Peter Abelard on Swearing

Peter Abelard on Swearing

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Source: Mary Martin McLaughlin, and Bonnie Wheeler. 2009. The Letters of Heloise and Abelard: A Translation of Their Collected Correspondence and Related Writings, p. 241-243. Palgrave Macmillan.

Problemata Heloissae, Problem XVII, composed c. 1137 CE.

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Heloise: Problem XVII

What does it mean when our Lord says (Matt, 5:36): “Do not swear by your head, for you cannot make a single hair white or black?” Does it mean that if one could do this, then it would be licit to swear by one’s head?

Abelard’s Solution

Those matters pertaining to this commandment must be reviewed so that by considering these issues and this review we may make a judgment more easily. The Lord says (Matt. 5:34-35): “I say to you, do not swear at all; not by heaven, for it is God’s throne; nor by earth, for it is his footstool; nor by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King; do not swear by your head, for you cannot make a single hair white or black.” So there are these four: heaven, earth, Jerusalem, and our own head, by which we are forbidden to swear, because these things that we value as the most venerable commit us to the highest kind of oath, so that by virtue of them, someone might more readily believe in us. Those seem worthy of greater veneration that pertain above all to God and heaven, which is called God’s throne, that is, the soul of Christ, upon which Divinity has its special seat, which it inhabits most fully through grace.

The earth, which is called God’s footstool, is the humanity of Christ, as the earthly and inferior creature in Christ; Jerusalem, the city of God, is the Holy Church, whose head is Christ himself. Hairs adhering to the head, adorning and protecting it, are the divine things by which Christ is commended and conserved in us through faith. Some of them are called “long,” some “black;” while the understanding of others is clear and manifest, the understanding of still others is obscure, just like those treated allegorically. Whether any of them are to be white, as was said, or black, is not within our control, for the eloquence of God does not pertain to human invention; these are not our own documents, but God’s. So when he says: “Do not swear by your head, for you cannot make a single hair white or black,” it is as if he says: “You should not invoke Christ in an oath, because this should belong to his divine wisdom alone, and so do those things, of which, as we said, some are white, and others black.”

Likewise when he commands that we should not swear by heaven, which is God’s throne, it should be taken to mean that we should not choose to swear by him who has such dignity that he is superior to all creatures. In these phrases the negative word placed before the sentence excludes the cause itself, and is not interposed to permit and establish the cause. The negative particle placed before the entire sentence has one kind of force, to negate the entire sentence all at once, while the particle attached to a single part of the sentence is interposed as such and has another kind of force. It is one thing to say, “It is not because you have done this that you have sinned,” and quite another thing to say, “You have sinned because you did not do this.” For in the first sentence, “It is not because of this that he sinned,” the cause of sin is removed, so it may be certain that one has not sinned, where the cause might be interpreted to that effect. In fact, it does not demonstrate that he had not sinned, but only that “it was not because of this that he sinned,” so that the cause of sin is removed rather than the sin itself. That is why the Lord prescribes or exhorts concerning oath-taking, because it is dangerous to swear. In order not to perjure ourselves entirely, we should beware of oath-taking as much as possible, lest we should desire to swear upon the dignity that something may have in itself, whether it be God, or Christ, or any creature of God who has attained some dignity before others.

To swear upon anything at all is for us to concede to the one before whom we swear that there is nothing useful in the thing by which we have sworn, unless the matter that we are affirming by the oath is true. While in ecclesiastical cases all of this is controversial, so that the Apostle says (Heb. 6:16): “Let the oath be the end,” in this case the Lord does not prescribe that we should not take an oath but, rather, exhorts us not to. For some things are prescribed, some are prohibited, some encouraged and some permitted. Things are prescribed or prohibited by which or because of which we might despair of our salvation. Therefore, all evils are prohibited, and all goods are prescribed, most of all those that seem necessary to salvation, such as belief in God and loving not only oneself but also one’s neighbor, not committing adultery and the like.

But those goods that are not so necessary, whether because they concern a stricter or laxer life or are too exalted or too lowly to be covered by the precept, possess either the persuasion of good counsel, such as virginity, or the permission of indulgence, such as matrimony. If there were a precept requiring virginity, matrimony would be condemned, and if there were a precept requiring matrimony, virginity would be condemned. Therefore, good counsel consists in either persuasion to greater goods or permission for lesser ones, that is, those of lesser merit, when counsel of the better good is met with diffidence or lack of disposition. So those things that may happen or be permitted have no commandment, but only admonition, such as never to take an oath, but do have permission, regarding when this may take place from necessity, as, for example, when during an inquisition into the truth, taking an oath is part of the witness’s duty. It is permission, however, when it is said (I Cor. 7:2): “Because of cases of immorality, every man should have his own wife.” It is a precept, however, when it is said (I Cor. 7:27): “Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek a separation.” It is advice and persuasion when this is immediately added: “Are you free of a wife? Then do not look for a wife.”