Above all, my brothers and sisters, do not swear—not by heaven or by earth or by anything else. All you need to say is a simple “Yes” or “No.” Otherwise you will be condemned. [James 5:12 NIV]
I was always taught that swearing was wrong for a Christian and my friends at school soon noticed that I was different from them. When I went into the workplace, I found it distressing to hear my workmates using swear words constantly. It seemed to me that they were in competition to see how many swear words they could fit into a sentence.
In this verse, James is condemning a particular type of swearing. He is not referring to the use of crude 'foul' language such as the 'f' word. He is talking about our oaths. We want to make a point and we bring God into our statements to add more emphasis. We are making a commitment to do something, and we imagine that if we add God to the promise, it will be more convincing. It is an empty use of the divine name.
As a wee aside, the swear word 'bloody' has nothing to do with blood. It started with people swearing by the Virgin Mary to add emphasis to their anger. It is a shortened version of 'by our Lady.'
James is saying that we should not need to do this. A simple 'No!' is enough to make the point. We should be known for our integrity. If we promise to do something, people should know by our reputation and our character that we will do it.
James was taking the lead from his older brother in this teaching. Jesus taught his followers that they should not use oaths (Matthew 5:33-37).
This does not mean that we should avoid bringing God or the Lord Jesus into our conversation, but we should do so in a meaningful way. For example, if we are speaking about a future event, James has already told us that we should add, 'God Willing.' When there is uncertainty about something, we can say something like, "I will leave that in the Lord's hands."
Photo by Brooke Cagle on Unsplash
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