The Weight of Our Words: Oaths, Vows, and God’s Will

A Fence Around a Dangerous Command

When Yeshua says in the Sermon on the Mount,

He is doing something very rabbinical. He is building a fence around the commandment of God. The Torah said: if you make a vow or take an oath you must keep it. (Numbers 30)There is no way that a man can be delivered from that oath or vow. So Yeshua comes and says: don't take an oath or make a vow at all. Just be faithful to your words and say "Yes" or "No." This is all that is necessary for people who are honest and have integrity. If more is required, that means there is no trust and no confidence in the trustworthiness of the person you are about to do business with. In this case it might be better not to do business with such people.

Most of the time that people make a vow or take an oath, they hang their vow by someone greater than themselves: "By God, I will do this!" "By the Temple of God!" "By Heaven!" In fact, they could swear by their own mother or father if they wish, but it does not make their words worth more than just a simple "Yes" or "No" of a person who is honest and trustworthy. And Ecclesiastes 5:5 agreed with Yeshua's approach a thousand years before:

An honest person doesn't need to swear or take an oath because his word is his bond.

James repeats the same teaching:

Today words are being written and recorded by audio and video and broadcast around the globe in seconds. There are records of what we speak and of what we do of which we are even unaware. Big Brother has us bugged at all times and in any location. We must be doubly alert and more careful of what we say, especially as disciples of Yeshua.

Paul's Hair and the Vow He Had to Keep

Paul took a vow. Acts 18:18 tells us that at Cenchreae — the port of Corinth in Greece — he had his hair cut off, because he had taken a vow. Everything that follows in the book of Acts from chapter 20 to the end actually deals with the consequences of this vow. Paul gathered seven young Gentile men from among those he had evangelized and was bringing them to Jerusalem — seven for the seventy nations of the Gentiles — to dedicate them in the Temple in Jerusalem as first fruits of his work among the nations. And he knew how challenging and dangerous it would be.

In Acts 18:21, Paul says:

Several English translations actually cut this sentence about the feast — they "circumcised" Paul's text — because they didn't understand Paul in Galatians 4 and thought he was talking about Jewish feasts when he was talking about pagan Roman feasts. So they quietly removed evidence of Paul's commitment to keep the biblical feast.

When Agabus the prophet met Paul in Jaffa, he took Paul's belt, bound his own hands and feet, and said:

Everyone around Paul begged him not to go. Paul's answer:

That is what a vow means when it is kept. Even at the cost of imprisonment and ultimately martyrdom.

The One Command Nobody Says

Paul said "God willing" — and that phrase is actually a command. The letter of James commands that whatever we decide to do, we always say "God willing." In Hebrew: B'Retzon HaShem. In Israel, Arabs and Jews say it all the time. "Will you come to visit us next Friday?" — "God willing, I will come." It is commanded in the letter of James, chapter 4:13-17.

But in over 60 years of ministry — being at least once every week in some community, some church, some fellowship around the world — I don't remember any time hearing a Christian leader say, "God willing, I will go to Israel. God willing, I will buy a car. God willing, I will buy a tie." No, they don't do that. But it's a command. It's a good command. It's a right command. Paul said it:

And he meant it with the same seriousness with which he accepted imprisonment in Jerusalem.

May our “yes” be true, our “no” be honest, and our future be humbly placed in the hands of God.