I want to know if someone made a sinful promise to God, what happens then? Is the person to keep that promise still? Are we to keep our promises no matter what?<\/p>\n\t
“Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God<\/em>” (I John 3:9). John lets us know that for us to be children of God, we are not to sin. Sinning is contrary to the nature of a follower of Christ.<\/p>\n “If a man makes a vow to the LORD, or swears an oath to bind himself by some agreement, he shall not break his word; he shall do according to all that proceeds out of his mouth<\/em>” (Numbers 30:2). If you make a promise, whether to God, or in any other agreement, you are to keep your word. “But let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No.’ For whatever is more than these is from the evil one<\/em>” (Matthew 5:37).<\/p>\n What if you have made a promise to do something sinful? By promising to sin, you have already broken I John 3:9. When you sin, you have to repent to become right with God. “Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord<\/em>” (Acts 3:19). To repent is to turn away from your sinful actions and start acting in a God-fearing manner.\u00a0 You cannot keep a promise to sin if you wish to repent; that would not be turning from your sins.<\/p>\n In order to straighten things out, you will need to apologize to any and all parties involved with the agreement you made. For example, if you had promised your boss that you would deceive the shareholders’ meeting about the progress of your project, you need to contact your boss and tell him that you are not going to be able to keep that promise and that you are sorry for misleading him. If your promise was only between you and God, then you still need to apologize to God and ask His forgiveness in prayer.<\/p>\n And in the future, be cautious with your words.<\/p>\n “For we all stumble in many things. If anyone does not stumble in word, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle the whole body<\/em>” (James 3:2).<\/p>\n “He who guards his mouth preserves his life, But he who opens wide his lips shall have destruction<\/em>” (Proverbs 13:3).<\/p>\n “But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment. ‘For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned’<\/em>” (Matthew 12:36-37).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Andrew Hamilton<\/p>\n\t If we made a promise to God, then does that mean we can ask Him to free us from the vow we have made? What if the person made a vow that from now on he is just going to buy food and clothes? Does it mean the person has to keep at this; otherwise, he will sin every time he buys something?<\/p>\n\t A person who makes a foolish vow that he cannot keep has already sinned. “Walk prudently when you go to the house of God; and draw near to hear rather than to give the sacrifice of fools, for they do not know that they do evil. Do not be rash with your mouth, And let not your heart utter anything hastily before God. For God is in heaven, and you on earth; Therefore let your words be few<\/em>” (Ecclesiastes 5:1-2). You apologize to God for your sinful behavior (I John 1:9) and then think before speaking.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Question: I want to know if someone made a sinful promise to God, what happens then? Is the person to keep that promise still? Are we to keep our promises no matter what? Answer: “Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[648,647],"class_list":["post-31336","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-promises","tag-vows"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":32155,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/when-are-promises-binding\/","url_meta":{"origin":31336,"position":0},"title":"When are promises binding?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 15, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Does it work like this? When we make a promise we are bound to do what we promised. The moment we confess and are sorry for making any promise we had made that very moment the binding is removed and has no more hold over us ever again after\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":49413,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/are-you-required-to-keep-promises-that-you-think-about\/","url_meta":{"origin":31336,"position":1},"title":"Are you required to keep promises that you think about?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 5, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hi, I'm wondering if promises that randomly pop up in your head are considered valid. Are you required to keep the promises, even though they're just thoughts? I have OCD and get these thoughts constantly. They cause me a deal of anxiety. Also, in order to treat OCD, am\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":44843,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/i-broke-a-promise-upon-my-salvation-does-that-mean-i-cant-be-saved\/","url_meta":{"origin":31336,"position":2},"title":"I broke a promise upon my salvation. Does that mean I can’t be saved?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 10, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I made a promise to God on my salvation and broke it. I accepted Jesus back, but did I lose my salvation because I broke my promise? I made my promise in my mind, so I don't know whether I meant it or not, so please answer if I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":67952,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/am-i-bound-by-a-childhood-promise\/","url_meta":{"origin":31336,"position":3},"title":"Am I bound by a childhood promise?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 6, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hi, Mr. Hamilton. When Jesus says, \"Let your yes be yes and your no be no\" in Matthew 5:37, he means that Christians ought to be people who keep their word, whether they formally call it a vow or swear an oath. If Jill tells Jack, \"Yes, I will\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":88774,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-i-break-a-deal-i-made-with-god\/","url_meta":{"origin":31336,"position":4},"title":"Can I break a deal I made with God?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 19, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello, Last year, I promised God some things in exchange for Him healing or freeing me from OCD (obsessive-compulsive disorder). I promised to stop watching a series that I watched a lot, horror movies, and anime. Well, now I am in psychiatric treatment and I still have OCD, but\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":10786,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-happens-when-you-swear-not-to-do-something-but-you-do-it-anyway\/","url_meta":{"origin":31336,"position":5},"title":"What happens when you swear not to do something, but you do it anyway?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 7, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: What happens when you swear to not do something but you do it? And what should you do? Answer: Whether you swear or simply stated that you were not going to do something, that is sufficient to bind a Christian. A Christian is a man of his word. Swearing\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31336","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31336"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31336\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31336"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31336"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31336"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Question:<\/h2>\n
Answer:<\/h2>\n