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In Matthew 5:33-37 Jesus continues His expansion of Jewish law by addressing the issue of vows and oaths as seen in Numbers 30 and Deuteronomy 23. He reminds His listeners that it was said to the ancients that they were not to swear falsely and to always fulfill their oaths to the Lord. Then, in keeping with His previous discourses, He proceeded to expand what was said in the Law, by saying to not make any oath at all.
In the legal discussions that became the Midrash, Mishnah, and eventually the Talmud, the issue shifted from the vow itself to the manner in which it was presented and the guarantees of fulfillment offered up by the person making the vow. Swearing by heaven (instead of G_D) or swearing by earth (instead of G_D) or even swearing by your own life (instead of G_D) became accepted practices, or loopholes if you will, in making the oath more binding without actually naming the name of G_D. Jesus pointed out the foolishness in their efforts and told them to simply let your “yes” be “yes” and your “no” be “no.” Anything more was unnecessary, and actually evil, because hedging your bets with some form of oath sullied the purity of truth demanded by the One Who is truth Himself.
We do the same thing today when we say things like, “I swear on a stack of Bibles” or “I swear on my Mother’s grave” or “As God is my witness” or “Cross my heart and hope to die.” We often say these things in jest, but that attitude in itself is more of an affront to God. At least the 1st Century Jews were trying to honor G_D in their statements. We just are flippant in our cute little oaths – nothing more than pretty little liars.
The solution? If you can’t speak the truth in love, don’t speak. In other words, if you can’t speak the truth – keep your mouth shut. “If you abstain from vowing, it shall not be sin to you.” (Deuteronomy 23:22 – NKJ)
You will know the truth, and the truth will make you free if you abide in My word, because then you are truly My disciples. (John 8:31b-32)
Transcript
Pip: From The Back Porch, where the porch light is on and the truth is apparently non-negotiable — which, as Bob points out, is a higher standard than most of us are meeting.
Mara: This episode follows a Bible study on oaths, vows, and why Jesus told his listeners to drop the elaborate swearing rituals and just say what they mean.
Pip: Simple instruction. Apparently not simple enough.
Mara: Let’s start with what Matthew 5 actually says about all of it.
When Yes Means Yes and No Means No
Pip: The setup here is Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount, picking up where Jewish law left on vows — and then pushing past it entirely. The question the post is really asking is why we keep reaching for bigger, louder oaths when a plain yes or no should be enough.
Mara: The post frames it this way: “Swearing by heaven or swearing by earth or even swearing by your own life became accepted practices, or loopholes if you will, in making the oath more binding without actually naming the name of G_D. Jesus pointed out the foolishness in their efforts and told them to simply let your yes be yes and your no be no.”
Pip: So the rabbinical tradition had essentially built an elaborate escape hatch system — swear by the throne, not the one sitting on it — and Jesus called the whole architecture unnecessary.
Mara: Right. And the post connects that ancient workaround directly to modern habit. “I swear on a stack of Bibles,” “cross my heart and hope to die,” “as God is my witness” — the post names these as the same impulse dressed in contemporary clothing.
Pip: We’ve upgraded the loopholes, kept the dishonesty.
Mara: The post cites survey data on this. Most people rate themselves as lying less often than other people — which is a statistical impossibility, and the post notes the irony plainly.
Pip: Everyone is below average at lying, apparently.
Mara: The post also makes a careful distinction about a verse that often gets quoted in isolation. The full passage from John 8:31b-32 reads: “You will know the truth, and the truth will make you free if you abide in my word, because then you are truly my disciples.”
Pip: The point being that “the truth will set you free” is everywhere — bumper stickers, courtrooms, graduation speeches — but the conditional clause usually gets left in the parking lot.
Mara: Exactly. The post argues the truth Jesus is referencing is not factual accuracy in general but Jesus himself — and that stripping the verse of its subject changes its meaning entirely.
Pip: And the practical conclusion is almost blunt in its simplicity: if you cannot speak the truth, the post says, keep your mouth shut. Deuteronomy 23:22 is cited directly — “If you abstain from vowing, it shall not be sin to you.”
Mara: Which the post frames as the law itself offering the cleaner path. Don’t make the vow at all rather than make one you’ll hedge or break.
Pip: Less oath-taking, more actual truth-telling. The Sermon on the Mount as a call for plain speech in a culture that has made an art form of the technically-not-a-lie.
Mara: The thread running through all of this is integrity — not as an abstract virtue but as the daily practice of meaning what you say.
Pip: Say yes, say no, stop swearing on things. Turns out the incontrovertible truth is pretty short.