Matthew 5:33-37 – Being truthful

In these verses the Lord turns to deal with making oath and truthfulness. The crux of what the Lord is saying is explicitly clear. We are to say what we mean and mean what we say.  In fact, what the Lord says here will help us not to take the name of the Lord in vain. This is so because in the everyday conversation people often vow to be speaking the truth. In so doing they are unwittingly swearing by God.

The Lord’s point is this: We must merely speak the truth sincerely and honestly. What we should do is to think carefully before we open our mouths. It is better to say exactly what we are thinking, without needing to add on. To say anything more will cause us to say less than what we mean. And when we need to swear to prove that we are speaking the truth, we will inevitably put a huge question mark on our truthfulness. 

Jesus puts it so succinctly here: Just let our yes, be yes and no, be no. Anything beyond comes from a source that’s evil.  So let’s just say what we mean and mean what we say.