{"id":9117,"date":"2007-03-24T10:54:55","date_gmt":"2007-03-24T15:54:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/?p=9117"},"modified":"2019-09-06T11:06:51","modified_gmt":"2019-09-06T16:06:51","slug":"can-a-christian-swear-an-oath-on-a-bible","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-a-christian-swear-an-oath-on-a-bible\/","title":{"rendered":"Can a Christian swear an oath on a Bible?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\t<h2>Question:<\/h2>\n<p>Can a Christian place his hand on the Bible and swear an oath of any kind? Or, raise his right hand and swear to tell the truth, in a courtroom? Or, can a Christian swear, anywhere, anytime, under any circumstances? I find a difference in the word &#8216;affirm&#8217; and the word &#8216;swear.&#8217; What saith the Scriptures? I find people on both sides of this question, but I&#8217;m not able to find authority in the Scriptures for one to do so. I find where, if I understand it correctly, it is not to be done. I am waiting for your answer from the Scriptures. Can the answers come without using the Hebrew, or Greek language?<\/p>\n\t<h2>Answer:<\/h2>\n<p>A study in Hebrew or Greek is certainly not necessary for this topic.\u00a0 What we see today as taking an oath is exactly what was being said in the Bible about taking an oath.\u00a0 Here are some passages that I think show a broad range of its uses and questions.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Matthew 5:33-37.\u00a0 &#8220;<em>Again, you have heard that it was said to the people long ago, &#8216;Do not break your oath, but keep the oaths you have made to the Lord.&#8217; But I tell you, Do not swear at all: either by heaven, for it is God&#8217;s throne; or by the earth, for it is his footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King. And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black. Simply let your &#8216;Yes&#8217; be &#8216;Yes,&#8217; and your &#8216;No,&#8217; &#8216;No&#8217;; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.<\/em>&#8220;<\/li>\n<li>Matthew 23:16-23 &#8220;<em>Woe to you, blind guides! You say, &#8216;If anyone swears by the temple, it means nothing; but if anyone swears by the gold of the temple, he is bound by his oath.&#8217; You blind fools! Which is greater: the gold, or the temple that makes the gold sacred? You also say, &#8216;If anyone swears by the altar, it means nothing; but if anyone swears by the gift on it, he is bound by his oath.&#8217; You blind men! Which is greater: the gift, or the altar that makes the gift sacred? Therefore, he who swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it. And he who swears by the temple swears by it and by the one who dwells in it. And he who swears by heaven swears by God&#8217;s throne and by the one who sits on it.<\/em>&#8220;<\/li>\n<li>James 5:12 &#8220;<em>Above all, my brothers, do not swear\u2014not by heaven or by earth or by anything else. Let your &#8220;Yes&#8221; be yes, and your &#8220;No,&#8221; no, or you will be condemned.<\/em>&#8220;<\/li>\n<li>Hebrews 6:16 &#8220;<em>Men swear by someone greater than themselves, and the oath confirms what is said and puts an end to all argument.<\/em>&#8220;<\/li>\n<li>Numbers 30:2 &#8220;<em>When a man makes a vow to the LORD or takes an oath to obligate himself by a pledge, he must not break his word but must do everything he said.<\/em>&#8220;<\/li>\n<li>Leviticus 5:4 &#8220;<em>Or if a person thoughtlessly takes an oath to do anything, whether good or evil\u2014in any matter one might carelessly swear about\u2014even though he is unaware of it, in any case when he learns of it he will be guilty.<\/em>&#8220;<\/li>\n<li>Joshua 2:20 &#8220;<em>But if you tell what we are doing, we will be released from the oath you made us swear.<\/em>&#8220;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>In general, the taking of oaths is talked about negatively by Jesus and James.\u00a0 However, God swore oaths, God&#8217;s people swore oaths, and Moses&#8217; Law legislated oaths.\u00a0 That would seem to indicate that there is more to the issue than a simple blanket prohibition.\u00a0 When I think about oath-taking, I think of two basic types.\u00a0 One is the oath where a person is affirming before God on what they\u00a0<u>will<\/u>\u00a0do.\u00a0 They are vowing to complete an action.\u00a0 This is what most people do when they are married &#8212; they vow to one another and before God to be husband and wife.\u00a0 The other type of oath is where someone is calling on a power higher than themselves to testify with them that they are telling the truth.\u00a0 Now I have personally known people who were ready to swear an oath at the least provocation.\u00a0 &#8220;I swear on a stack of Bibles that so-in-so is true.&#8221;\u00a0 It isn&#8217;t too hard to figure out that such a person is generally a liar and feels compelled to try to improve their credibility by swearing on something more important than themselves.\u00a0 However, people who have a reputation for honesty do not have to swear to affirm that they are telling the truth.<\/p>\n<p>In Matthew 23, Jesus describes the folly of how the Jews of his day swore oaths.\u00a0 It sounds like they had created a complex system to determine when an oath was binding.\u00a0 Sometimes it was binding and sometimes it was not. Of course, any such system is foolish and Jesus condemns the hypocrisy.\u00a0 By itself, that would not condemn all swearing of oaths, but it would condemn the taking of oaths and then trying to get out of it.\u00a0 I think he is trying to tell the people to get out of the habit of swearing oaths for every trivial thing and build up a reputation of a person who keeps his word. Matthew 5 carries it a little further and adds a complete prohibition on trying to get holy objects into your swearing.\u00a0 Jesus concludes with the simple conclusion that you don&#8217;t have the power to even change your hair color, so what good would it do to swear by things that belong to God?<\/p>\n<p>I do not believe Jesus was talking about taking an oath for a solemn occasion such as a wedding or the taking of an oath of office.\u00a0 It is still &#8220;swearing&#8221;, but it is in the context of a vow.\u00a0 Some of the brethren in Jerusalem were talking to Paul in Acts 21:23 &#8220;<em>We have four men who have taken a vow.<\/em>&#8221; They wanted Paul to help them finish the ceremony to complete vows.\u00a0 Paul did not object and was even willing to pay for their expenses.\u00a0 That would show that since Paul did not condemn the action, but was going to participate in it, that it was not the sort of thing that Jesus had condemned.<\/p>\n<p>I personally have wondered why people want to swear on a Bible.\u00a0 The part of an oath that is important is the &#8220;so help me God.&#8221; I see the introduction of a Bible into the act of taking a vow as being worthless at best and a possible violation of what Jesus and James had said.\u00a0 At the same time, I see no practical difference in starting an oath by &#8220;I swear&#8221; versus &#8220;I affirm&#8221; when both statements end with &#8220;so help me God.&#8221;\u00a0 It is the introduction of God into the statement that makes it an oath and not words leading up to it.\u00a0 Again, I will go back to traditional wedding vows.\u00a0 Most of those are worded in such a way so that neither &#8220;swear&#8221; nor &#8220;affirm&#8221; occur anywhere in the vow.\u00a0 Yet, most are still a solemn promise &#8212; witnessed by God or before God, depending on the specific wording.<\/p>\n<p>Making a vow should never be entered into lightly.\u00a0 It is before God and you are expected to fulfill it.<\/p>\n<p>Darrell Hamilton<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Question: Can a Christian place his hand on the Bible and swear an oath of any kind? Or, raise his right hand and swear to tell the truth, in a courtroom? Or, can a Christian swear, anywhere, anytime, under any circumstances? I find a difference in the word &#8216;affirm&#8217; and the word &#8216;swear.&#8217; What saith&hellip;<\/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,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[649,648,623],"class_list":["post-9117","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-oaths","tag-promises","tag-swearing"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":94006,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/swearing-not-at-all-understanding-jesus-prohibition-in-light-of-the-whole-counsel-of-god\/","url_meta":{"origin":9117,"position":0},"title":"Swearing Not at All \u2014 Understanding Jesus\u2019 Prohibition in Light of the Whole Counsel of God","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 16, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"by Becky Ren\u00e9 Few biblical subjects appear, at first glance, as straightforward as the prohibition against swearing found in the words of Jesus and James. \"Swear not at all\" seems plain, uncompromising, and universal. For this reason, some conclude that any oath-taking in any circumstance-including legal oaths required by civil\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Article&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":49494,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/if-i-promise-on-something-and-then-break-the-promise-does-god-take-away-what-i-promised-on\/","url_meta":{"origin":9117,"position":1},"title":"If I promise on something and then break the promise, does God take away what I promised on?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 22, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: If I were to promise or swear to God (or even to someone else) on something and not go through with the promise, will God take that thing I promised on away from me? For example, I promise or swear on my friendship that I'll run around the neighborhood.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3347,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-happens-if-you-swear-to-tell-the-truth-but-you-dont\/","url_meta":{"origin":9117,"position":2},"title":"What happens if you swear to tell the truth, but you don&#8217;t?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 27, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: What happens if you put your hand on the Bible and someone asks you a question to reply to and you swear to God you are telling the truth, but you don't? Answer: Jesus stated, \"Let your 'Yes' be 'Yes,' and your 'No,' 'No.' For whatever is more than\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":93024,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/does-god-pursue-those-who-dont-keep-their-vows\/","url_meta":{"origin":9117,"position":3},"title":"Does God pursue those who don&#8217;t keep their vows?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 4, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello, dear pastor, I have a question for you.\u00a0\u00a0Today, while I was reading the Bible, I read Deuteronomy 23:21: \"You must not delay in repaying your vows to the Lord your God, for the Lord your God will seek you back, and you are guilty if you do not\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Article&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":48902,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-made-god-say-that-abraham-will-be-the-father-of-the-nation\/","url_meta":{"origin":9117,"position":4},"title":"What made God say that Abraham will be the father of the nation?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 18, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: What made God say that Abraham will be the father of the nation? Answer: God promised Abraham that he would become the father of many nations. See:\u00a0How was Abraham famous? God didn't have to offer that promise. He chose to make that promise and through that promise we see\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":47311,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-you-accidentally-make-a-vow\/","url_meta":{"origin":9117,"position":5},"title":"Can you accidentally make a vow?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 24, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: About the question that asks about\u00a0sinful promises: If we made a foolish or rash vow, are we to keep it? Also, can you \"accidentally\" make a vow? Like, if you keep thinking \"don't think about x... Don't think about x\" and then think it, is it binding? Answer: In\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","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\/9117","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=9117"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9117\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9117"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9117"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9117"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}