Lord’s Day 37

Question 101: But may we swear an oath by the Name of God in a godly manner?
Answer: Yes, when the government demands it of its subjects, or when necessity requires it, in order to maintain and promote fidelity and truth, to God’s glory and for our neighbour’s good. Such oath-taking is based on God’s Word and was therefore rightly used by saints in the Old and the New Testament.

Question 102: May we also swear by saints or other creatures?
Answer: No. A lawful oath is a calling upon God, who alone knows the heart, to bear witness to the truth, and to punish me if I swear falsely. No creature is worthy of such honour.

There is a certain gravity to the name of the Lord for those who call upon His name. It is a holy dread, a fear of the Lord that promotes obedience. When we say “I do” after being sworn in to provide courtroom testimony or when we announce before man that we will remain faithful to our spouse so help us God, we are not making some empty promise based on our own strength but on God’s. Therefore, any Christian who seeks a divorce needs to evaluate their reason to desire this breaking of their vows. Likewise, any Christian who wants to lie under oath needs to compare their fear of the Lord versus their fear of man.

Matthew 10:28
And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.

There are times when we are called to swear an oath. This currently includes the phrase “so help you God.” The implication of this phrase should generate the fear of the Lord within the person taking the oath. They should look to God when they want to break that oath, for doing something with the help of God implies that the oath will require the strength of God and that God will be glorified through the accomplishment of that oath. Whenever a Christian is found to be lying under oath or whenever a Christian seeks a divorce for grounds that scripture does not support, the body of Christ is affected.

It is common knowledge that the divorce rate among regular church attenders is nearly identical to that of those who don’t even believe in God. Is it any wonder why this is such a well-known statistic? It’s because Christians have vowed that they would remain faithful and true, so help them God. If God is displayed as some uninspiring deity who is unable to help His followers in any tangible way, why should the world believe our testimony? That is, if we are unwilling to adhere to the wishes of the one we call our Lord, should we expect anyone else to respect Him?

We respect God because we recognize His greatness. We can see that His light is much greater than the darkness of the world. He has an excellence that rightly should humble us. If we do not stand in awe of God, we will not submit to His will. This leads me into the second question of today as the greatness of God is the basis for our ability to swear rightly by His name and to be held to that oath. It is because God is greater than ourselves that we can swear on His name. (Hebrews 6:13-20) For the reason that there is no name above His name, the only name God can swear by is His own. (Isaiah 45:23)

The glory of God and the insufficiency of man is why we should not swear by any other person, for we are all equally in need of the grace of God from the most pious person to the greatest living person for all have sinned. (Romans 3:10) There is nobody who is great enough for us to swear by except for God. He has given us His name to swear by in appropriate circumstances and he honor Him by using His name when it is right to do so. We dishonor Him when we try to use any other name to swear by. Doing so is an idolatrous act that we must be careful to avoid.

All glory and honor is due our Lord and Savior. To misuse His name or to swear on any other name is a bold detraction of the glory of God in your own heart. Our minds become calloused to the glory of God as we trample His name beneath our feet and our integrity is compromised as we base oaths on lesser things than God. Swearing by the name of God is not a sin, but swearing falsely or failing to follow through on your oath is a perversion of the glory of God and can undermine your own testimony. The name of the Lord is one of the highest blessings we are given. Christians have a responsibility to respect His name. That alone is reason enough to mind ourselves when called upon to take any oath.