Matthew
5:33-34 Again,
you have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not break your
oath, but keep the oaths you have made to the Lord.’ But I tell you, do not
swear at all: either by heaven, for it is God’s throne; or by the earth, for it
is his footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King. And do
not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black.
Simply let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No’; anything beyond this comes
from the evil one.
Lawful oaths are part of
religious worship. On proper occasions believers may solemnly swear and call
God to witness that what they assert or promise is true, and they may ask God
to judge them according to the truth or falsehood of what they swear.
The name of God is the only
name by which men should swear, and that name is to be used with holy awe and
reverence. Therefore to swear vainly or rashly by that glorious and mighty name
or to swear at all by any other name is sinful. Just as in important matters an
oath is warranted by the Word of God, under the New as well as the Old
Testament, so a lawful oath, required by legitimate authority in such matters
ought to be taken.
Whoever takes an oath ought
to consider fully the importance of such a solemn act, and so he should swear
to nothing but what he is completely convinced is true. No one may bind himself
by an oath to anything but what is good and just, to what he believes to be
true, and to what he is able and determined to perform. It is a sin to refuse
to swear an oath about anything good and just, when it is required by lawful
authority.
A vow is similar to
an oath promising something and should be made with similar religious care and
performed with similar faithfulness. No one may vow to do anything forbidden in
the Word of God, anything hindering a duty commanded in the Word, or anything
not in his own power, which he has neither the ability nor warrant from God to
perform.
The Westminster Confession of Faith
The Westminster Confession of Faith
