In Matthew 5:33-37 Jesus referred to a series of laws in the Old Testament relating to the theme of not swearing falsely. Making an oath and not fulfilling it is wrong. Jesus encouraged his disciples not to swear oaths invoking things in heaven or earth, but to just say yes or no. Swearing by external things does not guarantee fulfillment of an obligation. Such oaths are a form of leverage supposedly making that person more believable. In actuality, they underline the fact that we humans are too often unreliable and untruthful. By invoking heaven or earth, we are in effect deluded that a veneer of honesty can change liars into truth-tellers and covenant breakers into contract keepers. We Christians do not need to engage in such useless swearing. We simply need to be truthful as best as we can.
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