Jerome on Swearing

Jerome on Swearing

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Commentary on Matthew, Book 1, Mt. 5:34

Source: Jerome, Saint. 2008. Commentary on Matthew (The Fathers of the Church, Volume 117), p.83. Translated by Thomas P. Scheck. CUA Press.

Written c. 398


5.34• "But I tell you not to swear at all, neither by heaven," etc.

The Jews always had this rotten habit of swearing by the elements, as the prophetic words frequently accuse them. The one who swears venerates and esteems that by which he swears. In the Law there is a command that we should not swear except by the Lord our God. The Jews, by swearing by angels and by the city of Jerusalem and by the Temple and the elements, were venerating creatures and fleshly things with the honor and obedience due to God. Finally, consider that the Savior here has not prohibited swearing by God, but by heaven and earth and Jerusalem and by your own head. This had been conceded by the Law, as it were to children, so that in what manner they were offering victims to God so as to avoid offering them to idols, thus also they were permitted to swear to God. It is not that they were right [recte] in doing this, but that it was better to exhibit it to God than to demons. But the gospel truth does not admit swearing, since entirely faithful words have replaced swearing on oath.

“Evangelica autem veritas non recipit juramentum, cum omnis sermo fidelis pro jurejurando sit.”

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Commentary on Zechariah, [Zech. 8:17]

Written c. 390 – 406 CE.

Source: Jerome, Commentaries on the Twelve Prophets, Vol. 2 [ebook]. Ed.: T.P. Scheck. Intervarsity Press. 2017.

He says, and love not a false oath, since the Lord commands in the Gospel: “But I say to you, do not swear at all, but let your word yes be yes, and no, no.” For the one who will not swear an oath will never be able to commit perjury. He who swears, let him hear that which is written: “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.”

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Commentary on Galatians

Written c.386

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Book 1, on 1:17-20

Source: St. Jerome. 2011. Commentary on Galatians, p. 87. Translated by Andrew Cain. Baltimore, MD, USA: Catholic University of America Press.

Paul says, however, that he went first to Arabia, then back to Damascus, and after three years traveled to Jerusalem, where he met with Peter and stayed with him for fifteen days but did not meet with anyone else besides James, the brother of the Lord. Since the facts might seem dubious to those who were not there, Paul emphasizes the veracity of his account by swearing under oath, “Concerning the things I write to you, I do not lie before God.”

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1.20. Concerning the things I write to you, I do not lie before God. This may be simply taken as follows: What I write to you is true and I affirm, with God as my witness, that it has not been embellished with any lie or verbal artifice. Or perhaps it could be taken in a deeper sense: What I write to you is before God, that is, it is worthy of being seen by God. But why worthy of God’s countenance? Because I do not lie. And just as the Lord fixes his eyes on the righteous but turns his face away from the unholy, so also now what I write is before the Lord. I who write do not lie; if I were to lie, my writing would not be before God. This holds true not only for what he writes now to the Galatians but also generally for all of his epistles inasmuch as he does not write what is untrue and his heart and words are never at odds with each other.

Book 2, on 4:6

Source: St. Jerome. 2011. Commentary on Galatians, p. 160-161. Translated by Andrew Cain. Baltimore, MD, USA: Catholic University of America Press.

Moreover, seeing that abba means “father” in Hebrew and Syriac and that in the Gospel our Lord forbids anyone except God from being called “father,” I am baffled at how loosely in the monasteries we call others "father" or allow ourselves to be addressed as such. To be sure, the same Lord who issue this prohibition forbade the swearing of oaths, If we refrain from swearing, let us also not call anyone "father." If we adopt another interpretation than this one, we will be forced to think differently about swearing.

Book 3, on 5:22-23

Source: St. Jerome. 2011. Commentary on Galatians, p. 240. Translated by Andrew Cain. Baltimore, MD, USA: Catholic University of America Press.

5.22– 23. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

“Against such fruits of the Spirit there is no law. The Law was established not for the righteous but for lawbreakers and rebels, the ungodly and sinful, the unholy and irreligious.” The Law says to me, “Do not commit adultery, do not murder, do not give false testimony, do not defraud, do not covet others’ belongings, do not swear, do not steal.” If I do not do all of these things with love as the fruit of the Spirit motivating me to do so, the commandments of the Law are meaningless to me.

 [Note: "non periurabis" in editions PL 26:421 & CCSL 77A:197]

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Commentary on Jeremiah

Source: Jerome. 2012. Commentary on Jeremiah, p.26. Translated by Michael Graves. InterVarsity Press.

Written c. 415.

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Jerome Commentary on Jeremiah 4:2

4:2: “And if you swear: ‘the Lord lives in truth, in justice and in uprightness,’ then nations shall bless him, and him they shall praise.”


How is it that the Gospel prohibits us from swearing? Here the word swear is used as part of a confession and for the purpose of condemning the idols by which Israel had been swearing: now the abominations are being removed and Israel is swearing by the Lord. As for the phrase “the Lord lives,” it is an oath taken in the Old Testament for the purpose of condemning things that are dead, by which all idol worshipers swear. In addition, it should be carefully noted that this oath holds these three as companions: truth, justice and uprightness. If these things are lacking, there will not be an oath, but perjury. He says, “And when Israel has done this and there is an Apostolic teacher of the Gentiles, then all the nations shall ‘bless him’ or ‘be blessed in him’ and ‘him shall they praise,’ because salvation has come out of Israel.”

 

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Letter 107

Source: NPNF 2-06:194
 
Epistle. 107.13, To Laeta, written (c.403).

• You will answer, ‘How shall I, a woman of the world, living at Rome, surrounded by a crowd, be able to observe all these injunctions?’ In that case do not undertake a burthen to which you are not equal. When you have weaned Paula as Isaac was weaned and when you have clothed her as Samuel was clothed, send her to her grandmother and aunt; give up this most precious of gems, to be placed in Mary’s chamber and to rest in the cradle where the infant Jesus cried. Let her be brought up in a monastery, let her be one amid companies of virgins, let her learn to avoid swearing, let her regard lying as sacrilege, let her be ignorant of the world, let her live the angelic life, while in the flesh let her be without the flesh, and let her suppose that all human beings are like herself.