¹²But above all, my brethren, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or with any other oath; but your yes is to be yes, and your no, no, so that you may not fall under judgment.

This verse seems oddly out of place. Some suggest James is going into his wrap-up for the letter, with some unrelated thoughts: be patient, don’t complain, and now don’t swear. One can, however, see swearing as an extension of impatience with other people, trying to convince them with sharp emphasis of the truthfulness of your side of a conflict.

To be clear, our passage is not addressing common profanity, for which we might look to other passages for instruction (e.g. Eph. 5:4, 29; Col. 3:8, 4:6). Nor are we to think here of taking an oath in a court of law; James is talking about something different.

In the OT we find the book of Psalms referring positively to a man who “swears to his own hurt,” that is, he keeps his promise despite the hardship it may bring him (Ps. 15:4). In the Mosaic covenant, we find this command: “You shall fear only the Lord your God; and you shall worship Him and swear by His name” (Deut. 6:13, 2 Sam. 14:44). In essence, to “swear by His name” means to call on God as a witness to our truthfulness or commitment to do something. In a common form, we see the phrase, “As the Lord lives . . .” (e.g. Ruth 3:13, Jer. 4:2), which means I put my word on the same level as my belief in the existence of God and my accountability to Him. Another form of an oath goes like this, “May God do so to me and more if I do not do . . .” (e.g. 2 Kings 6:31).

But Christians are not to rely on oaths in that way. James may have been recalling from his pre-conversion exposure to his divine half-brother that Jesus taught this same truth (Matt. 5:34–37). We should not need to emphasize the truthfulness of our statements and promises with appeals like, “As God is my witness . . .” or more crudely, “I swear on a stack of Bibles . . .” We should not need any kind of witness to our truthfulness, other than simply our word, our character of truthfulness and reputation of keeping our commitments. If we say yes, we mean yes, and those around us should take that as sufficient evidence of our intentions. If we say no, we mean no. Plain and simple.

Patience is connected here; being a person of my word does not come by asserting my own truthfulness, but by establishing my character of truthfulness over time. It means I don’t manipulate the narrative of life around me with obscure words or misleading statements meant to distort reality, or create “alternate truths.” I should say exactly what I mean, and keep my word.

Lord, thank You that in Christ the truth sets me free (John 8:32).