Erasmus, Paraphrase on Matthew 5:33-37

Erasmus, Paraphrase on Matthew 5:33-37.

Published in 1522 CE, at the behest of Matthäus Schiner, Cardinal and bishop of Sion.

Source: Desiderius Erasmus. 2008. Paraphrase on Matthew, p. 106-108. Edited by Rober D. Sider. Translated by Dean Simpson. Vol. 45. Collected Works of Erasmus. University of Toronto Press.

Hear now another thing also. You have heard that your forbears received from tradition the simple precept that you should not swear falsely, but if they take an oath they should discharge it, inasmuch as they were now responsible to God, and not only to a human being. Hence among the Jews only perjury is punished; one who cheats his neighbour without committing perjury is not punished by the assembly. But the gospel law does condemn and punish such a person, for in order to protect you more completely from perjury, the gospel law utterly condemns all oath swearing. As a result, it is now not permitted to swear either by God or by those things that are commonly thought as having less binding power, that is, either by heaven since it is the throne of God, or by earth since it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem because it is the city of the great King, that is, of the one who created and directs all things. Nor would you swear, as the Barbarians do, by another’s head, over which you have no authority, but which is sacred to God who has created all things as he wished, whereas you are not able to make one black hair white, nor one white hair black. Since all things are sacred to God the creator, to swear by anything at all ought to be a matter of scruple.

Yet what need is there for any swearing among people not one of whom is distrustful thanks to his integrity, or desires to deceive thanks to his honesty (even if this could be done with impunity), especially in respect to those things for which they profess contempt? Therefore, a simple statement ought to be holier and more binding among ou that an oath can be among the Jews, however solemnly it is sworn, for since among you there should be nothing on your lips that is at odds with your thoughts, there will be no other use for words than to indicate to one another what is on your minds. In contracts there is no need to add oaths or curses or anything similar that serves through fear to bind the one who promises, and serves to give confidence to the one who demands the promise. Two words, yes and no, are quite enough to say that you will do what you have, with a simple statement, pledged to do, and that you will not do what you have promised not to do. For the one person is no less bound b a simple, unadorned word than is a Jew who swears by everything holy, and the other has no less reason to trust than if an oath had been interposed. But if anything is added to these simple words, it necessarily comes from sin. For either he who swears thinks ill of the one for whom he swears, or he who demands the oath has no trust. Neither is befitting you whom I want to be perfect in every way. And so although I absolutely forbid swearing, I do not abolish the law that forbids perjury, but I render the law more complete, and I move people farther away from that which the Law punishes.