Turn over to the book of James. Well, we are nearing the end. Seems like we've been here forever with all the interruptions we have in the course of time. But as you can see, James is a very practical book. Tonight we're looking at two verses, James 5, 12 and 13. James 5, 12 and 13. Let's read it together. Follow as I read. But above all things, my brethren, Swear not, neither by heaven, neither by the earth, neither by any other oath, but let your yea be yea and your nay nay, lest ye fall into condemnation. Is any among you afflicted? Let him pray. Is any merry? Let him sing psalms." And then notice the next verse, "...is any sick among you?" It continues the thought, but we'll leave that for another time. because of the topic that now follows in the next couple of verses. Let's turn our attention to verses 12 and 13. Notice that since about verse 7 of this chapter, we've been dealing with the subject of patience. And now that you've had time to think about patience, what would be your definition of the word? Endurance. That's a good synonym. Is there another? Long-suffering. It's not just one word, but keeping on, keeping on, or what we call that. Perseverance. In other words, all of those things are sort of synonyms for this idea of patience. And so, when we have an expression to lose our patience, we generally mean somebody blows up. But what is really being meant by that expression is that we have hit the wall, we've hit the limit, We are not, whatever course of action we have been holding before that time, we now give up. We've lost our patience. We've lost our endurance. We're stopping. We're going no further. And so let that sort of meaning of the words sink into your ears tonight. And if we ask ourselves, how do you know when somebody loses their patience? Typically. What's your first clue? Isn't it what comes out of their mouth, typically? And because of that, it seems to me, and I'm looking at this saying, well, what's the connection here between patience, the subject that we've been studying for the last several verses, and this subject tonight, not swearing? And I think you sort of see the connection in that what comes out of your mouth is generally the first indication that you've lost your patience. It sort of ties back to earlier themes in this book. Remember, James, being of an Eastern mindset, just keeps cycling back through the same things. We've had a lot to say in the book of James about your tongue, about your mouth. We've had the idea that it's hard to bridle your tongue. It's hard to keep from saying what you think sometimes. Your tongue is a little member, but it causes big trouble. It starts big fires, shall we say. Basically, a man, if he can bridle his tongue, says, James, he's a perfect man. He's a complete man. He's got it all under control. He uses the illustration of a rudder on a boat, very small, but it sure causes big changes. A bridle in the mouth of a horse does the same thing. It's a small thing. But it causes big, big changes. So all of these things are sort of fitting together. We come now to the end of the book. And I want you to think about the things that come out of our mouth and the prohibition here against swearing. And it's a strong prohibition. Notice the language of verse 12. He says, But above all, it's like We've had big stuff so far, and then he gets to this part and says, above everything else, in other words, let this be top priority, that you swear not. Swear not neither by heaven, neither by the earth, neither by any other earth, oath, but let your yea be yea, your nay nay, lest you fall into contradiction. Now, what we generally refer to as swearing is really cussing, filthy, speech. That type of speech is referenced over in the book of Colossians. Turn over there a minute because what I'm trying to tell you is swearing technically is not that. You can have a potty mouth and not be swearing. You can say filthy things and not be swearing. You can use what we would call profanity and not be swearing, technically. Okay? So, in other words, let's make a distinction right off the bat of swearing and filthy speech. Notice in Colossians chapter 3 and verse 8. as he's talking about putting on the new man, or I'm sorry, here, putting off the old man, mortifying, in verse 5, your members that are on the earth. Here in verse 8 he says, but now ye also put off all these, anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth. I've often said, if you wouldn't put it in your mouth, don't let it come out of your mouth. Pretty good way of expressing things. Notice in chapter 4 of Colossians, verse 6, "...let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man." So the idea of filthy speech, filthy communication, is not to be known among Christians. But that's not swearing. You say, okay, well then what is swearing? When we talk about swearing, we're talking about swearing an oath, as the context makes clear in verse 12, you're swearing by something. You remember in the book of Hebrews where it speaks of God swearing by himself that men swear by something greater than themselves. In other words, when we swear an oath, we are basically attesting to the truth of what we are saying or perhaps cursing someone in the name of God. We are asking God to damn them. We're asking God to curse them. We are asking for some imprecatory statement of anger and wrath from God. We are using the name of God to invoke evil against something or someone. Maybe a person that we invoke a curse. It may be your car. the wrench that just busted, you know, the old knuckle buster we used to call it, crescent wrench. Who knows? But in those cases, a curse is to invoke the name of a deity to bring evil upon a person or a thing. On the other hand, it may be the swearing and invoking again the name of God to assure someone that you're speaking the truth. you're saying by this. It may be by God, something similar to that, that you're invoking God's name to assure someone that what you're saying is the truth. Now, why do we swear such oaths? Why are we tempted to swear? And I think in thinking about this, it's like, well, it's because we've lost our patience. In one case, we lose our patience with the wicked. We've just finally hit the limit. We've put up with them. We've put up with them. Finally, we can take it no longer, so we invoke a curse upon them or something. On the other hand, in the case of swearing an oath to assure someone we're telling the truth, we've lost patience with their hesitancy to believe us. We're trying to affirm something, And in order for us to affirm our Word, or to get them to believe our Word, we feel like we have to invoke the name of God, and therefore swear an oath. Now, you're probably well aware that what James is saying here in verse 12, where he says, "...swear not, neither by heaven nor by earth," and so forth, that he's more or less recalling what Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount. Look in Matthew 5. In Matthew 5, verse 33, Matthew 5, 33, again Jesus says, "...ye have heard that it hath been said by them of old, Thou shalt not forswear thyself, but thou shalt perform unto the Lord thine oaths." In other words, you are saying, by the name of God, I will do such and such. And He's saying, you've heard that the rabbis have taught you that you are to perform your oath, that which you have sworn that you will do. But then, verse 34, But I say unto you, Swear not at all, neither by heaven, for it is God's throne, nor by earth, for it is a footstool, neither by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. Neither shalt thou swear by thy head, because thou canst not make one hair white or black. But let your communication be yea, yea, nay, nay, for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil." So notice, you see the similarity between what Jesus says here in Matthew 5 and what our text is saying here in James 5. Notice the similarity of the pattern, heaven and earth appears in both cases, and the fact that you are not to swear at all. And that then of course brings some controversy, and we'll talk about that in just a minute. When we think about what's going on in all of this, we have to remember what the Jews of Jesus' day were being taught by their rabbis. And I think we have a clue in Matthew 23. In Matthew 23, which is where Jesus brings the woes upon the rabbis and the scribes and Pharisees, in Matthew 23, in verse 16, He says, Woe unto you, you blind guides, who say, Whosoever shall swear by the temple... Now notice, this isn't swearing at the temple. This is swearing by the temple. So you are saying, By the temple I will do such and such. Okay? Let me find my place again. Whosoever shall swear by the temple, he says, it is nothing. In other words, this is what they're being taught. You can say that you will do something by the temple, And it's nothing. In other words, you are not bound by that statement. You don't have to do what you swore you would do. Okay, let's read on. But whosoever shall swear by the gold of the temple, he's a debtor. He fools and blind, for which is greater the gold or the temple that sanctifies the gold. And then he gives another example. Whosoever shall swear by the altar, You say, I swear by the altar that I will do such and such. He says, you say, it is nothing. In other words, that does not bind you. But what does bind you, he says, is the gold. Or, I'm sorry, the whosoever swears by the gift that is upon it, he is bound. Ye fools and blind, for which is greater, the gift or the altar that sanctifies the gift? Now notice, in every case, swearing, you begin to see the pattern here is about oaths. It's about a formula where you are invoking something greater than yourself to testify to the fact that you are telling the truth, that you say you're going to do something, and you will in fact perform it. Now, what the scribes are saying is that there is an area of things that you can invoke, for instance, the altar, and not be bound by it. You can swear an oath that you'll do something by the altar, And that doesn't bind you, but if you swear by what's on the altar, that does. Now, regardless right now of trying to figure all that out, do you see the idea behind swearing? So, rather than giving us rules, Jesus' interpretation, what He says is, don't swear at all. Now that has raised all kinds of questions. back in the, sort of some of the fringe groups around the church, and I'm thinking of the Anabaptists, later on the Quakers, refused to take oaths on the basis of what Jesus has said. And I think you could say, well, that surely seems to be what He's saying, that you just do not ever vow or swear an oath to do anything. Well, you run into a few problems, but before we get into that, just notice that what Jesus is clearly saying is that our yes always should mean yes, whether we're saying this in an oath or not, that we don't have two levels of truth. Notice that according to the rabbis, you can say this and lie, but you say this and you're bound by it. In other words, there's two standards of what's true and what's not, and what you will do, and what you intend to keep your word. What Jesus is clearly saying is that, no, there are no two classes of statements, and this statement you make, you've got to keep your word. This statement you can make, and you don't have to keep your word. In other words, whatever you say, you're to do. Your yea is to mean yea, your nay to mean nay. I want to, before we start to delve into this question, is it lawful, is it Christian, is it whatever for me to swear an oath? Anybody ever testified in court? You got to swear an oath, don't you? Anybody ever got married? Seem like we got a little of that going around. You are entering into a covenant. You're making vows, which is just a fancy word for oath. Anybody ever go in the military? Anybody ever take, I'm looking at Eric here, take an oath of citizenship? Some of us didn't have to do that, we were born here, but others take an oath. In other words, oaths are fairly common. We generally enter into them without giving it much thought. Maybe we ought to give more thought. That's what I've been trying to pound into Adam and Camille's heads over the last several weeks, is to give a great deal of thought. to what you're about to say these words I honestly I think back to when Linda and I got married and I had I have no clue what I said I do too I don't have a clue I paid a little more attention this second time around you understand but because I've tried to pound that into everybody else's head but you know we just do this thing it's just what you're supposed to do you go to court you put your hand on the Bible and you swear to tell the truth but is that Lawful, is that Christian? Is that according to the teachings of Christ? I want you to notice, just take a little tour. Here I am, going, talking, and not even... Let me get to where I want to be. Now, fast forward. Biblical examples of oaths. Number one, does God swear? Give me an example. What's Genesis 22, 16 saying? Anybody remember? It's quoted in Hebrews. God says, By myself have I sworn, in blessing I will bless thee, and so forth. It's God swearing that He will perform what He has promised. So here God swears an oath. How about Abram in Genesis 14? Let's look them up. Let's just go through them. Genesis 14, verse 22. Abram said to the king of Sodom," this is when he met Melchizedek, recall, coming back from the battle where he conquered the kings. Abram said to the king of Sodom, "'I have lifted up mine hand unto the Lord, the Most High, God, the Possessor of heaven and earth.'" In other words, I've sworn an oath. I've lifted up my hand. You know, when you stand... I mean, I've never done that, but I've watched Perry Mason. I know how it works. You put your hand on the Bible, you hold your hand up, right? And here, this is an old custom. Abraham's saying, I have lifted up mine hand that I will not take a thread even to a shoelatch it, and that I will not take anything that is thine, lest thou shouldst say, I've made Abram rich. He's swearing to the king of Sodom he won't take anything from him of the spoils of battle. Remember, the king of Sodom was trying to get him to take some of the spoils, keep some for himself. And he said, I've lifted up my hand. I've sworn an oath. that I will not take one thing that is yours." Now, you see the formula. I swear by the name of God, this thing right here, I will not do this. Later on, you remember, he takes his servant Eliezer and has him put his hand under his thigh and swear an oath that he will not find a woman for Isaac of the Canaanites, but he'll go back to his family and get a wife for Isaac. Do you remember that? So you've got two things going on. One time he's lifting up his hand. The other time he's putting his hand under his thigh. I think I'll stick with lifting up my hand just between you and me. But notice that both things are doing the same thing. This is a way of swearing an oath. Isaac. Genesis 31, 53. And this is not actually Isaac saying these words. This is Laban. Wait a minute. I've got the wrong reference here. This is actually Jacob, not Isaac. I'm sorry. I put the wrong name up there. Remember Laban? Chased him down. And they put a heap of stones. And he says, The God of Abraham, the God of Nahor, the God of their father, judged between us. And Jacob swore by the fear of his father Isaac. Isn't that a strange expression? He swore by the fear of his father Isaac. What do you think that means? When you speak of the fear of Isaac, would that not be Jehovah, the name of God? And so he is swearing by the name of his father's God. Okay, I'm just giving you some examples. Joseph in chapter 42, that does not look right. I must have been on a roll about this time. If my memory does not fail me, which is a big if, Joseph swears here in the name of Pharaoh. Yes, yes. Joseph said unto them, That is it that I have spoken to you, saying, Ye are spies. Hereby shall ye be tried by the life of Pharaoh. Ye shall not go forth from here, except your youngest brother come here. Now, what you're seeing here is a pattern of swearing by someone's life. And in this case, it is the life of Pharaoh. In other words, again, someone greater than he that you're swearing on their life. Now, this is not saying, if I don't keep my word, then they die. But it's saying, as surely as they live, this will be true. Swearing on the life of someone. Let's go to Ruth. Ruth 4. I'm sorry, 3.13. And that doesn't look right. I must be... I'm sorry. Okay. Yes, Ruth 3.13, "'Tere this night, that when she came and lay down in his feet, it shall be in the morning, that if he will perform unto thee the part of a kinsman well, let him do the kinsman's part. But if he will not do the part of a kinsman to thee, then will I do the part of a kinsman to thee, as the Lord liveth." That's swearing by the Lord. And again, not saying, okay, if this isn't true, God dies. Of course not. But, as surely as the Lord lives, I will keep my word to you. So you're swearing by someone greater than you. Remember the formula that God uses. As surely as I live, I swear to do this. Hannah, 1 Samuel 1, verse 26. And she said, O my Lord, as thy soul liveth, my Lord. I am the woman who stood by thee here praying unto the Lord. Remember, she's explaining to Eli who she is. Crying, and he accuses her of being drunk. But it surely is you live. Then go on, Abner, well, do you all get the basic picture? Look at Elijah, 1 Kings 18, because this is the poor guy with the captain of 50. You know, the two other guys had gone out there with their captains, their 50s, and they got burned up. So this third guy. And Elijah is famous for doing a disappearing act. And Elijah is telling this guy, go tell the king that I'm going to meet him. And the guy is fearful Soon as he leaves, Elijah is going to disappear, so he's going to wind up dying because the king is angry at him. So he has this oath sworn. 1 Kings 18, verse 15, and Elijah said, As the Lord of hosts liveth before whom I stand, I will surely show myself unto him today. I'm sorry, that's Obadiah. I'm all messed up tonight, y'all. Hitting I've got the right thing just wrong spot But Elijah as you know, he appeared and then he disappeared for three and a half years. He didn't know where he was So Obadiah is a little bit concerned Elijah's telling him to go tell Ahab I'm ready to have our showdown and Obadiah says well you're just gonna disappear on me and I'm gonna lose my head and So Elijah swears So there are some examples and that's certainly not all-inclusive But when we look at the New Testament, does Jesus ever swear an oath? Are you familiar with the verily, verily statements, which is amen, amen in Greek, but amen means so be it or so it is. And so there are times that Jesus will say something like, verily, verily I say unto you, which is a double affirmation what he's about to say, or sometimes he will say, I tell you the truth. But there is one case in Matthew 26 that is very interesting. He is being questioned by Caiaphas, and Jesus will not respond. And then in Matthew 26, verse 63, after Jesus holds his peace here against the false witnesses, and the high priest answered and said unto him, I assure you, I assure thee by the living God that thou tellest whether thou be the Christ, the Son of God. He is kept silent throughout all the trial to this point. And at this point, in verse 64, Jesus saith unto him, Thou hast said. You said so. In other words, it's an affirmation that what he said is true. Now that's very interesting. He's kept his mouth closed until the high priest says, I assure you by the living God, to assure someone is to bind them by an oath. It is to forswear them. It's sort of hard for us to put that into modern English. Anybody got a better way of thinking about it? Azure? Anybody have other translations? I charge you. Yes. I put you under oath. That's the notion here is that I put you under this oath So tell us by the living God, by the life of God himself, are you the Christ? And it is then and only then that Jesus opens his mouth. Interesting observation. And then Paul, look at Galatians 1.20. And by the way, there are several times that you will find Paul use the language, I charge thee before the living God. That is to assure you it's that same idea that we had here. In Galatians 1.20, Paul is telling his life story here, and he's trying to confirm the fact that he didn't learn the gospel from the other apostles. And in the previous verse, he says, I went up to Jerusalem three years after all that happened, but I didn't see anybody but James and so forth. And then he says in verse 20, Now the things which I write unto you, behold, before God I lie not. Which would be like saying, by God, by the living God, I lie not. In other words, you could say, well, is that an oath? Is that a swearing? Well, it certainly sounds like it. Then notice 2 Corinthians 1, verse 23. Moreover, I call God for a witness, a record upon my soul. that to spare you I came not as yet unto Corinth." There's a lot of problems there, so he said, I didn't want to come with a rod and give you all kinds of problems. So, I call for God as a witness upon my soul. Again, it has the overtures, the tone of an oath. And then, of course, in the book of Revelation. In other words, here's an interesting question. If it is wrong for us to swear an oath, is it wrong for an angel to swear an oath? You'd think so. Look at Revelation 10 in verse 5. The angel whom I saw standing upon the sea and upon the earth lifted up his hand to heaven, there's that pattern, and swore by him that liveth forever and ever who created heaven, the things that are in it, the earth, the things that are in it, see that the things that are in it, that there should be time or delay no longer, but in the days of the voice of the seventh angel when he shall begin to sound, The mystery of God should be finished as he declared to his servants, the prophets." So notice we have an angel clearly swearing, swearing by the name of God that such and such will be. So, how do we make that tally with Jesus' statement, don't swear? Yeah, I can see what you're saying. Let me sort of give you how reformers looked at this. It's because they had a problem. You had a number of these guys that took an oath of celibacy. Martin Luther being the most notable one. And all of a sudden we find Luther marrying Catherine Von Bora who also took an oath of celibacy as a nun. And of course I've told you before the rumor got started in Europe through the Catholics that Antichrist would be born of these two who had taken celibate oaths and yet had a child. And Luther said, if that were the case, Europe would be overrun without a cry for all the priests that had broken their vows, you see. But anyway, don't get into that. But the question is, well, wait a minute. They did swear. And so from the reformers' point of view, there were certain oaths that were illegal. they were unbiblical, and that you are free from an unbiblical oath. In other words, that it is not lawful for you to make the oath. Are there cases where it's not lawful? Let me give an example from the Old Testament. David, when Nabal refused to send him supplies, swore that by this time tomorrow, all the males are going to be dead. Remember that? And then Abigail meets him halfway and calms him down. And he says, if it hadn't been for you, I would kill every male there. He puts it a little more picturesquely than that, the language he uses, but it's that. He's basically saying, I'll kill every male down there. Now he says, because of you, I'm not going to do it. In other words, are we to keep an oath to sin? If I swear that I will sin, am I bound to keep that oath? You know, if I swear I'm going to murder somebody and then repent, do I have to go ahead and kill them because I swore I would? I don't think so. And that was their position, that there are some oaths, because you are binding yourself to commit sin, that those oaths should not be kept. Secondly, oaths that were unbiblical. We have many cases of Christians, people who have become Christians, who in their pre-Christian days took an oath. I know of cases where in the Masonic Lodge, they have sworn to do these certain things, and so forth. The question is, if someone becomes a Christian, Are they still bound by those old oaths, their pre-Christian oaths? Of course, I guess you could say, well, yeah, I made an oath to be married to somebody in my pre-Christian days, but do you follow what I'm saying? And the Reformers came, and again, maybe they're just trying to wiggle out, but they basically were saying, we took those oaths as Catholics. Now, as Protestants, are we bound by those oaths? I'm sorry? Ignorance and yes, that they were unbiblical. They were not oaths that should have been taken. Now, we could always bring up the case of Jephthah. Of course, that's a big controversy about what exactly did Jephthah swear he would do and what exactly did he do? Did he kill his daughter, sacrifice her, which then would seem to break the law in other areas because you're not supposed to offer human sacrifice to God. Did he simply commit her to unending virginity? That is one theory. But regardless, he regretted his oath after he's all said and done, and he didn't try to wiggle out of it. Whatever it was, he fulfilled what he swore. So, I mean, you can make an argument on both sides of this. The Westminster Confession, rightly or wrongly, says this about the matter. that only in matters of wait and moment should one take an oath. In other words, they were, they, it's basically saying that frivolous oaths. Do you know somebody, I mean, I grew up, and I'm sure you kids probably been around circumstances where somebody, I grew up with boys that ever, Every sentence they said is, by God this, and by God that, and they're swearing oaths. And you would call those frivolous oaths. They don't even mean it. They're just using, invoking God's name for effect. Trying to get attention, I suppose. So, in other words, frivolous oaths. Oaths, certainly oaths that you don't intend to keep. But they said when oaths are valid is when there is a weighty matter, or a matter of great moment, and by that they would mean the entering into covenants, the swearing to tell the truth in a court of law, and entering into an oath of marriage. Those are covenants, those are oaths that it is valid for us to make. Now that's what they said. What is clear is that this idea that you can swear by one thing and be bound, and then swear by another and not be bound, is clearly what Jesus is targeting with this idea of what's in heaven and in earth. Don't swear by anything in heaven, don't swear anything in earth. And what does He mean by that? Rather than the rabbinical distinction that there's some things in heaven and earth you can swear by and other things not. What Jesus is saying is everything you invoke, whether it's the altar or the sacrifice on the altar, whether it's the temple or the goat in the temple, it all belongs to God. So you are invoking His name. When you swear by the temple, you're invoking the name of the God of the temple, whether you like it or not. When you swear by the hair of your head, it's God's hair. It's still His. So you are bringing God into the equation. And of course, they're trying to split hairs here. These things are true oaths, and you've got to keep your word. These things over here, you don't have to worry about keeping your oath. You can lie about these things. And what Jesus is clearly saying is, no, you must keep your word always. Your word is to be your oath. And what you say more than that gets you in trouble. Because you're trying to affirm that you're going to keep your word is indicating that there's two levels. It's sort of like When you, speaking of politicians, speaking for the record and off the record. In other words, off the record, I'll say this. For the record, I'll only say this. Or in the case of being, if you're being interviewed by the FBI, I can, if I'm, am I being, what's the word? Am I, I need Steven here. It's one thing if you're just sitting there having a conversation with Stephen. It's another thing if he has put you under oath. In other words, I'm trying to remember the legal term for it. You've been sworn, or you're under oath. Well, like I said, my mind just isn't quite functioning tonight. But you know what I'm saying. That you'll say one thing when you're not under oath. But you put you under oath, and all of a sudden your story changes, because now you know if you lie, you get in trouble. I can't remember the technical term for that. But if you've been sworn, and therefore politicians are terrible about this, you know, they can put out any kind of statement they want, but put them under oath for the record, and all of a sudden everything changes. If I say something wrong, I can be charged with lying. I can get myself in big trouble. Yes, Miranda writes. Yeah, interesting. So, anyway, you get the picture that what Jesus is ruling out is this double standard that I will do this. In other words, that I can not be undercharged. I mean, I can't remember the word. It's something simple. Y'all are thinking too deep. It's something simple. But in other words, I can say it for the record, and I have to keep my word, but if I'm off record, then I can say anything I want. So anyway, I know I have not solved that for you, but keep in mind that This, I think, explains the reference to heaven and earth in both these passages, that what Jesus is saying, there is nothing you can swear by that does not involve God. So get that silly notion out of your head that if I swear by this over here, that I'm not invoking the name of God, because whatever you say, your word is to be your bond. And then, we're sort of overlooking that last verse, James 5 verse 14, And again, notice it involves your speech. If you're sick, don't cuss, don't curse. What are you supposed to do? I'm sorry, in verse 13, if any among you is afflicted, what do you do? Let him pray. In other words, here we have the positive things that ought to be coming out of your mouth. Notice the same thing is true if you're married. Then let him sing psalms. Notice that those are the two areas where people typically get in trouble with their speech. When things are going real bad, or when things are going real good. You are familiar with Proverbs, where it says, two things I require of you, don't let me be so poor that I steal, or that I'm so rich that I take the name of the Lord my God in vain. In other words, keep those two extremes away from me. Now notice, that's sort of what's going on here. If you're afflicted, what do you do? Do you curse? Do you cuss? No, he says pray. Cast your burden on the Lord. There's what ought to be coming out of your mouth. If you're merry, and the problem with being merry is that when everything is going our way, our tendency is to boast. That's our problem on that end of the score. And so he's saying when you're merry, then sing Psalms. Notice that in both cases what comes out of your mouth is directed towards God. Not towards these things down here. but he who is in heaven. All right. Well, I don't know. It just seems like James is paraphrasing what Jesus said during the Sermon on the Mount. They're so similar in so many details. So it just seems like he's reiterating that whatever Jesus meant seems to be what James is meaning. That would be my understanding. Yeah, two-faced. In other words, your duplicity is probably a good way of looking at it. I was thinking, don't you have to swear an oath when you go into the military? I was thinking the various areas of life where oaths are expected of us, and are those things illegal? Are those things anti-teaching of Christ? And again, it's very complicated. It's not as easy. You'd think Jesus' statement would settle it all. But then you hear Paul making these statements, affirming and calling on someone greater than himself to affirm the truthfulness of what he's saying, which is the heart and soul of what an oath is. Okay, if any of y'all get any great light on that, let me know. But it's a much more sticky subject than it appears at first glance. Clearly, frivolous oaths, oaths that are just words, oaths that we don't intend to keep, oaths to sin are not to be made nor kept. I keep going back to the idea of how many would have sworn, let's take pagans, who once swore oaths in the names of their God. We have a case, and I think it was Isaac again, where he went down to Elimelech, you remember, down to the Philistine area, and they both swore an oath, but the Philistine guy swore in the name of his God, Isaac swore in the name of his God. In other words, whose name you invoke, that's who you worship. And therefore, you'll find passages in the Old Testament where David will say, I'm not going to have the names of these other gods on my lips. What does he mean? I'm not going to invoke their name. I'm going to swear by Jehovah. So we have cases where people have come in their pagan life from situations where they've sworn oaths to do this or that. And as in Luther's case, celibacy, that then the question is, now, as a Christian, am I required to keep that oath? All right. Yeah. In other words, I can injure you. I can put you under oath and force you to commit blasphemy to use against you. Yeah. Yeah. It's exactly what's going on. We have the idea that you don't have to incriminate yourself. But this clearly is not that. He is forcing Jesus to incriminate himself in his eyes, in the eyes of the high priest. Huh. Hmm. Interesting. Well, anyway, that is... And the reason this is interesting to me in studying for what's coming up Sunday, Paul says, I charge you by the Lord that this epistle be read to all the brethren. It's the idea of, I assure you, I make you swear that you will read this epistle to all the brethren. That is fascinating. Basically putting them under oath that they will not keep his letter private, but that they will share it with the whole church. But why would he invoke an oath? But he does. I charge you.