James Chapter 5 — Commentary and Notes on Verse 10

    Brothers,asanexampleofpatienceinthefaceofsuffering,taketheprophetswhospokeinthe name of the Lord.

    Here the apostle urges us to patience by the example of the saints who, though they were dear to God and were employed in high and special services, still suffered various sharp afflictions.

    They are an example to us in two ways: they are an example of sufferings, that we may not flinch from them or sink under them when we meet with them in the way of duty; and they are an example of patience, that we may copy their meek submission. Their sufferings are mentioned to reduce our discomfort, and Christ urges it in this way: “in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you” (Matthew 5:12). Their patience is mentioned to stir us to imitate them: “imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised” (Hebrews 6:12). Nobody ever yet went to heaven without these two graces being exercised first—faith in expectation of the future reward, and patience in sustaining the present inconveniences.

    Asanexample. The word denotes the sort of example that is given for imitation. The same word is used when Christ commended his washing of the disciples’ feet to their imitation (John 13:15).

    The prophets. He mentions them as leaders of the church. Every purpose of life has its chieftains and princes. The Roman warriors can talk of their Camilli, Fabricii, Scipios, and the philosophers of their Aristotle, Plato and Pythagoras; but religion gives the example of the prophets.

    Who spoke in the name of the Lord. That is, they were used by God and were authorized to speak to the people in his place, being specially gifted and supplied by his Spirit. Though they spoke by divine inspiration and were like God’s mouth, they could not escape opposition but were molested and maligned in the world, even to the point of cruel death and sufferings, for faithfully passing on their message. Christ blames the Jews for this: “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you …” (Matthew 23:37). So does Stephen: “Was there ever a prophet your fathers did not persecute? They even killed those who predicted the coming of the Righteous One” (Acts 7:52). Now if this was done to the prophets, who seemed to be sheltered under the shield of their special commission and the singular innocence and holiness of their lives, certainly private believers have less reason to promise themselves freedom and exemption.

    Of patience in the face of suffering. That is, when God makes us like them in sufferings, we should be like them in patience. It is comfortable to come into their lot and to be bound up in the same bundle of honor with them. Their example is given partly to remove prejudice. This is nothing strange; it is not just our case. We are apt to say, “No one was ever in such a state as I am”—as in Lamentations 1:12, “Is any suffering like my suffering … ?” Yes, this was the lot of all the prophets. It is also partly to reduce the shame. We are not suffering with the common herd but with the prophets. Then it is partly to encourage us to imitate them. Example is particularly effective; people are apt to be led by the company they are in.

    Note1. The example of the saints encourages us to be patient. Man is a creature more easily led by the eye than the ear. We look on teaching as fanciful ideas; seeing it in practice confirms it greatly. The strictest and severest ways are not impossible nor untrodden; what has been done before may be done again. Besides, the example of the prophets is a check to expectations of an easy life; we may say with Elijah, “I am no better than my ancestors” (1 Kings 19:4). Can we expect more privileges than the prophets? Lesser people are ashamed when they cannot endure what people of a higher order have endured. Micah was in prison, Jeremiah in the dungeon, Isaiah sawn apart, and shall we balk at a little suffering? Our betters have endured far worse. Besides, good company is a great encouragement. “Since we are surrounded by such a cloud of witnesses …” says Hebrews 12:1, alluding in part to the pillar of cloud that guided the Israelites; having such a pillar going before us, we may travel to heaven more cheerfully.

    Note 2. Afflictions come to all ranks of saints but especially to the prophets. Preaching is nothing but baiting the world. We are God’s ambassadors, but we are often “ambassadors in chains” (Ephesians 6:20). What rewards did the prophets receive for all their pains and expenditure of spirit? Saws, swords, and dungeons. It is almost as necessary for a minister to be greatly afflicted as to be great in spirit and labors. God has reserved us, in these latter days, for all the contempt and scorn that villainy and outrage can heap on our persons. But it does not matter; it is the badge of our order, and we know where to get a better approval. No matter if the world counts us refuse when Jesus Christ counts us his own glory. The messengers of the churches are the filth of the world (1 Corinthians 4:13) but the glory of Christ (2 Corinthians 8:23); if we were dandled on the world’s knees, it would be enough to make people suspect that we were not true to our Master.

    Note3. WhospokeinthenameoftheLord. This denotes the cause of their sufferings: the faithful discharge of their office—speaking in God’s name. Sufferings strengthen us when they overtake us in the way of duty. It is sad to be spat out of God’s mouth and to be made contemptible for being partial in the law (Malachi 2:9), when the Lord makes us base before the people. Indeed, he usually does this with corrupt dispensers of holy mysteries; we then receive others’ malice but God’s judgment. But if this comes for faithfully performing your duty, for speaking boldly in the nameoftheLord, you may bind it as a crown to your head. Why should we care about the scorn of an unthankful world when we have such a good Master? It is an honor for us to lose our name for God’s, and it does not matter if we are nothing, so long as Christ is all in all. A minister should be like someone in a crowd lifting someone else up to be seen by everybody, though he himself is jostled and lost in the throng. If Christ is exalted, it does not matter if we suffer loss.

    As you know, we consider blessed those who have persevered. You have heard of Job’s perseverance and have seen what the Lord finally brought about. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy.

    The drift of the context is to persuade people to be patient. In this verse many things are offered for that purpose.

    Asyouknow,weconsiderblessedthosewhohavepersevered. We may imply, first of all, the judgment of all people; mere humans are inclined to have high thoughts of those who can bear the brunt of afflictions.

    Note 1. Meek patience in afflictions is attractive even to human eyes. A double reason is implicit in the words thosewhohavepersevered—those who endure misery and show fortitude in misery. Misery works on pity, and fortitude calls for praises; miseries work on weak spirits, and constant miseries work on noble spirits. Those who are engaged in a good cause need not despair; we shall gain something with mere men. Resolute constancy and meek patience may recover those friends who have gone astray in prosperity; providence orders such things for good. But remember that you cannot take comfort from this unless it is in a good cause. Sometimes wicked ones are the oppressed party. They believe their sufferings entitle them to persecution, as the Donatists did in Augustine’s time.

    So although suffering is creditable, we must know that the persecuted cause is not always the best. Sarah was a type of the true church and Hagar of the false; Sarah corrected Hagar. There are people who when they suffer anything call it persecution when it is only just punishment. The Moabites, for example, when they saw the waters look red through the reflection of the morning sun thought they were mixed with blood. Many people claim persecution and martyrs’ blood in this way when they are just being corrected and restrained a little.

    Secondly, the word we may imply the judgment of the visible church. The whole Christian church acknowledges that the murdered prophets are happy, and we celebrate their memory. The word in the text (blessed) means to make or declare happy.

    Note2. God’s people often live envied and persecuted but die sainted. We call the murdered prophets happy and celebrate the memory of those who endure; the scribes and Pharisees decorated the tombs of the dead prophets but killed the living (Matthew 23:29-30). They claimed to honor the departed saints but were harming the living saints. In John 5 the Jews claimed to love Moses but showed hatred to Christ. This comes about partly by the providence of God, who after death makes clears the innocence and holy behavior of his servants; posterity acknowledges those the former age destroyed. And this partly comes about because living saints are an eyesore; by the severity of their lives and reproofs they trouble and torment the world. Dead saints do not stand in the way of men’s desires, for objects out of sight do not exasperate us.

    This may comfort God’s children today: “the Day will bring it to light” (1 Corinthians 3:13). When the heat of oppression is over, what is now called heresy will then be regarded as worship, and your sufferings will declare you not malefactors but martyrs. People cannot discern the present truth (2 Peter 2:12) because they are blinded with their own interests; but maybe truth itself will be the interest of the next age, and the bleak wind that now blows in our faces may then be on our backs. There are sometimes strange revolutions.

    Again, this may serve to warn us. Let us not be content with fond affection for departed saints and worthies. The memory of Judas is not so accursed to us as Korah, Dathan, and Abiram were to the worldly Jews in Christ’s time; Moses was dear to them, just as Christ and the apostles are to us. The best affection is that which is expressed by sincerity; dead saints are out of our envy, but how do we feel about the living who walk in their ways? It is good to examine what relationship there is between people who are hated today and the case of Christ and his apostles in the early days.

    Thirdly, the word we may imply (and I think this is the chief implication) the judgment of the children of God, as opposed to the judgment of the world: weconsiderblessedthosewhohave persevered—we who are enlightened by the Spirit of God. I prefer this interpretation because this sentence refers to a passage of Scripture: “Blessed is the one who waits” (Daniel 12:12).

    Note3. The judgment of the saints and the judgment of the world about afflictions are very different: they have different principles—the spirit of the world and the Spirit of God; they have different standards—that of faith and that of sense. A worldly person judges by appearance, but a spiritual person looks within the veil; the world judges afflictions miserable, but believers think them happiness. It is notable that all the beatitudes in Matthew 5 are connected to unlikely conditions, to show that the judgment of the Word and the judgment of the world are contrary to one another. So then, do not listen to the judgment of the world about affliction but to the judgment of the Spirit; not to what sense feels, but to what faith expects. The people of the world are miserable in their happiness, but the children of God are happy in their misery. But you will say, “How?” I answer:

    (1)      Suffering for righteousness’ sake is a kind of grace that God gives us: “you are blessed” (1 Peter 3:14); “be glad” (Matthew 5:12); “rejoicing” (Acts 5:41). John Bradford said, “God forgive me this great unthankfulness for this exceeding great mercy, that he chooseth me for one in whom he will suffer.”

    (2)      You gain by afflictions, experience, hope, and grace (Romans 5:3-4; Hebrews 12:11) and by the wonderful sense of divine consolation (2 Corinthians 1:5).

    (3)      God has promised to reward it bountifully; there is a blessing in hand but more in hope (see 1:12).

    YouhaveheardofJob’sperseverance. James gives this example because Job was an eminent example of misery. From his giving this example we may learn that the book of Job was not a parable but a history of what really happened.

    Note4. Youhaveheard. We would never have heard of Job if he had not been brought so low. Affliction makes saints eminent; Job’s poverty made him rich in honor and esteem. Stars shine only in the night; the lower we are made by providence, the greater we are made. God’s children never gain so much honor as in their troubles. Many people whose names now breathe out a fresh perfume in the churches would have lived and died obscurely, with their bones thrown into some unknown charnel, undistinguished from other relics of mortality, if God had not drawn them to public notice by their eminent sufferings.

    Note5. Job’sperseverance. He showed much impatience and complaining, cursing the day of his birth, etc.; but here there is not a word of all this. Where the bent of the heart is right, the infirmities of God’s people are not mentioned. Thus in Hebrews 11:31 there is no mention of Rahab’s lie but only of her faith and her peaceable behavior towards the spies. Where God sees grace, he hides his eyes, as it were, from those circumstances that might seem to deface the glory of it. So in what Sarah says, though the whole sentence is full of distrust and unbelief, God takes notice of her reverence to her husband (see the notes on 2:25); she called Abraham “master” (1 Peter 3:6). Wicked people watch for our halting and feed their malice with our failings; they can overlook a great deal of good and fix only on what is evil. But the Lord pardons our defects when our heart is sincere. Job complained, but the Word says, YouhaveheardofJob’sperseverance. There was perseverance in the man. Job often submits to God, sometimes blesses God, dislikes the complaints extorted from him by the sense of his sufferings, and often corrects himself as soon as he has spoken any unbecoming word of God and providence; when he is reproved by God (chapters 38—41), he humbles himself (chapter 42).

    Note6. In our afflictions we should often think of Job’s example. He was famous for miseries of various kinds—now Chaldeans, then Sabeans, now wind, then fire, etc. When afflictions come like waves, one on the heels of another, and you are put through various trials, think of Job. They hit all his comforts, his goods—a life is no life without a livelihood—and his children, those dear pledges of affection. You may lose one, but Job lost many; and if you lose all, it is only as Job did. Then on his own body, he was covered with sores. God’s afflictions usually come closer and closer until they touch our very skins. You remember how Job’s body was affected by sores, and even his soul was exasperated with the censures of his friends; this is getting closer and closer.

    God’s immediate hand silences the spirit. We take injuries from people very unkindly, especially injuries from friends; these are stabs to the very heart. Perils among false brothers was Paul’s sorest trial; it is grievous to suffer from an enemy, but worse from a friend, and worst of all from godly friends. Yet this happened to Job; he complained that his friends were miserable comforters. Thus you see Job was famous for misery, but just as famous for perseverance. In all the expressions of this, two stand out, and they run through every vein of the whole book: his putting God forward and debasing himself; good thoughts of God and low thoughts of himself: “may the name of the LORD be praised” (Job 1:21) and “I have sinned” (Job 7:20, KJV). So then, in all your afflictions look to this example of misery and perseverance.

    And have seen what the Lord finally brought about. This may be applied to Christ or to Job.

    Some people apply it to Christ for these reasons:

    (1)      Otherwise the main example of perseverance is left out.

    (2)      The change of the verb: “You have heard of Job, and you have seen what the Lord finally brought about in Christ.” Adding this new word seen seems to be done by way of contrast with heard.

    These reasons, when I first glanced at this text, inclined me to that opinion, especially when I afterwards saw the same reasons urged by the learned Paraeus. Many of the older commentators follow this line, such as Augustine, Beda, Lyra, and Aquinas, who makes more of it than I have seen anyone else do. Job and Christ, he says, the two famous examples, go well together: Job in the Old Testament, Christ in the New; in one we have a pledge of temporal reward, in the other a pledge of an eternal reward; you have heard of the one and seen the other; Job suffers but not to death; therefore, in order to give a complete pattern, James reminds them of the end of the Lord. That is what Aquinas says. If this were the sense, the point would be that Christ’s death is the great spectacle and mirror of perseverance. But modern theologians take a different line, and with good reason:

    (1)      The drift of the context (verses 6-7) is not only to give a perfect pattern of miseries but a happy outcome. James had spoken about Job’s perseverance, but if the previous sense were true he says nothing about his happy ending, which would be something very suitable to his purpose and most remarkable in the story.

    (2)      The apostle shows in the previous verse that he would give examples from some prophets and holy men of God, not in the Lord himself.

    (3)      The latter clause in the text cannot so easily be made to agree with the former sense—namely, that God has compassionandmercy; but it suits this latter sense well (whattheLordfinally brought about with Job, because he is of great mercy, etc.).

    The previous arguments may easily be answered:

    (1)      We must not teach the apostles how to reason or what examples to give. Possibly the example of Christ’s patience is purposely omitted because the main thing in question, in which their constancy was assaulted, was their belief in Christ, and therefore it was not so necessary to give his example but rather the example of other holy people who were afflicted. Then people would not take offense at the cross and doubt the faith they professed because of their great afflictions. To all this I may add that the sufferings of Christ are mentioned in verse 6, as we saw earlier.

    (2)      The words heard and seen both imply outward sense and mean knowing and understanding. The word seen, which is the clearer way of perception, is used in the latter clause because God’s reward was so great and far more visible than Job’sperseverance. And do not let the phrase seem too curt, for there is no special reason why the outcome of Job’s afflictions should be called what the Lord finally brought about.

    Note 7. We must not think about the nature and beginning of the afflictions of God’s children, but rather of their outcome and end: “No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful” (Hebrews 12:11). There are two emphatic expressions: “at the time” and “seems”; our bodies find them “painful,” but they are only painful “at the time.” It is childish to judge afflictions by present sense; it is always worst with Christians in the present time: see Romans 8:18; 1 Corinthians 15:19; 2 Corinthians 4:16-18. So then, do not measure afflictions by the pain but by their outcome; besides our everlasting hopes, usually the obvious end is glorious. When Israel was sent out of Egypt, she went with gold and ear-rings (Exodus 11); the Jews were sent out of Babylon with gifts, jewels, and all necessary utensils (Ezra 1); and “the LORD made [Job] prosperous again and gave him twice as much as he had before … and everyone who had known him before … gave him a piece of silver and a gold ring” (Job 42:10-11). Wait for the end, then. The beginning is usually Satan’s, but the end is the Lord’s; at the beginning the power of darkness may have a time, but in the end the Lord will be seen.

    Note 8. The Lord will give a happy end to all afflictions.

    (1)      A temporal end. Man may begin, but God must make an end. When man begins, the Lord will exercise his own dominion and sovereignty before the end comes.

    (2)      A gracious end: “this will be the full fruitage of the removal of his sin” (Isaiah 27:9). Now this is God’s work. God’s rod, as well as God’s Word, does nothing without his blessing; otherwise they would both be poor, dead, and useless means. “I am the LORD your God, who teaches you what is best for you” (Isaiah 48:17)—by afflictions.

    (3)      A glorious end. It is the Lord’s gift, not by our merit. Let us do our duty, then, and God will not fail; let us wait upon him with Job’s perseverance, and he will give Job’s end.

    TheLordisfullofcompassionandmercy. This expresses partly the cause and partly the manner of God’s appearance in Job’s end.

    (1)      The reason Job had such a good end to his troubles was God’s mercy, not his own merit; his root of happiness was that he had to do with a compassionate and merciful God.

    (2)      You will find God merciful and compassionate, whatever the world says to the contrary. In the beginning you think him cruel, but in the end you find him merciful. Here are two expressions that express God’s goodness: the first is fullofcompassion, and the next is mercy. This is the word that is opposite to the hard heart, and therefore the KJV renders it, oftendermercy. The one word has to do with our miseries, the other with our sins—compassion for our miseries, mercy in pardoning our sins. One denotes feeling and the other appropriate action—inward and outward mercy.

    Note 9. Full of compassion and mercy. God’s mercy is seldom spoken of without some addition such as “much” or “great” or “tender.” Most commonly in the Old Testament it is found in the plural—“mercies” and “loving-kindnesses,” and very often “much” or “great” is added: “his mercy is great” (2 Samuel 24:14); “with him is full redemption” (Psalm 130:7); “in his great mercy” (1 Peter 1:3); “the incomparable riches of his grace” (Ephesians 2:7). God delights to reveal this attribute in its royalty and magnificence. Certainly there is more in God’s mercy than in our sins. Our container is full, but God’s mercy is overflowing; and there is enough in God to supply all our needs. When you can exhaust overflowing mercy, then you may complain; there is enough in God to supply each and every believer. We all drink from the same fountain, and yet we cannot empty it. When will we learn from our Heavenly Father not only to do good works but to abound in them more and more? He is rich in mercy; when will we be rich in good works?

    Note 10. God is very tender to his people in misery. Human reason only makes lies about God. When we listen to the voice of our own feelings, we are apt to say with Job, “You turn on me ruthlessly” (30:21); or at least like David, “I am cut off,” though at that very time God was looking graciously on him: “yet you heard my cry for mercy” (Psalm 31:22). Israel was castigated for saying, “My way is hidden from the LORD; my cause is disregarded by my God” (Isaiah 40:27); that is, God has left me off the list of those whom he is to look after—he does not take any notice of me. Just wait a little while, and you will see that the Lord is very compassionate and tender. God’s children have often at last been ashamed of their hasty words; and when providence has run its course, they can easily see that though the outside and bark was rough and harsh, yet it was lined with compassion and mercy.

    Note11. Compassionandmercy. God has provided for the comfort of his people in every way. He has compassion for their afflictions and pardon for their sins. He felt Job’s misery and Job’s weakness; his compassion might be discouraged by our complaints if he were not merciful as well as compassionate. Afflicted people may take comfort from this and answer the objections of their sad spirits; when you are harmed by other people, you will find compassion in God. You may say, “Yes, but I have sinned.” I answer, there is mercy in him as well as pity.

    Note12. Note from the order of the words compassion and mercy that there is in God, first, compassion and then bounty; it is the same in Exodus 34:6, “compassionate and gracious.” So let us learn from our Heavenly Father, when we do good, to do it with all our hearts; let the spring be within us. “Spend yourselves on behalf of the hungry” (Isaiah 58:10), and then satisfy the afflicted person.

    Aboveall,mybrothers,donotswear—notbyheavenorbyearthorbyanythingelse.Letyour “Yes” be yes, and your “No,” no, or you will be condemned.

    As for the context, some people say this is what connects the previous matter and the present verse. People in affliction are usually impatient, and impatience betrays itself by oaths and curses—something very injudicious and no way complying with the apostle’s meaning. We need not labor at method and connection; it is the usual practice of James and the other apostles to turn from one matter to another, according to the need of the times, without concerning themselves with the rules of method. In this verse there is an admonition not to swear, in which you may note:

    (1)      The vehemence of the warning—above all.

    (2)      An instruction:

    a.      Negatively: donotswear; and here some particular forms of swearing are specified: notby heaven or by earth or by anything else.

    b.      Positively: Let your “Yes” be yes, and your “No,” no.

    (3)      He gives a reason: or you will be condemned.

    Aboveall. The phrase has suffered various interpretations; it actually means “before all things.” Lyra interprets the apostle like this: “Do not swear before all things; before every word or promise.”

    This interpretation would be plausible if the order of the words were “My brother, do not swear before all things”; but it is “Before all things, my brothers …” Therefore, I prefer to take it as a form of emphasis and earnestness, which is frequent in the apostles’ letters: “Above all, love each other deeply” (1 Peter 4:8). But you will say, “Why does he press this above all things?” The question is important. I will give some reasons, which will occasion a note in each case.

    Note 1. Because it is a great sin to swear lightly and without thinking; this is specially forbidden in the Ten Commandments: “the LORD will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name” (Exodus 20:7). Of all things, God is sensitive about his own name.

    (1)      This is a great sin in respect to the subject: God’s name ought to be sacred; every thought and mention should be accompanied with reverence. All sin is against God, but this is formally and directly against God. Even people are most sensitive about their reputation.

    (2)      It is a great sin in respect to the occasion: there is no temptation to do it except (the height of wickedness) choosing to sin because it is fun to do evil. Other sins have an external bait; here there is nothing but glorying in our own shame (Philippians 3:19). Or it may be an obstinate pride. It is a daring of God; they will sin because they want to. It is usually found in ruffians who have lost all sense of awe. Oh, let us beware of this sin of rash swearing, of every tendency that way, any irreverent use of the name of God in sudden outcries: “O God!” “O Lord!” etc., or any vain joking with oaths. Those who swear in jest will go to hell in earnest. The Jews were so sensitive about the name of God that they would not pronounce “Jehovah” in the law but read “Adonai,” except for the high priest once every year.

    Another reason why the apostle says Aboveall…donotswear is because it was a sin familiar to the Hebrews, as appears by various passages in Scripture; see Matthew 5:33-34 and 23:16-22. It was a sin very common among them.

    Note2. Common and well-known sins must be opposed with all earnestness. The apostle says, Aboveall…donotswear; such things are to be pressed more than any other. Usually the truths that concern the present age are disliked when we reflect on the guilt of the times. People would not have us preach Christ and the general doctrines of faith and repentance, which is nothing but a vain objection masked by a pretense of religion. When the preaching of Christ was the main truth proclaimed and the apostles applied themselves to it, the Corinthians cried for wisdom, meaning doctrines of civil prudence, and the softer strains of morality. That is why Paul said, “I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified” (1 Corinthians 2:2). This was the doctrine that most scandalized them, and so he resolved to take notice of no argument as much as that in his ministry.

    The work of the ministry is not to contend with ghosts and outdated opinions but the errors and sins of the present time. It is the duty of Christians to exert their indignation on the main sin with which they are tempted: “I … have kept myself from sin” (Psalm 18:23). In the same way, ministers must concentrate their efforts against present guilt. If we were only providing for ourselves, we might read elegant lectures in divinity and entice others into a fool’s paradise with words as soft as oil, never examining their wounds and sores. But our commission is, “Shout it aloud, do not hold back” (Isaiah 58:1).

    Note3. This is a custom that is abandoned with difficulty; therefore, aboveall, be careful about swearing. Augustine argues, “Why does the apostle say ‘Above all’? Is it worse to swear than to steal? Worse to swear than to commit adultery? Worse to swear than to kill someone? No, but the apostle wants to strengthen us as much as he can against a pestilential custom.” Certainly once we have got into this habit, it is hard to stop; any physical object that is often moved in the same way becomes easier to move in that direction, and the tongue is the same when it is used to swear. Habit has so great a power over us that the word is uttered before the mind can stop it. It takes longer to commit other sins such as murder, lust, or theft because other parts of our body are not as quick as the tongue. We can control our hand more easily than our tongue. So then, people who have learned to swear or use vain, idle expressions must watch with all the more care; a habit is soon acquired either by our own practice or by constantly being with people who have it. Be very careful; your habit will not excuse you. If it is your custom to sin, remember that it is God’s custom to destroy sinners.

    Do not swear—not by heaven or by earth or by anything else. About the opening of this passage, we may ask:

    (1)      Are all oaths forbidden? Many people have thought so. The Essenes thought all oaths as bad as perjury, as Josephus tells us. Jerome says the Pelagians held the same opinion. The Anabaptists have been uncertain on this point, sometimes being against all oaths and at other times saying they were only against rash oaths. Many modern writers of great note seem inclined to prohibit all oaths as inappropriate to the faith and simplicity that should be among Christians. However, oaths in themselves are lawful if taken “in a truthful, just and righteous way” (Jeremiah 4:2)—that is, without fraud, in a lawful matter, and on an important occasion. The apostle says an oath is “an end to all argument” (Hebrews 6:16). In the Old Testament any doubtful case that could not be settled in any other way was to be “settled by the taking of an oath before the LORD” (Exodus 22:11). The commandment itself allows some freedom: “You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God” (Exodus 20:7), which implies there is a lawful use of God’s name. In the New Testament, the apostle Paul in important matters often swore and called God to witness; see Romans 1:9 and 9:1; 2 Corinthians 1:23; Philippians 1:8 (“God can testify”).

    (2)      What oaths are condemned? Our Saviour and the apostle James only counter that wicked custom introduced by the Pharisees, that a person might swear by the creatures if there was no mention of the name of God or things offered to God, as appears in Matthew 5 and 23. The Jewish nation was guilty of three things: frequent swearing; swearing by the creatures; and breaking these oaths as not binding and valid. These sins were rife in the apostle’s days, and the prohibition of the text must be chiefly applied to them. Sodonotswear—notbyheavenorbyearth must mean the forms that they had invented to evade the law; for the Jews thought they were safe if they omitted the great oath of ChiEloah. Philo said that it was “a sin and a vanity” to “run to God, the Maker of all things, and to swear by him,” but that it was “lawful to swear by our parents, by heaven and the stars.” Similarly, it is said that some of the ancient Greeks did not readily swear by the gods but by the creatures and things before their eyes, and then that there was no harm and no solemn obligation in these oaths—vain pretenses and excuses, for though the name of God was not mentioned it was implied (Matthew 23:20-22 and 5:34-35), the creature being God’s creature, and in an oath made by them God’s name being implicitly called upon to be God’s instrument of vengeance in case of perjury. The other clause, or by anything else, means other oaths of that kind.

    Swearing by the creatures is unlawful; swearing is an act of worship, and therefore it must only be done in important matters by the name of God: “Fear the LORD your God … and take your oaths in his name” (Deuteronomy 6:13). The prophet reproved those who “swear by the shame of Samaria,” meaning an idol (Amos 8:14). In such oaths we use the creature instead of God, whether by way of assertion as when we say, “as sure as there is light in heaven,” or by way of execration as in “let heaven blast me or earth swallow me up,” “the devil take me,” etc. In all these coarse sayings there is a double evil—a rash oath, and an oath made by the creature instead of God. And yet what is more common than such forms among us?

    Letyour“Yes”beyes,andyour“No,”no. Some people think this is the same as what our Saviour says in Matthew 5:37, which implies that a Christian in his ordinary speech should content himself with simple affirmations or negations, that he may abstain from all appearance of an oath. “Yes” and “no” were the usual words. Now the apostle says, let your yes always be yes and your no always no; that is, let your affirmations and negations be plain and firmly grounded in simple truth. Paul said his preaching of the Gospel was not “Yes” and “No” but always “Yes” (2 Corinthians 1:18-19), and here we have letyour“Yes”beyes. The first “Yes” refers to the promise, the second to the action; let there be “Yes” in the promise and “Yes” in the action. And in this the apostle seems to strike at the root, falsehood being the cause of wrong oaths.

    An excellent way to prevent swearing is always to be truthful in our speech; then we need not introduce an oath. The trustworthiness of what we say will be enough. Oaths make us suspicious that a person is false and flippant. If people were serious and sincere in what they said, their word would be equivalent to an oath, and their very affirming would be swearing; whereas others in doubtful cases are hardly believed even if they swear ever so much, because they swear as a matter of course. They have prostituted the highest and most solemn way of assurance to every little thing and have nothing left with which to establish a controverted truth.

    Or you will be condemned. This alludes to what the law says about swearing: “The LORD will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name” (Exodus 20:7). Here not only perjury but rash oaths are forbidden.

    Rash and false swearing will bring sure judgment; because of oaths, people and nations mourn (Hosea 4). If duty does not move you, I think you would be startled at the danger and punishment. If you are not afraid to sin, it is strange you are not afraid to burn. All sins are threatened with death but this more explicitly. God has promised that he “will not hold anyone guiltless”; they are usually brought to trial quickly: “I will be quick to testify” (Malachi 3:5). Judgment marches against them swiftly—the “flying scroll” (Zechariah 5). Certainly there is no sin that more wearies God’s patience, because there is no sin that banishes the fear of God out of our hearts as much as this one does.