Post by M.R. Hagerty on May 12, 2023 22:35:07 GMT -7
Matthew 5:33-37
33 "Again, you have heard . . `you shall not make false vows, but shall fulfill your vows to the Lord.' . . 34 make no oath at all, . . 37 "But let your statement be, `Yes, yes' or `No, no'; anything beyond these is of evil.
The subject of oaths was a common problem because the things sworn to were ever increasing; were simultaneously becoming unreliable phrases. One had to swear by more and more important things to engender confidence that one meant what one promised.
Oaths were used instead of legal documents in ancient times, so folks were accustomed to evaluating the sincerity and reliability of things said verbally. In Abraham’s day, men did the seemingly odd thing of putting their hand under the other man’s thigh to signify an oath (Gen 24:2). (This was not as embarrassing an act as we might surmise. It was not much different than two men today sitting and talking, then gripping a man’s leg or knee when making an urgent point.)
This gesture and the invoking of an oath came into being precisely because men came to weaken their simple yes’s and no’s. They needed some added gesture to let the other man know they meant business. Today, oaths have been abandoned as binding agreements in preference for written contracts because men no longer honor their words. They have become clever about wiggling out of things they’ve merely said.
In the courts, proof of oral contracts can be binding but hard to prove. Spoken oaths still prevail for witnesses. They can do so because there is someone taking down such depositions in writing and the laws against perjury are ready at hand to be enforced. But Jesus is commanding that we go back to the original idea – one that did not need an oath or a gesture or a contract to assure others we would do as we said. We are to let yes be yes and our no be no.
Now this change cannot happen overnight for any one of us. Society will not be anxious to return to this standard. Jesus is recommending we ought to in essence “re-train” the society around us at least, such that men come again to regard our word as our bond. With respect to us as individuals, they need only hear us say, “Yes” to be assured we will be good to our word. This is tough because modern circumstances can so easily interfere with our ability to guarantee our word. Just meeting on time can be complicated by unforeseen traffic conditions. But the new attitude recommended includes actually changing our habits and how we prepare to ensure commitments. We leave extra early to make sure we’re on time, we ask a couple dozen more questions to avoid misunderstandings that might prompt us to renege. We say no to other things so our yes’s can remain assured and achievable. All of which translate to our being more diligent, more inconvenienced, more circumspect than the “no biggie” attitudes by which we are so used to living.
“anything beyond these comes from evil.”
This is a serious challenge in today’s society. People do not believe in absolutes, so they view all things as transitory, true for now, but open to change. You will find with each generation in history an increasing tendency to qualify decision points, words that give people exit or bowing out strategies. Folks may give their word but there will always be extenuating circumstances. In fact, we are rearing ever newer generations ever more adept and ingenious in converting purely routine events into “emergencies” that others will be counted on to accept. And they will meet irritation and anger with reminders that they really didn’t promise. This is the new and deliberate strategy of the post-modern mind, the voice of the Me Generation. Promises are really more like probabilities. It is a world of definitely – maybe.
To do as Jesus recommends will create genuine fear in many people who despise the discipline of thinking and reasoning, and always live on the cusp of spontaneity and excitement. They haven’t the knowledge at their disposal for making the right decision, so they decide by trial and error, all under the presupposition that anything can be undone or redone. We don’t see this in Jesus at all. He is able to give an answer and stick with it. If we are to be like Him, we need to learn to cultivate this attitude and capacity.
Matthew 5:48
48 "Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
This is a command, not a suggestion, which means we are expected to do as commanded. We are to be perfect, and the measure is the perfection that belongs to God - to anyone hearing this, a profound impossibility. And that was actually intentional and deliberate by design.
We are meant to think of the sheer impossibility of becoming that perfect - in the flesh, in our own strength. The fact that we cannot do so does not take away the command or mean that it was rhetorical.
In the OT, God said that the soul that sins it shall die. He did not rescind the command just because He didn’t want all men to die, or seeing that they have gone right ahead and sinned, and must die. He provided a substitutionary process of animal sacrifices, which He viewed as a temporary means of postponing the personal penalty for sin. Animal sacrifices were, however, not an effectual substitute. Meaning they were not regarded as the sacrifice in place of man’s own penalty due. They were an accepted means of postponement. They appeased God that He would wait to settle affairs until later. Hence, the idea of a last judgment and the accounting of deeds done in the flesh.
Likewise here, in Jesus and the NT, we find that man’s inability to perform perfectly before God does not cause God to rescind the standard of perfection required. It is to be met by someone else on our behalf.
Here, it is an effectual sacrifice - one that completes our obligation, nothing postponed.
So we see that the commandment is valid and remains in effect regardless of the impossibility of man fulfilling it, and this causes us to fall on the mercy of God, who has already made provision for that mercy without nullifying the needs of justice. Christ both meets the needs of justice (that someone must pay with their lives) and the needs of mercy (that men may continue to live not only here and now but in the life to come.)