Why Does Jesus Say Not to Swear Oaths?

Sermon on the Mount E14 – In Matthew 5:33-48, Jesus offers three case studies about how people can work together in spite of conflict. The first case study focuses on the ancient practice of oath keeping. By the time of Jesus, ancient Israelites no longer spoke the divine name of Yahweh out of respect, but they would still swear oaths by things closely related to God—like the sky, land, temple, etc. Some people used these oaths as a loophole because they felt less serious to break (“I only swore by the temple!”). In this episode, Jon and Tim discuss Jesus’ teaching on oaths, which demonstrates God’s wisdom on the integrity of our words and the danger of even small deceptions.

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Timestamps 

• Chapter 1: The Historical Background of Oaths (00:00-13:22)
• Chapter 2: The Heart Beneath Oaths (13:22-30:44)
• Chapter 3: Oaths From the Evil One (30:44-46:15)

Referenced Resources

• The Divine Conspiracy by Dallas Willard
• Check out Tim’s library here.
• You can experience our entire library of resources in the BibleProject app, available for Android and iOS.

Show Music 

• Original Sermon on the Mount music by Richie Kohen
• Additional music by UpsiDown
• BibleProject theme song by TENTS

Show Credits

Jon Collins is the creative producer for today’s show, and Tim Mackie is the lead scholar. Production of today’s episode is by Lindsey Ponder, producer; Cooper Peltz, managing producer; Colin Wilson, producer; and Stephanie Tam, consultant and editor. Tyler Bailey, Frank Garza, and Aaron Olsen are our audio editors. Tyler Bailey is also our audio engineer, and he also provided our sound design and mix. JB Witty does our show notes, and Hannah Woo provides the annotations for our app. Today’s hosts are Jon Collins and Michelle Jones.

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