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Matthew 5:33-37—Am I in the Truth? Is the Truth in Me?
Yes Means Yes! There shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth … or maketh a lie.—Revelation 21:27 Perry Robinson Jesus said, “Again, you have heard that it was said to those who lived long ago, ‘You must not swear an oath falsely,’ but ‘You must fulfill your oaths to the Lord.’ But I tell you not to swear at all, neither by heaven, because it is God’s throne, nor by the earth, because it is his footstool, nor by Jerusalem, because it is the city of the Great King. Nor should you swear by your head, because you cannot make one hair white or black. Instead, let your word be ‘Yes’ for ‘Yes’ and ‘No’ for ‘No.’ Anything more than that comes from the evil one.” (Matthew 5:33-37, ISV). When examining this text, it would be hard to improve upon the explanation of it given a century ago by Pastor Russell: “The Law had something to say respecting the taking of God’s name in vain, and tradition had modified the Law and limited it to false swearing. Our Lord called attention to the error, pointing out that the third commandment had a broader and deeper meaning than the tradition implied —that it meant that God’s name should never be used in any irreverent manner, and not merely forbidding its use in connection with the violation of an oath in the Lord’s name. Our Lord extended the thought, teaching his followers that they should not continue the custom of their day, of proving their assertions by appeals to God, to heaven, etc. The same lesson is for the followers of Jesus today: others may feel it necessary to emphasize their statements by oaths or expletives, but the followers of Jesus are to so live, so act, so speak, that their words pass for par anywhere and with anybody. To this end they must be absolutely truthful, so that whoever may hear them may know that their yea is yea and their nay is nay. “Oaths and solemn asseverations in the ordinary conversation of life imply that the truth of the speaker is questionable—that his yea is not always yea, and that his nay is not always nay. The tendency is to make him less careful in the ordinary statements of his conversation which are not thus solemnized; the effect is also to make him less reverent toward the Lord or the other holy things which he may call upon as witnesses, as evidences of his truthfulness. As the word of such people becomes common and liable to be broken, so their oaths would soon also become common and liable to be broken—such matters go on from bad to worse usually. On the contrary, where the word is held sacred the avenues of sin and error and falsehood are measurably stopped.”—Reprints, p. 3737 “Truly Saint Paul declares that those who receive the Spirit of the Lord possess the ‘spirit of a sound mind.’ They soon begin to realize the senselessness and vulgarity of swearing or of supposing it necessary to substantiate their word. Quite to the contrary, the fact that one boisterously swears that what he says is true implies that he does not expect his hearer to believe his simple word, and this in turn presupposes that his word ordinarily is not worthy of belief. “Note the injunction of the Master, ‘Let your speech be yea, yea, nay, nay’—anything further implies evil. The Master’s meaning evidently is, When you say yes, let it be yes; when you say no, let it be no! Tell the truth! Your friends and neighbors by and by will learn how to value your speech. In other words, be so truthful in all that you say that it will be unnecessary to swear to its truthfulness, or to use any kind of specially forceful language to prove your sincerity—that you are neither overstating nor understating the truth.”—Reprints, p. 5020 Ironic sarcasm is a highly refined form of hurtful humor, enjoyed by the intelligent. However, if we break it down, ironic sarcasm is a lie, one that makes it obvious to everyone in the room that you are lying, that they all take your meaning as the opposite of your words. For example, “I love that tie” (said in a sarcastic tone of voice … snicker, snicker), means “I hate that tie.” This kind of not-so-nice humor is one of the things one must sacrifice when making one’s covenant of sacrifice to do the Lord’s will. Sincerity. In ancient Rome the sculptors covered up their mistakes with wax. The statues with no mistakes were in shops with a sign out front: “sine cera” (“without wax,” i.e., the real thing). This is the origin of the English word “sincere”; by extrapolation, sincerity means the real thing: Your yes means yes, and your no means no. Is it possible to carry honesty too far? Pastor Russell wrote: “Some of the Lord’s people are, on the other hand, inclined to carry honesty in such matters to an extreme: many in Paul’s stead would have felt it their bounden duty to have upbraided Felix roundly [Acts 24]. It is no more obligatory upon the Lord’s people to denounce every wrongdoer whom they may meet in the street than it is for them to tell all homely persons they may see of their lack along the lines of beauty.”—Reprints, p. 3194 In other words, simple honesty, apart from wisdom, discretion, caring for others; i.e., agape love, would not be part of doing the Lord’s will, with respect to our interactions with others. In a word, justice must be harmonized with love and wisdom. While lying is wrong, one may choose between intruding an unnecessary truth or keeping silent. Our Lord gave us an example of this when he said we should not “cast … pearls before swine” (Matthew 7:6). Jesus used pearls as a metaphor for precious truths; he used swine as a metaphor for those who would not appreciate those truths any more than a pig would be interested in a pearl. A pig would want natural, worldly food, not pearls, which it would trample underfoot. If you force your truths on someone who doesn’t want to hear it, he may “turn and rend you,” either figuratively or literally, as was done in the Dark Ages.
Abraham told a king that Sarah was his sister, hiding the fact that she was also his wife. This was partially true because she was his half-sister. The Lord no doubt took Abraham’s intentions into account, that of trying to help God with the promise that he and Sarah would have a son. However, no one will doubt that if Abraham had said, “She is my wife,” God would have spared him from death, which was the usual result when a king wanted someone else’s wife for himself. Sometimes God’s will is difficult to understand, abstruse; but other times, such as the above Scripture (“Let your yes be yes”), God’s will is easy to understand yet difficult to do, difficult to live up to at times, as in Abraham’s case. Our heavenly Father will permit Satan a certain latitude to tempt us as tests of faith, until the church is complete and Satan fully bound. These tests can be the most unlikely, circuitous, series of events, premeditated by Satan to stumble, snare, or entrap the Lord’s people into a “situational ethics” position. Satan will try to get us into a dilemma, in which we think we “have to” lie: Are you still beating your wife? Answer Yes or No! If one says Yes, it is a lie; if No, it implies there was beating in the past, also a lie. Consider a test by the Pharisees of Jesus: “Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?” (Matthew 22:17, NIV). If Jesus were to say Yes, it would imply he was not Israel’s king—a lie. If he were to say No, he condones civil disobedience—a different lie. But many of Satan’s traps only appear to be a dilemma, a choice between two evils. Note that Jesus wisely pursued a third option and side-stepped the supposed dilemma. He instead focused on God’s commandment, will, or principle, to handle the situation. Rather than letting the “situation” force him to lie, he creatively changed it by asking a question of his own, and telling the truth. We would all do well to emulate Jesus, yes? Yes! |