Ludolph of Saxony, Vita Christi, Part 1, Chapter 34
Written 14th Century.
Source: Ludolph of Saxony, The life of Jesus Christ, Part 1
(Volume 1, Chapters 1-40). Cistercian Studies Series 267. Trans. Milton T.
Walsh. Liturgical Press. Collegeville, MN, USA. 2018.
Christ’s Teaching on Oaths
Having taught that we must avoid anger and lust so as not to
injure our neighbor, the Lord now forbids the taking of oaths and perjury so
that we will not offend God, and he gives the proper interpretation to a
precept in the old law forbidding perjury. The Jews were of the opinion that
this commandment simply forbade lying under oath, but that an illicit oath must
still be honored and that a rash oath, for which there is no need, is
nonetheless licit. But the Savior says we should not swear for any reason; this
does not include oaths that are required, but all useless oaths.
Justice according to the Pharisees meant not committing
perjury. The Lord confirms this by forbidding swearing: this is the justice of
those who are to enter into the kingdom of heaven. Just as a person who keeps
silent cannot speak falsely, so one who does not swear cannot commit perjury. We
read that in the multitude of words there
shall not want sin, so in the multitude of swearing there shall not want
perjury. The Lord had commanded the Jews to offer him sacrifices according to
the law, not because these were pleasing to him, but so that they would not
offer them to idols, as had been their custom in the past. Similarly, as a
concession to their weakness he allowed them to swear by God, not because this
was pleasing to him, but because it was less wicked for them to swear by him
than by some creature. Jerome writes, “The Law required his people to swear by
God alone; not that this was a good thing, but it was better than their custom
of swearing by creatures, thereby offering them the homage due to God. The Gospel
does not admit of oaths, because every statement of a faithful Christian should
be like sworn testimony.”
According to Chrysostom,
Swearing of any kind is not permitted to us. Why is it necessary to swear, since we are not permitted to lie for any reason? Should not all our words always be so true that they can be trusted as absolutely as if we had sworn an oath? The Lord forbids not only perjury but the taking of an oath so that it cannot be thought that an oath is needed to guarantee the veracity of what we say, and that we might be suspected of lying if we are not speaking under oath. An oath is taken for one reason: to guarantee the truthfulness of what we say. But the Lord does not choose to distinguish between what we say under oath and anything else we say. Just as what we say under oath should be devoid of treachery, so what we speak should be free of falsehood. Both perjury and lying will be punished by divine Judgment. Whoever speaks swears to be truthful, as it is written: A faithful witness will not lie. It is not without reason that the holy Scriptures frequently exhort us not to swear: God is truthful and knows what we say, so every word we speak should be uttered as if under oath.
Seneca writes, “There is no difference between swearing an oath
and making an affirmation: you should know that religion and faith are involved
whenever the truth is handled.” Augustine points out that people who swear call
God to be their witness, but it is laughable to think that they have not sworn
because they did not say “by God,” but rather, for God is my witness, behold,
before God, I do not lie, or God knows
that I do not lie.
Therefore the Lord commanded us not to swear at all, that is, not to swear on every occasion or in
every case because this would be a rash oath, but he did not exclude taking an
oath when this is required. Here the negative precedes the universally
affirmative statement, which is equivalent to its contradiction; if it came
after the statement, it would be equivalent to its contrary. He did not say omnino non iurare: this would mean that
there is no situation in which an oath should be taken, which is false: there
are occasions when we should take an oath and other occasions when we should
not. He said non iurare omnino, that
is, do not take an oath on every occasion. His meaning is not that there is no
occasion for swearing, but that it should be done only when absolutely
necessary; needless swearing constitutes a rash oath. Therefore, Augustine
says, the Lord did not command us not to
swear at all because to do so is unlawful, but to curb those who think that
oaths are good in themselves and swear easily, and by force of habit fall into
false swearing.
There are three requirements for an oath to be proper. The
first pertains to the matter about which the oath is taken, that is, the truth;
otherwise, there is nothing suitable to be confirmed. The second pertains to
the motivation for swearing, that is, to reach a judgment; if this is not the
purpose, there is no need to take an oath. The third pertains to the person
swearing, that is, the need for justice or discretion; if this is lacking there
is the danger of swearing falsely. Hence the prophet Jeremiah says, And you shall swear: As the Lord lives, in
truth, and in judgment, and in justice.
It is not only unlawful to swear rashly by God; it is also
wrong to swear by creatures, inasmuch as divine power shines out through them.
Hence Christ adds, “neither by heaven,
for it is the throne of God, and it is from there above all that his glory
shines out; nor by the earth, for it is his footstool, because it is his
humblest creation; nor by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great king,
that is of God, the King of Kings, and the place chosen by him as the center of
worship.” To underscore this divine element he adds, “Neither shall you swear by your head, because you cannot make one hair
white or black, for this is God’s work, not yours.”
What Jesus is saying here is that just as we should not
swear by God, so we should not swear by creatures: because any creature is
God’s creation, to swear by the creature is to swear by God. We are also
forbidden to swear by creatures lest we give divine honors to what is God’s
handiwork, and also to avoid committing perjury by taking a false oath by
creatures. (Some believe that swearing by created things is tantamount to
swearing by nothing, and the oath is not binding.) Sometimes people swear on
the cross or on the gospels, that is, by him to whom these objects are
dedicated. This also holds true for swearing on the relics of the saints: in
this case we are honoring God’s power rather than a saint’s because he is their
Maker, and all the good they possess comes from him.
He who forbids us to swear tells us what to do instead: “But let your speech be yes, yes, no, no:
simply affirm what is true and deny what is false.” His repetition of yes and
no suggests that our mouth expresses externally what is in our heart. We
fulfill this gospel precept of yes, yes,
no, no when we affirm or deny with both our lips and our heart. Therefore,
let what is in our conscience be on our lips, let what is real be in our mouth,
and let what is in our mouth also be in our works. Let us prove by our deeds
what we affirm in our speech, and not profess by action what we deny in speech.
Christ goes on to say, “That
which is over and above these, to swear, is of evil, that is, comes from
weakness and suspicion because the person will not be believed unless he
swears.” He does not say, “It is evil,” because you do not do evil if you make
use of an oath properly—not because it is good in itself, but because it is
required to persuade others when proposing something helpful to them. He says, “It is of evil,” that is, it manifests
the weakness of another party who compels you to take an oath, when you see
that he or she is slow to believe what will be of use to them, and they will
not credit it unless you so swear.
There is always an element of evil here, either on the part
of person who swears unnecessarily or on the part of the one who demands it. It
is either an evil done when an oath is insisted on unnecessarily, or an evil
suffered because of a weakness inherent in the human race that we do not take
one another at our word without an oath.
Let us speak the truth and commend it by the probity of our
conduct rather than a torrent of oaths. And when talking, let us speak plainly
and not send other messages by gesture or expression, for such behavior also is
of evil. We read in Proverbs, A man that
is an apostate, an unprofitable man, walks with a perverse mouth, he winks with
the eyes, presses with the foot, speaks with the finger. It is foolish to
imitate this unprofitable man and speak
with the finger; more foolish still to speak with the hand, because this
has five fingers, and it follows that someone who speaks with arms and
shoulders is most foolish of all. Moreover, those wild gesticulations and
tremors of the head make a person look possessed. It is expedient for us
restrain all bodily movements when speaking so as not to give others occasion
for scandal.
