![]() Not a condemnation to hell but not having God’s blessings. We must simply respond with a yes or a no because anything more than this, as James puts it, places us at risk of falling under God’s condemnation. We can’t make anything happen just be swearing an oath or making a promise. James’ point is that we should just tell people yes or no, and not add anything to our words in order to make our word or promise sound surer. You have heard of the steadfastness of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful” (James 5:10-11). Behold, we consider those blessed who remained steadfast. James wrote this in the context of Job’s suffering where he wrote, “as an example of suffering and patience, brothers, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. By James saying, “above all” he is saying that this is critically important. James, Jesus’ half-brother, once wrote “But above all, my brothers, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or by any other oath, but let your “yes” be yes and your “no” be no, so that you may not fall under condemnation” (James 5:12). It would be better to affirm that you will do such and such a thing or things, rather than swear that you will. Jesus’ point is that we shouldn’t swear by anything or anyone at all or make a promise we might not be able to keep, and even if we say we’ll keep our word, something could happen that doesn’t allow us to keep our promise and we end up swearing to God that we’ll do something and may end up not being able to keep that promise at all. Jesus said, “you have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform to the Lord what you have sworn.’ But I say to you, Do not take an oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King” (Matt 5:33-35). For one thing, the Bible commands us to not swear by anything or anyone under heaven or on earth, because we can’t make something happen just by making an oath or by swearing that something is true or not or that we’ll do something. ![]() ![]() Should United States presidents who have been elected be sworn in on the Bible? Most presidents in the past have done so, but that doesn’t mean that they all should. Do you think the United States president should still be sworn in on a Bible? Swearing or Affirming? ![]()
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