Swearing is not against God’s precept, because
he said: You shall swear by my name.
But when we make a habit of swearing we incur the charge of perjury. Therefore
it is necessary that the person who is afraid of committing perjury should never swear [Cf. Sent. II.31.2; PL 83:633C].
For it is written: Let not your mouth
grow accustomed to swearing [Sir. 23:11], and: A man who swears much will be filled with iniquity [Sir. 23:11]. And
James the apostle warns us strongly not to swear when he says: Before all things, brethren, do not swear, either
by heaven or by earth or by any other oath; but let your word be Yes, yes, No,
no, that you may not fall in judgment [James 5:12]. And our Lord Jesus
Christ, everyone’s salvation and savior, who wants everyone to be saved, and
wants to deliver them from the evil of perjury, admonishes us saying: You shall not swear by heaven, for it is the
seat of God; nor by earth, for it is his footstool; neither shall you swear by
your own head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. But let your word
be Yes, yes, No, no; and what is more is from the evil one [Matt 5:33-37].
Now the person who does not swear does not sin and is far from sin, while the person
who swears, even if he swears the truth, is close to sin. If he slips and
stumbles, down he crashes and incurs the penalty for perjury. Therefore false
swearing is destructive, true swearing is dangerous; it is only no swearing
that is sound and secure. Someone says: It isn’t swearing when I say, God is my
witness; and: I call on God as witness, or things like that. But what does it
mean to swear, if not to call on God and give back a right to God? What does it
mean to say: God is my witness, if not to swear by God? For God himself, by
whom a person swears, is invisible; he has sworn by the invisible One, he is struck
by an invisible penalty. For the apostle also, when he says: Before all things, do not swear [James
5:12], puts us on our guard against our tongue so that we may be attentive and
watchful, in case the habit of swearing finds its way into us unawares. Before
all things, he says, to make you most attentive against the custom of swearing,
so that you might examine everything and guard very carefully all the movements
of your tongue. There follows: That you
may not fall in judgment [James 5:12]. Therefore, he says, I restrain you from the fault of
swearing, for fear that by frequently swearing the truth you may at some time
even fall into perjury, and so that you may be all the further from the vice of
perjury, the less willing you are to swear the truth unless there be a very
real need. But that person does fall under a judgment of “Guilty” who, even though
he never commits perjury, swears the truth more often than there is need, the
reason being that he does wrong by the very lack of need for his speech, and he
offends the judge who forbade both the useless word and every oath [Bede In
Jac 5:12; CCSL 121:220].
_______________________________________________
Hildemar
of Corbie, Commentary on the Rule of St. Benedict,
Chapter 4, Rule 27 Non jurare, ne forte perjuret. (c. 845)
Source: Hildemar of Corbie:
Commentary On The Rule Of Saint Benedict. Translated by Columba
Stewart, The Hildemar Project. Available online at:
http://www.hildemar.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=147&catid=15&Itemid=102
_________________________________________
And then: 27 Do not
swear oaths.
To swear oaths, as
Cassiodorus says, is to promise something under attestation. [Cassiodorus,
Expositio Psalmorum 14:4]
And he offers a reason
why one should not swear oaths, when he adds: lest he swear falsely, as if to
say: therefore one should not swear oaths, lest he swear falsely.
Let us see how the
Lord speaks about oaths in the Gospel. In fact he said: You have heard what was
spoken of old: Do not swear falsely, offer your oath to the Lord. I say to you,
do not swear oaths at all, neither by heaven, because it is the throne of God,
nor by earth, because it is his footstool, nor by Jerusalem, because it is the
city of the great king, nor should you swear by your head, because you cannot
make even a single hair white or black. Let this be your word: yes, yes; no,
no. Whatever is more than this comes from evil. [Mt 5:33-37]
The custom of the Jews
was terrible, for having been given permission by the Lord to swear oaths by
himself, they swore instead by the elements of the world, for which they were
frequently rebuked [page 155] by the Lord, because the thing by which a man
swears oaths he also venerates and cherishes and fears. The Lord had allowed
them to swear oaths by himself, lest they swear by alien gods. And that
intention by which he commanded them to swear oaths by himself was the same
intention by which he commanded them to offer fleshly sacrifice to him. For he
had earlier let them offer sacrifices to him lest they offer sacrifices to
alien gods. He had controlled them like servants, and fed them like children.
That permission to swear oaths or to sacrifice was not given to them in
perpetuity, but was conceded to them until the one came who would give them a
better law. So he said through the prophet: I gave them commandments that are
not good, in which they will not live. [Ez. 20:25]
In comparison with the
better ones they are not good, but in themselves they are good. And again he
says, I will give them a covenant not like the one I gave to their fathers,
when I led them out of the land of Egypt. [Jer. 31:32]
He commanded them as
servants that they swear oaths, but us he commanded as sons, not to swear oaths
at all. For the law given by Moses was for the progress of the Jews, that is,
he received [it] by the grace of the Gospel for the perfection of holiness and
progress; for all that is new is based on testimonies by what is old. What the
Lord commanded us, not to swear oaths at all, Solomon had said long before,
saying: Do not let your mouth grow used to swearing oaths. [Sir. 23:9] And
again Solomon says, Everyone swearing oaths or trading5 will not be purged of
sin, [Sir. 23:11] that is, will not be without sin.
What must he – whose
word ought to be trustworthy – swear on oath, that it be accepted as an oath?
For that reason the Lord commanded not to swear oaths at all, lest others
hoped, or we hoped, that there would be permission for us to lie without an
oath.
The Lord wishes there
to be no distinction between a lie and an oath; just as treachery is to be
avoided in an oath, so also lying is to be avoided in speaking, because the
Lord judges both. As the Psalmist says, You will destroy those who speak
falsehood. [Ps. 5:7] And the Apostle: The mouth that lies kills the soul. [Sap
1:11].
And if [page 156] God
destroys those who speak falsehood, and the mouth that lies kills the soul,
falsehood is to be avoided in all speech, just like treachery in an oath. When
a trustworthy person says something, he should speak truthfully so that it is
accepted as if it were an oath, for it is written: A trustworthy witness does
not lie [Prv 14:5].
Although this refers
especially to Christ, nevertheless it can be referred to any of his members.
Yet the Lord who commanded do not swear oaths, is read to have sworn. How? He
did this because of the treachery of the Jews, for they believed nothing he
said unless he backed it with an oath. For this reason the Lord swore an oath,
so that those who were unwilling to believe the one speaking true things would
at least believe one who swore an oath. Again you have heard, for it was said to
those of old, Do not swear falsely. [Mt 5:33] Lesser is the righteousness of
the scribes and Pharisees in not swearing falsely, and greater is the
righteousness of those who will enter the kingdom of heaven in not swearing
oaths at all. For the Lord, who commanded do not swear oaths, did not abolish
the Law but fulfilled it, because the one who does not swear oaths does not
swear falsely.
[The following section
is inspired by Augustine, De sermone Domini in Monte I, c. 17.51, which is
partly paraphrased, partly quoted literally]
Just as he who does
not speak does not lie, so he does not swear falsely who does not swear oaths.
Because a man both invokes and calls upon the thing by which he swears, it is
therefore necessary that we investigate carefully whether Paul, who is read to
have sworn an oath, is considered to have sworn an oath against the
commandments of the Lord. For he says: Consider what I write to you, for before
God I do not lie. [Gal 1:20] And again: The God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ, who is blessed forever, knows that I am not lying. [2 Cor 11:31] And
again: Brothers, God is my witness, whom I serve in my spirit in the Gospel of
his Son, that I remember you always without ceasing in my prayers to God on
your behalf. [Rm 1:9]
For there are some who
try to defend Paul by saying, ‘because he who swears oaths speaks by something,
Paul did not swear an oath because it did not speak by something.’
Blessed Augustine says
this is ridiculous.6 But now for the sake of the contentious who defend Paul,
it is necessary to consider that testimony in which Paul is found to have sworn
oaths, in which they say he must have been swearing oaths. For he says:
Brother, daily I am dying by your glory. [1 Cor 15:31].
This [phrase] by your
glory is not to be interpreted as if it says: for your glory I am dying, or
your glory makes me [page 157] die daily, as when it is said: someone became
learned by his teaching, that is, it was done by his teaching, for it can be
shown perfectly that the Greek word excludes it, for the Greek word from which
this is translated can be understood in no way other than swearing an oath.7
Whereas in our manner of speaking such a phrase can be variously understood,
nevertheless in this place it cannot be understood otherwise, as we have said,
than as an oath. [cf. Augustine, De sermone Domini in Monte I, c. 17.51, CCSL
35, p. 56-58]
Since Paul cannot be
defended from having sworn an oath, the saying of the Savior – which Paul
obviously knew – must be examined more closely [to know] for what purpose the
Lord prohibited swearing oaths, lest Paul be seen to have sworn oaths against
the commandments of the Master.
For the Lord, when he
says, Do not swear oaths at all [Mt 5:37], does not say it so that oaths not be
sworn at all, but he says it because an oath must not at all be sought for a
good thing.
For there are some
things which by themselves or for themselves are not good, but because of
circumstances or events are accepted as good things. For example, if you
recommend necessary or useful things to someone, and he does not have
confidence in your words, you might swear an oath to him, for his well-being,
so that he might believe you. In such a case you are using something that is
not good well.
Therefore, when the
Lord says not to swear by heaven or earth, because he wanted it to mean do not
swear oaths at all, as we have said, he went so far in that instance as to add
what is more than these [“yes” or “no”] is from evil, [Mt 5:37] that is, from
the evil of the weakness of the one who does not believe. This weakness or
disbelief is not the evil that we ask the Lord daily in the prayer that we be
worthy to be liberated from. It is, rather, that we not be found less believing
than we ought to be. Other, less intelligent, people want to interpret the
saying from evil to mean from the devil [“Evil One”], because it is written,
The devil is a liar and the father of lies. [cf. Io 8:44] [Such an
interpretation] owes more to sophistry than to reason, because if it is
understood in that way, then Paul and other saints who are found to have sworn
oaths appear to have sworn oaths against the commandment of the Lord.
This should be
investigated more carefully, for why did he say from evil and not ‘evil’? If he
had said ‘evil’, it would have been uncertain whether evil would be
[applicable] to the one who speaks, or to the one who is persuaded. But because
the Lord did not want this evil to pertain to the one who speaks, but rather to
one who does not believe, therefore he said from [page 158] evil, for it is not
evil for the one who persuades if he swears oaths for the good of the other.
But it pertains to the one who is persuaded, from the evil of his weakness,
that his, from his failure to believe.
He continues: neither
by heaven, which is the throne of God, nor by earth, which is his footstool,
[Mt 5:34] and the rest.
The Lord forbade
swearing by the elements in two ways: in one way, lest the veneration of the
Creator be transferred to veneration of created things, as we said above, for
the thing by which a man swears an oath he also venerates, honors, and fears.
The other way [in
which the Lord forbade swearing by the elements] is because the Jews were
afraid to swear by the Lord, as had been allowed them, lest they be held to
their oath, as had been said to them: Render your oaths unto the Lord. [Mt
5:33] They cleverly swore by the elements, and so deceived those to whom they
swore oaths, because they considered themselves not to be bound by the oath if
they swore by the elements. And they supposed that those to whom they swore
would suppose they could trust such oaths, acting against what the Psalmist
says: Nor does he swear in deceit to his neighbor. [cf. Ps. 14:3] One who
swears oaths in such a way [does it so that] he who swears not be held to his oath,
even though the one to whom it is sworn accepts it as an oath.
The Lord exposes such
trickery in another place, saying: Whoever swears by the altar, swears by it
and by everything that is upon it; and whoever swears by the Temple, swears by
it and by him who dwells in it. And whoever swears by heaven, swears by the
Throne of God and by him who sits upon it. [Mt 23:20-22]
How can someone who
swears by heaven be free of an oath, when heaven is the throne of God?
Similarly, how can he not be bound by an oath who swears by the earth or by
Jerusalem or by his head, when the earth is God’s footstool, and Jerusalem
represents a prefiguring of the heavenly [page 159] Jerusalem, that is, of the
Body of Christ, and the head represents a figure of Christ, as the Apostle
says: The head of a man is Christ? [1 Cor 11:3]
And it must be
observed, as Jerome says, that an oath has these companions: truth, judgment,
and justice. If these are absent, it will not be an oath at all, but rather a
false oath. [Jerome, Commentarii in Jeremiam 4:2]
Also, he who swears by
heaven, swears by it and by the one who created heaven, and he who swears by
earth, swears by it and by him who is its Creator, and he who swears by
Jerusalem swears by it and by him whose city it is. Indeed, he says: nor by
Jerusalem, which is the great King’s city. [Mt 5:35]
Although he is himself
the great King, it was better to say the great King’s rather than ‘my,’ because
at that time the power of his divinity was yet to be shown. Nor should you
swear by your head, since nothing is closer to us than the head, [Mt 5:36] and
yet it is not our own, as he subsequently says: nor ought you to swear by your
head, since you cannot make a single hair white or black. [Mt 5:36]
And if we cannot make
even a single hair white or black, then [the head] must belong to him, the one
who can do this, that is, make a hair black or white. And if even the head is
not ours, why does the Lord say, nor ought you to swear by your head?
The Lord spoke
according to our custom when he said ‘by your head’, that is, by the head,
which you suppose is yours. Therefore the Lord began with a great element,
saying: nor by heaven and the rest, and continued down to the least, that is, a
white or black hair, for he wanted to show that nothing created depends on us,
and nothing created exists without his control. If nothing created depends on
us, and nothing created can exist without his control, then every created thing
must be his, and he does not want us to swear oaths by any created thing.
For the sake of the
less intelligent it is now necessary that we investigate what it means when the
Lord says: neither by heaven, because it is the throne of God, nor by earth,
because it is his footstool, [Mt 5:35] lest they believe God to have limbs like
men.
So what is it that the
Lord is saying here: neither by heaven, because it is the throne of God, nor by
earth, because it is his footstool? And through the Prophet is crying out:
Heaven [page 160] is my throne, and earth is the stool for my feet? [Act 7:49]
Can it be that God has
limbs like a man? For a man sits in one place, and puts his feet in another
place. Can it be that God, like a man, can be somewhere else, that is, sit in
heaven but put his feet on earth? Not at all! But he is speaking according to our
custom. For when we sit, we sit in a higher or more prominent place.
There are four
principal elements in the composition of the world, and the most eminent and
excellent of these elements is heaven [air], and the least is earth. And so
when he says: Heaven is my throne, it is as though the divine power favors the
more eminent and worthy element, that is heaven, while he orders and rules and
governs the earth, the lesser element, to its lowest and farthest bounds.
On the spiritual
level, the name ‘heaven’ means holy souls, and ‘earth’ means sinful one.
Solomon explains that ‘heaven’ means the souls of the just when he says: The
soul of the just one is the throne of wisdom. [Sap 7:27] And Paul says: Christ
is the power of God and the wisdom of God. [1 Cor 1:24] And if the soul of the
just one is the throne of God, and wisdom is of God, then aptly are the souls
of the just said to be the throne of God. Look: you have proven that the souls
of the saints are the throne of God.
Now it must be seen
why souls are said to be a ‘throne’ rather than a ‘dwelling.’ The ‘sitting of
heaven’ means judicial power (the Apostle says: The spiritual man judges all
things [1 Cor 2:15]), which is given to the saints, who examine [things] by
their merit. ‘Earth’ means sinful souls because after he had sinned, the man
heard: You are earth and unto earth you shall go. [cf. Gn 3:19] And if ‘earth’
means sinful souls, what then is ‘footstool’? ‘Footstool’ means sinful souls as
well, because man, not willing to remain within the law, was placed under the
law, and was made like a footstool under feet, and we place our feet in a lower
place.
Can one think of
anything more laborious and painstaking than to cut off limbs (for example an
eye or a hand, [cf. Mt 18:8-9] which mean a dear friend); to get rid of bad
habits; to have to put up with the various misfortunes and events that can be
imagined or alleged of a wife (apart from a case of fornication [cf. Mt 5:32]).
[page 161] And if he does not have [a wife], let him not take someone divorced
from a man, [even if she] is beautiful, healthy, rich and fertile. If it is not
lawful to do this, much less is one to consider it lawful to give himself over
to any other unlawful sexual act. [cf. Augustine, De sermone Domini in Monte I,
c. 18.54] No one knows what a labor this is except someone who has experienced
it.
For example, someone
has a dear friend who provides him advice in divine things (signified by
‘eye’), but then later places a stumbling block for him in the way of God. Or
perhaps [he has] another friend, who offers help in divine things (signified by
‘hand’) and later causes scandal, and he hears the Lord saying: if your eye or
your hand is a stumbling block for you, cast it away from you; for it is better
for you to enter life crippled than to have all of your limbs and be cast into
the gehenna of fire. [cf. Mt 18:8-9] So he wants to cast him away from himself,
and no one knows what a labor that is, except him, who has now done it.
And again, if someone
has bad habits of swearing oaths and hears the Lord saying: do not swear oaths
at all, neither by heaven nor by earth. [Mt 5:34] etc., he will want to cast
off these habits from himself. And what a labor that is, no one knows, except
him, who has now driven these things out from himself.
And again, if someone
has a wife consumed with diseases--blind, sterile, deformed, crippled, leprous,
deaf, lame and whatever else can befall her—and hears the Lord saying: If
someone divorces his wife except for reason of fornication, he makes her commit
adultery, and whoever takes a divorced woman commits adultery, [Mt 5:32] he
does not dare to dismiss her for any reason besides fornication. And what a
labor it is to bear this, no one knows, except him who now endures such a
thing.
For all these things –
cutting off limbs and casting out bad habits and bearing a wife’s misfortunes –
great strength is necessary. No one can join this army of Christ except the one
who hungers and thirsts for justice, for just as the one who is hungry thinks
of nothing but food, or the one who thirsts loves nothing except drink, so it
is also for the one who hungers and thirsts for justice: [page 162] nothing is
more useful to him than simply justice, so that those things which the lovers of
the world say are impossible become possible for him with the Lord’s help. And
so will be fulfilled in him what the Lord says: Blessed are those who hunger
and thirst for justice, for they will be satisfied. [Mt 5:6]
See, now that you are
embarked upon this difficult way and have encountered trials, even strong ones,
surrounding you on all sides, to the point that you despair of finishing what
you have begun, what is there for you to do except flee for counsel to the one
of whom the Prophet clearly speaks: The Spirit of counsel, [Isa 11:2] so that
you patiently bear the evil deeds of your neighbors and, as much as you can,
help those whom you desire to assist by divine inspiration.
