Let Your Yes be Yes and Your No be No
Here is the Commandment in the Gospel to let our yes be yes and our no be no:
Mat 5:33 NKJV “Again you have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform your oaths to the Lord.’
Mat 5:34 But I say to you, do not swear at all: neither by heaven, for it is God’s throne;
Mat 5:35 nor by the earth, for it is His footstool; nor by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King.
Mat 5:36 Nor shall you swear by your head, because you cannot make one hair white or black.
Mat 5:37 But let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No.’ For whatever is more than these is from the evil one.
Christ’s coming, the Living Commandments into our lives, fulfils the higher intents and purposes of the law of Moses. The bar is raised considerably from the law of Moses, as our righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, who only outwardly kept the law made for the lawless. The Commandment in the law of Faith is not to swear at all, which is far above the prior law that said not to swear falsely. Said more plainly, anything more than just doing the Commandments is from the evil one, that is, our father the devil, which defines the carnal mindset.
The Lord of heaven and the earth is fully in charge, working all things according to the counsel of His will. Our only oath is to the Lord to whom we are in covenant to always obey. We say yes when that is the Commandment, or no when the Commandment says so, without reasoning or deviating from the simplicity of Christ. Taking oaths and swearing falsely is exalting man and diminishing Christ by whom are all things. Our only allegiance and swearing is to the Lord, meaning to swear by His Name, the Commandments that is to say to have His mind. There is a greater understanding of this Commandment, of swearing not, or to swear by the Lord’s Name, that is a parable, which the sum of the Word reveals.
Here is the Commandment in the Old Testament, revealing the unchanging nature of Christ. Notice the Lord says, “do not swear by my Name falsely,” and that “we shall swear by His Name”. To swear by His Name falsely is when our yes is not our yes, and our no is not our no. This means we do not have His Name, the Commandments.
Lev 19:12 And ye shall not swear by my name falsely, neither shalt thou profane the name of thy God: I am the LORD.
Deu 6:12 Then beware lest thou forget the LORD, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.
Deu 6:13 Thou shalt fear the LORD thy God, and serve him, and shalt swear by his name.
Swearing by His Name falsely is to have false doctrines. Our yes is then a no, and our no is a yes. As Christ, we mean what we say, that is to say, we are without hypocrisy, and speak and do the Truth to with one another, obeying Christ.
Eph 4:15 But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ:
Eph 4:25 Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another.
Spiritual Pharisees who profess the Lord’s Name but do not obey His Commandments, swear and make many oaths to appear righteous outwardly but inwardly are full of death and hypocrisy. Christ wants sincerity of truth beginning on the inward parts that makes its way to the outward.
Mat 23:28 Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.
The Lord rebukes all Pharisees for their hypocrisy, in swearing falsely in His Name. Spiritual Pharisees seek to obtain salvation through knowledge only and do not esteem the Temple that sanctifies the gold [knowledge]. They do not esteem the Commandments above all else, elevating their own works and knowledge.
Mat 23:16 Woe unto you, ye blind guides, which say, Whosoever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing; but whosoever shall swear by the gold of the temple, he is a debtor!
Mat 23:17 Ye fools and blind: for whether is greater, the gold, or the temple that sanctifieth the gold?
Mat 23:18 And, Whosoever shall swear by the altar, it is nothing; but whosoever sweareth by the gift that is upon it, he is guilty.
Mat 23:19 Ye fools and blind: for whether is greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifieth the gift?
The altar is the cross on which we die and lay down our lives in obedience to Christ. The Lord changes not, and our only swear is to the Lord, to the Commandments that we strive to always obey. Christ continues, saying that all things return to the Commandments, which are the altar upon which we are sacrificed and on which we worship God.
Mat 23:20 Whoso therefore shall swear by the altar, sweareth by it, and by all things thereon.
Mat 23:21 And whoso shall swear by the temple, sweareth by it, and by him that dwelleth therein.
Mat 23:22 And he that shall swear by heaven, sweareth by the throne of God, and by him that sitteth thereon.
Mat 23:23 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.
Making many oaths is a parable to say that, as spiritual Pharisees, we have a lot of knowledge apart from the Commandments and do not desire to come to the Lord to be saved. We are still in a type of Egypt and Sodom, spiritually speaking.
Joh 5:37 And the Father himself, which hath sent me, hath borne witness of me. Ye have neither heard his voice at any time, nor seen his shape.
Joh 5:38 And ye have not his word abiding in you: for whom he hath sent, him ye believe not.
Joh 5:39 Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.
Joh 5:40 And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life.
James elevates swearing not, as above all things, it is that important. Not swearing is simply doing the Commandments. Our obedience, not an oath, is how we are identified as Christ’s disciples. This is a parable.
Jas 5:12 But above all things, my brethren, swear not, neither by heaven, neither by the earth, neither by any other oath: but let your yea be yea; and your nay, nay; lest ye fall into condemnation.
When we swear by any other oath, we reason judgment away, that is to say, we reason the Commandments away. We swear by Baal, which means we trust in our knowledge to save us, that is, swearing falsely.
Jer 12:16 And it shall come to pass, if they will diligently learn the ways of my people, to swear by my name, The LORD liveth; as they taught my people to swear by Baal; then shall they be built in the midst of my people.
Jer 12:17 But if they will not obey, I will utterly pluck up and destroy that nation, saith the LORD.
God, the Father, through Christ, swore by Himself to save all of humanity. The Promise was made to the Patriarchs that He is saving all mankind and making them into sons of God in the appointed times and appointed order.
Exo 6:8 And I will bring you in unto the land, concerning the which I did swear to give it to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob; and I will give it you for an heritage: I am the LORD.
Isa 45:22 Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else.
Isa 45:23 I have sworn by myself, the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, That unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear.
It is impossible for God to lie and thus He swore by Himself as there is nothing greater that He would bring the Promise of salvation to pass.
Heb 6:13 For when God made promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he sware by himself,
Heb 6:14 Saying, Surely blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee.
The Lord swore by Himself, that is to say, He swore and swears by His Commandments, as it is this day. We, as Christ, swear not to ourselves but only to the Living God, the Commandments, and this is how we put an end to the inner strife between flesh and Spirit. Our yes is yes, and no is no.
Heb 6:16 For men verily swear by the greater: and an oath for confirmation is to them an end of all strife.
Heb 6:17 Wherein God, willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath:
We likewise confirm our witness to the promises of God by obeying the Lord’s Commandments. This is how we swear an oath, saying yes to God, rising above the flesh, and overcoming our sins.
Rev 10:5 And the angel which I saw stand upon the sea and upon the earth lifted up his hand to heaven,
Rev 10:6 And sware by him that liveth for ever and ever, who created heaven, and the things that therein are, and the earth, and the things that therein are, and the sea, and the things which are therein, that there should be time no longer:
There was a lot of swearing in the Old Testament that we do not review in this study of the Commandment. All the swearing in the OT shadows is a parable to say the Law and the Prophets are good, but Christ fulfills the Law and the Prophets when He comes to us, bringing better sacrifices and offerings and simplicity into our worship.
Mat 5:17 Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.
Swearing only by His Name, that is to say, our yes is our yes and our no is our no, and this is to have and do Christ’s doctrine. The way of Christ, the Commandments, is straight and narrow with no variableness.
Mat 7:14 Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.
Jas 1:17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.
1Jn 5:3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.
Swearing and making other oaths is wandering from the narrow way and leaving the singleness and simplicity of Christ’s doctrine. We swear truthfully only in the Name of the Lord, meaning the Living Commandments. Anything else corrupts the Commandments, the Living Bread of Life that grows and sustains us in running our race to the end.
The world has multiplied the swearing of oaths and allegiances other than the Commandments into many facets of society. We mean what we say and say what we mean, our yes being yes and our no, a no. When the law of the land requires us to take an oath, for example, being a doctor, we do so obeying the commandment that tells us to be subject to the governing authorities [Rom 13].
Isa 46:9 Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me,
Isa 46:10 Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure:
The final conclusion of the matter is love from a pure heart. This is the real meaning of do not swear at all which James elevated above all. Paul says the same:
1Ti 1:5 Now the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned:
We pray God, the Father, and the Lord, Christ Jesus, give you an understanding of all of this.
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