warning he gives in verse 12 is that those who continue their lying oaths face eternal damnation. Those whose lives are characterized by a pattern of lying give evidence of having an unregenerate heart. And the Bible teaches that liars will be sentenced to hell (Rev. 21:8, 27; 22:15). J. MacArthur
We may not take oaths meant to strengthen our speech to make us look good, but we are not strangers to trying to impress people w/ our speech and deceiving people w/ our speech. Acts 5:1-11
Everyone of you has made a promise you haven’t kept/a promise you knew you couldn’t keep/a promise you knew you wouldn’t keep/a promise you made without thinking it through.
Ex. We squirrel out of promises - make a promise to be w/ someone and a more attractive invite comes your way. You blow off the first invite w/ the reasoning that this is more important.
Some speech is all for show. We end up even deceiving ourselves. Promising but leaving loopholes.
Everyone of you has said that something is true when you have known full well that it isn’t true. Acts 5 - They lived in disobedience to God and covered it up w/ deception and fell down dead.
Ex. Call in sick for work and go to the beach
This is what our passage is about – making promises and then squirreling out of them – speaking w/ fine print w/ fingers crossed. We say one thing, make it sound noble and spiritual, and then do something else – and excuse ourselves.
George Sweeting wrote about the desperate need for honesty in our culture. He referred to Dr. Madison Sarratt, who taught mathematics at Vanderbilt University for many years. Before giving a test, the professor would admonish his class like this: “Today I am giving two examinations, one in trigonometry and the other in honesty. I hope you will pass them both. If you must fail one, fail trigonometry. There are many good people in the world who can't pass trig, but there are no good people in the world who cannot pass the examination of honesty.”
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I promise
James 5:12
Above all
More important than what I have just written is this: do not swear (not: do not cuss). Above all, do not live a life where deceitful words are coming out of your mouth. In Mt. 5, Jesus discussed murder/adultery/revenge – rough neighborhood. And sandwiched in between He talks about false oaths.
But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death. Rev. 21:8
Jesus talks about deceitful speech in Mt. 5, John in Rev. 21, and James here in 5:12.
Do not swear
DEFINITION OF AN OATH
A promise + an oath = swearing. “I’ll be there, so help me God.” “I’ll be there” is the promise; “So help me God” is the oath.
Oaths are not a common part of our lives today, but we still hear people using oath-like language: So help me God/May God strike me dead/I swear to God/I swear on the grave of my sainted mother. We don’t use oath-like language, but the larger principle that James is addressing is truthful speech - he has a lot to say about the words that come out of your mouth – 1:13, 26; 3:1-12; 4:11; 5:9.
PURPOSE OF AN OATH
The oath was a way to insure truth-telling. When an important transaction needed to take place and there were no written contracts, the oath was a way to seal the deal between two parties. An oath was seen as necessary when guaranteeing someone’s honesty. Today – someone says something and the reply is, “Swear to God?” Implied: you can’t be trusted unless you swear.
An oath was meant to give validation to the person speaking. “How do we know you’re telling the truth? How do we know that we can trust you? How do we know that you will do what you have said you will do?” “God is my witness. I call on God to testify as to how honest I am. And may God strike me dead if I am not telling the truth.”
By heaven/earth/other oath (form/ABUSE of the oath)
Purpose of oath: insure truth telling
Intent of oath-maker: avoid truth telling
Mt. 23:16-22 They swore by anything other than the Lord for the very purpose of pretending to a truthfulness that they had no intention of maintaining. They practiced living outside the truth and covering it up with oaths (the appearance of truth).1 Because of their eagerness not to be bound by a potentially inconvenient oath, the Pharisees developed “binding” and “non-binding oaths.”2 To swear by the temple is a binding oath; to swear by its gold is a non-binding oath.
I may ask you, “Will you please help in this-or-that ministry?” You reply, “I’ll pray about it.” Depending on who you are, this is a way to discover or avoid the will of God (w/o losing face).
Purpose of substitutes for God – to avoid using the name of God due to its holiness. And since I’m not using the name of God, what I say is not binding. Oaths became a fancy way of lying, like saying something with your fingers crossed behind your back. Oaths were promises w/ fine print.
The abuse of the oath became widespread among the Jews of the 1st century. Those Jews who embraced Jesus as Messiah brought this practice into the church.
Remember, the purpose of the oath was to insure that the one speaking was telling the truth. But what if the speaker wanted to be taken seriously w/o actually having to be serious – be seen as a truth speaker w/o actually being a truth speaker. The purpose was to speak in such a way as to avoid responsibility for what one said – to evade speaking in the presence of God. A promise creates an expectation – something binding – a chain. How can I get these chains off me?
Yes/no
Do not commit yourself to something outside of a simple yes or no. Your Yes and your No should be enough to bind you and enough for others to believe you.
Historically, Quakers have resisted being sworn in before testifying in court. Their rationale is simple. If they have to promise to be honest for the next few minutes, the obvious implication is that they are dishonest the rest of the time. And if such is the case, why should anyone trust the oath they make?
Fall under judgment
Judgment = condemnation (NIV). In other passages it is equated w/ hell and contrasted to eternal life. This is heavy stuff!
Krisis is never used in the NT to refer to believers' chastening (a different word, paideuō, is used). The sobering warning he gives in verse 12 is that those who continue their lying oaths face eternal damnation. Those whose lives are characterized by a pattern of lying give evidence of having an unregenerate heart. And the Bible teaches that liars will be sentenced to hell (Rev. 21:8, 27; 22:15). J. MacArthur
We may not take oaths meant to strengthen our speech to make us look good, but we are not strangers to trying to impress people w/ our speech and deceiving people w/ our speech. Acts 5:1-11
Everyone of you has made a promise you haven’t kept/a promise you knew you couldn’t keep/a promise you knew you wouldn’t keep/a promise you made without thinking it through.
Ex. We squirrel out of promises - make a promise to be w/ someone and a more attractive invite comes your way. You blow off the first invite w/ the reasoning that this is more important.
Some speech is all for show. We end up even deceiving ourselves. Promising but leaving loopholes.
Everyone of you has said that something is true when you have known full well that it isn’t true. Acts 5 - They lived in disobedience to God and covered it up w/ deception and fell down dead.
Ex. Call in sick for work and go to the beach
This is what our passage is about – making promises and then squirreling out of them – speaking w/ fine print w/ fingers crossed. We say one thing, make it sound noble and spiritual, and then do something else – and excuse ourselves.
George Sweeting wrote about the desperate need for honesty in our culture. He referred to Dr. Madison Sarratt, who taught mathematics at Vanderbilt University for many years. Before giving a test, the professor would admonish his class like this: “Today I am giving two examinations, one in trigonometry and the other in honesty. I hope you will pass them both. If you must fail one, fail trigonometry. There are many good people in the world who can't pass trig, but there are no good people in the world who cannot pass the examination of honesty.”
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