An Expositional Study Of The Sermon On The Mount
BAD LANGUAGE
Scripture Reading: Matthew 5:33-37 (KJV)
AGAIN, YE HAVE HEARD THAT IT HATH BEEN SAID BY THEM OF OLD TIME, THOU SHALT NOT FORSWEAR THYSELF, BUT SHALT PERFORM UNTO THE LORD THINE OATHS: BUT I SAY UNTO YOU, SWEAR NOT AT ALL; NEITHER BY HEAVEN; FOR IT IS GOD’S THRONE: NOR BY THE EARTH: FOR IT IS HIS 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.
There are many kinds of bad language; and it is more than strange how prevalent the objectionable habit is, in one form or another, even among people whom we would least suspect. In a humble and teachable spirit, let us briefly look into this passage and note first of all –
The undesirable speech of the world
Most of us realize that we cannot do as we like – terrible things have happened whenever people have thought that they could. Acting on that assumption, dictators have usually speedily come to a bad end. What we sometimes fail to realize is that we cannot think as we like – our thinking has a profound influence on our doing and being, “as he thinketh in his heart, so is he” (Prov. 23:7). And now, the emphasis of the present passage is that we cannot speak as we like. Some have presumed to ignore this principle – they say, with Psalm 12:4, “our lips are our own, who is lord over us?” we will say what we choose. So, that calculatedly cruel word has been uttered, or the heated and hurtful thing has rushed out – and the result has sometimes been a broken heart, blasted hope, or ruined life. Oh, the tragedy of an unguarded word. James 3:2-10 should always be our monitor. Recall that solemn statement of the Lord in Matthew 12:36, “Every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.” This does not necessarily mean that we will be punished for every idle word – God’s happy people often say legitimate words of fun and humor; glad-hearted feelings of the heart may bubble forth in clean and healthy nonsense without trace of sinfulness. But what it does mean is that our idle words will receive judicial examination, lest some of them have been wrong. Any who have a gift of quick and ready wit and humor must be especially on their guard; but we must all be on our guard in this matter of speech.
Cursing and swearing
Our Lord here takes up what was a common fault in the world of His time, and not only of His time. Listen to this, “This people are fearfully profane. Everybody curses and swears when in a passion. No people that I have ever known can compare with these Orientals for profaneness in the use of the names and attributes of God. The evil habit seems inveterate and universal.”1
That was pretty much the situation in our Lord’s day; there was a widely prevalent looseness of speech. See how He deals with one particular aspect of this: the matter of oaths.
What said the Old?
“Thou shalt not forswear thyself.” In other words, no false swearing of an oath with little intention of keeping it. There is little doubt that our Lord had in mind that third of the Ten Imperishable Words (Ten Commandments2), “Thou shalt not take the Name of the Lord thy God in vain.” Swearing by His Name brings Him into the matter, which is no light thing. Gradually, it came to be widely accepted that if the oath did not actually in word contain the Divine Name, it need not be held to be binding, and if it proved inconvenient to stand by the pledged word it could be disregarded. To swear – by heaven, by earth, by Jerusalem, by the head, some of the most common of the oaths need not too heavily shackle our freedom. But how evil is such quibbling and tampering. In the Sermon on the Mount, murder, adultery, and perjury are extended to include the angry word, the lustful look, the evasive formula.
“Thou . . . shalt perform unto the Lord thine oaths” – if we make them, we must keep them, whether the Name is in them or not. How do we fare in such a matter? The oath in a court of law to speak the truth; the oath that ushers a man into some public office; the marriage vow of fidelity and love – have we made such vows; and have we kept them? “Thou shalt perform” them, says the Old Law, not merely as between the one and the other, but as “unto the Lord.” But –
What says the New?
What says the New? Swear not falsely, said the former; “swear not at all,” says the New. The Lord is no doubt dealing with the flippant oath-habit, of which we have just been considering. “By heaven” does not mention His Name, but He is in it, for heaven is His throne; “earth” is His footstool; “Jerusalem” is His city. He is quoting from Isaiah 66 and Psalm 48. It is interesting to observe how often our Lord went to the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament). He did not deal with difficulties, answer questions, direct things, by what people have said or what others have thought, but always by what the Hebrew Bible said, “Ye do err, not knowing the Scriptures” (Matt. 22:29), is His way of explaining our ignorance. Oh, that by diligent, daily study we might become so steeped in “the Scriptures of truth” (Dan. 10:21), that when needed we might be able to recall and use the appropriate Words of Holy Scripture. We do not believe that the Lord was forbidding the taking of the solemn oath in a secular court of law. After all, He Himself consented to such being put to Him, when in Matthew 26:63-64, Caiaphas said, “I adjure Thee by the living God”: that was the most solemn of all Jewish oaths, and the Master’s reply was given under it. Some today think differently on this point; and they are legally entitled to “affirm” if they so desire. But now –
What says those of today?
In the larger sense – that is, apart from swearing a court of law oath – today, in our so- called modern age, the habit of swearing is increasingly and distressingly prevalent, even among women and children. The Lord enjoins us, “Swear not at all” – whether in the restricted or wider sense of the word. Soon after his conversion to Christ, a young high school boy wrote, “I hardly ever swear now; and when I do, they are only mild words.” He seemed satisfied with such progress in his Christian life. A few days later he wrote: “I don’t swear at all now, because Jesus said do not swear at all.” We are reminded of Ephesians 4:28, where the injunction to the thief is: “Let him that stole, steal no more.” God does not look for gradual improvement, but for complete victory right away, and He has provided sufficient grace accordingly. But now let us digress from our passage and consider –
Unguarded speech of the Christian
Some Christians are too careless with words and expressions. But then remember that Matthew 26:74 tells us, “then began he to curse and to swear.” That was a converted fisherman. The great pressure of a severe crisis had surprised him into his old, wild, swearing habit. He was a true believer – an apostle – he was Peter. Verily, “let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall” (1 Cor. 10:12).
Our flippancy in ordinary life
Consider how unthinkingly and unblushingly some of us use such swearing expressions as “bless my soul,” “good heavens,” and even “good Lord”: we do not mean anything, but they mean a good deal.
Consider our thoughtlessness in home life. Sometimes parents make promises in the presence of their children that they do not keep; or threats that they do not carry out, and then they wonder why their word has little or no weight with the children; and why there is such a great lack of discipline among our young people. Careless words are dropped for the youngsters to pick up: how sad to let them copy the bad language, how infinitely better for them to copy good words, as the “children” of Matthew 21:15 did from the “multitude” of verse 9.
Consider misrepresentation in business life – how often is the employee expected to say or do things that he knows in his heart is not right; yet, as he sees it, he must not refuse, feeling that he may lose his job and thus his livelihood. Even if that does happen, a Christian must remain loyal and true to Jesus Christ. Anyway, sometimes a respectful protest has given an employer such an idea of the worth of a person of integrity in his business that the Christian who raises a protest is often allowed to remain, and excused from the shady practice. But even if the Christian loses the job, if he is a real, trusting, and faithful follower of the Lord, he will land on a soft cushion: “Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you” (Matt. 6:33). If, as Christians, we study His business, He will look after our business, even if we are thrown out of man's business.
Consider our insincerity in social life. What flattery abounds: a word of kindly encouragement is helpful, but how dangerous and obnoxious is flattery. The Bible has many a scathing word about it. What falsity is practiced – pretending to be glad to see people whom we vilified when we saw them approaching. What scandal mongering is sometimes practiced – even back-biting our brothers and sisters in Christ. What exaggeration sometimes fills our conversation – often nothing more than just plain lying. Social life is riddled through and through with insincerity.
Consider irreverence in religious life. Think of the jokes we permit (and even laugh at) concerning Bible words and incidents, or lines in a song of worship, or collections, or about Peter at the gate of heaven. Think of the solemn words we say or sing in worship without paying the slightest attention to what we are doing; such as singing “Just as I am, without one plea,” while gazing around the congregation to see who is there.
Our untruthfulness in everyday life – it is amazing today how widespread is disregard for truth; so many different organized religious institutions and groups, all claiming to have the truth. To tell a lie today is not taken very seriously among many old and young. “Lying lips are abomination to the Lord” (Prov. 12:22). What a lot of bad language is included within the compass of the strictures of this paragraph.
Mouth-gate
In our last lesson we learned of the eye-gate and the importance of guarding against evil that might get in through our eye-gate; this time it is mouth-gate, and the importance of guarding against the evil that might get out through our mouth. In view of our lesson thus far, it is advisable to pray David’s prayer in Psalm 141:3, “Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth; keep the door of my lips.” Now we return to our passage –
The unsophisticated speech of the kingdom “Let your communication be Yea, yea; Nay, nay.” In the wider sense of bad language, swearing is unseemly in the kingdom of our Lord. There are some given to the habit of bad language who would never dream of doing it in the presence of a lady, a child, or a preacher. In the presence of such as these, and perhaps others, some who have the habit try to refrain. A man once spoke out in the presence of a wise old Gospel preacher and quickly apologized for his bad language. The man of God responded, “There is no need to apologize to me for insulting my Master.” It sometimes happens in an office, at a ball game, fishing or hunting, or some like place, where people are near those they feel are friends and thus there guard is down. However, usually an attempt is made to refrain from bad language when someone is a fine, consistent, loyal and faithful Christian. The point is that all such language is unbecoming to a Christian.
In the stricter sense (oaths), swearing is totally unnecessary in the kingdom of our Lord. One ancient writer, Solon, says, “A gentleman’s word is as sure as his oath.” A Christian should always speak as carefully and truthfully as possible, as if he were giving an oath. In other generations there was an old saying, “A man’s word is his bond.”
Illustration
Winston Churchill met with President Roosevelt at Casablanca to discuss war plans. At the conclusion of the meeting, Churchill stated publicly to Roosevelt that he would be glad to put what had been agreed between them in written format; to which Roosevelt responded, “No, thank you, your word is good enough for me.” It was said in England, that Winston Churchill always ranked that tribute as one of the highest honors he had ever received. Likewise, anything more than a Christian’s plain word, whether a statement or promise, should be unnecessary – his simple unvarnished, unembellished “Yea” or “Nay” should be enough.
Let each of us see that our words are always true and utterly reliable. If a Christian says something is this or that; then he should certainly make sure it is exactly this or that; “let your Yea be yea; and your Nay, nay” (James 5:12). A Christian’s “Yea” or “Nay” should both be alike in that they should always be trustworthy, without need for bolstering them up by an oath or exaggerated emphasis. If any emphasis is needed, then all that should be necessary is to reiterate the plain statement already made – “Yea, yea; Nay, nay.”
More comes from evil
“Whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil” (Matt. 5:37). If in ordinary affairs and statements of human life, we feel there is any necessity for enforcing a comment with an oath, it implies untrustworthiness in the speaker and distrust in the hearer. Therein lies the “evil”: that such a condition would ever be true in a Christian’s life. If the Lord imposes on His people this unsophisticated speech to one another, how important it is to see that the same quality should also characterize our speech with God. William Harrison wrote: “Help me, O God, to speak, True words to Thee each day; Let my voice be real when I praise, And trustful when I pray. Thy words are true to me, Let mine to Thee be true, The speech of my whole heart and soul, However low and few.”
Summary
It is our prayer that the Lord will deliver each of us from every form and kind of bad language. As David says: “I am purposed that my mouth shall not transgress” (Ps. 17:3). May each of us make this “purpose” ours, and may God Himself help fulfill it in us.
