Tag: Jesus

James 5:12 

Above all, my brothers and sisters, do not swear—not by heaven or by earth or by anything else. All you need to say is a simple “Yes” or “No.” Otherwise you will be condemned.

This verse has some interesting background. According to Jewish writes Philo, Josephus, and Serach, it was commonplace to take an oath to do or not do something in God’s name. One would say, “May God do such-and-such to me if I do not perform this act”. By doing so, people were actually bringing curses down upon themselves. Later people started swearing by things such as the temple, Heaven and Earth or even Jerusalem itself to try to avoid the use of God’s name. However, James was telling people to not even do that because these things were considered holy as well. It was believed to do so was a violation of the third commandment. I think what he was saying was let your integrity shine through. Let your own word be good enough. When you say yes or no people should know you mean it and they can trust you.

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