II. 1. Then he says, “You have heard that it was said to them of old, You shall not swear
falsely; but you shall pay back your oaths to the Lord. But I say to you not to
swear at all, neither by heaven, since it is God’s throne, nor by earth, since
it is his footstool, nor by Jerusalem, since it is the city of the great King,
nor shall you swear by your head, since you cannot make one hair white or
black. But let your speech be yes, yes; no, no; but what is beyond that is from
the evil one” [Matt 5:33–37].
2. By the grace of gospel teaching, the law
given by Moses acquired an advantage. The law prescribed that one must not
swear falsely; but according to the gospel, one must not swear. Long ago the
Holy Spirit deliberated in advance through Solomon to command this when he
said, “Do not accustom your mouth to
oaths” [Sir 23:9]. And again, “But
just as a servant who is constantly beaten will not be without a bruise, so
whoever swears and does business will not be purged from sin” [Sir 23:11].
Therefore it is absolutely inappropriate for us to swear.
3. For what need is there for us to swear, when
we are not allowed to lie at all, and our words must always be as true as they
are completely trustworthy, so much so that they may be taken as an oath? And
this is why the Lord not only forbids us to swear falsely, but even to swear,
lest we appear to tell the truth only when we swear; and lest while we should
be truthful in our every word we think it is all right to lie when we do not
take an oath. For this is the purpose of an oath: everyone who swears, swears
to the fact that what he is saying is true.
4. And the reason the Lord does not want any
distance between our oath and our ordinary speech is because just as no
falsehood. For both false swearing and lying are condemned by the punishment of
divine judgment, as the divine Scripture says: “The mouth that lies kills the soul” [Wis 1:11]. So whoever speaks
the truth swears, for it is written, “A
faithful witness does not lie” [Prov 14:5].
5. Hence not without cause divine scripture
often records that our God swears, for whatever is said by God, who is truthful
and does not know how to lie, is taken as an oath, for all that he speaks is
true. Indeed we find God swearing a few times, but because of human unbelief and
especially because of the faithlessness of Jewish infidelity, those who think
that truth depends solely upon fidelity to an oath; on that account, then, even
God wanted to swear, so that those who would not believe in the God who spoke
would indeed believe him when he swears.
III. 1. Therefore the Lord says, “You have heard that it was said to them of
old, You shall not swear falsely. But I say to you not to swear at all, neither
by heaven, since it is God’s throne, nor by earth, since it is his footstool, nor
by Jerusalem, since it is the city of the great King” [Matt 5:33–35]. These
statements of the Lord whereby he forbids us to swear by these different
elements have a twofold understanding.
2. For, first, he wanted to remove from us the
use of oaths and the habit of human error, lest each of us through swearing by
these elements accord a creature the honor of divine veneration, or believe one
has impunity in swearing falsely if one swears by the elements of the world.
For it is written, “Nor has he sworn deceitfully
to his neighbor” [Ps 24:4].
3. In this he condemns both the error of Jewish
unbelief and likewise that of the human race, those who have forsaken the
Creator and regarded the creation with divine veneration, in accordance with
what the apostle has said: “And they
worshiped and served the creation rather than the Creator” [Rom 1:25].
Moreover, it can also be understood in this way: when one swears by heaven and
earth, one swears by him who made heaven and earth, as the Lord himself made
clear elsewhere when he said, “He who
swears by the altar swears by it and by all things that are on it; and he who
swears by the throne of God swears by it and by him who dwells in it” [Matt
23:20, 22].
4. He says, “Nor by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King,” that is, a
type of Christ’s body, which is the spiritual and heavenly church. “Neither
shall you swear by your head,” for according to the apostle, “the head of a man is Christ” [1 Cor
11:3]. 90 Therefore the one who swears by these things swears by him who is the
author of these things.
5. He says, “But let your speech be yes, yes; no, no; but what is beyond that is from the evil one” [Matt 5:37]. He is teaching that all speech that comes forth from us ought to contain nothing but the truth, since all falsehood, that is, “what is beyond that,” traces back to the devil as its author, who is ever a liar from the beginning, as the Lord says in the gospel: “He who speaks falsehood speaks from his own, since he is false, as also his father” [John 8:44]. Therefore we ought always to speak and deliberate upon what is true, that we may show ourselves to be disciples of him who is the truth, who is blessed in the ages. Amen.
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