Matthew 5:37 — Community Reflections

MATTHEW 5:37 — KING JAMES VERSION 0

“But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil.”

Let what you say be simply Yes or No; anything more than this comes from evil. The positive alternative to oath-taking is the simple yes or no of trustworthy speech — the person whose word is always reliable has no need of oaths to validate particular statements. Anything more than this comes from evil — the need for oaths arises from the fact that ordinary speech cannot be trusted, that the culture of deception has made oath-enforcement necessary. James 5:12 repeats the teaching almost verbatim: let your yes be yes and your no be no. The community that practices consistent truthfulness renders the oath-system unnecessary because every statement carries the weight of integrity.

Church Fathers on Matthew 5:37

The Lord has hitherto taught to abstain from injuring our neighbour, forbidding anger with murder, lust with adultery, and the putting away a wife with a bill of divorce. He now proceeds to teach to abstain from injury to God, forbidding not only perjury as an evil in itself, but even all oaths as the cause of evil, saying, 'Ye have heard it said by them of old, Thou shalt not forswear thyself.'
Gloss (Glossa Ordinaria) · medieval compilation · non occ.

This was allowed under the Law, as to children; as they offered sacrifice to God, that they might not do it to idols, so they were permitted to swear by God; not that the thing was right, but that it were better done to God than to daemons.
Jerome · 4th century

For no man can swear often, but he must sometimes forswear himself; as he who has a custom of much speaking will sometimes speak foolishly.
Pseudo-Chrysostom · 5th century

Read all 15 entries in the readerCatena Aurea · St. Thomas Aquinas, tr. J. H. Newman · public domain

COMMUNITY REFLECTIONS

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