The Necessity of an Honest Reputation
What makes a good Christian? If you went door to door in Rockcastle County asking that simple question, folks would give you their shortlist of qualities that they’d expect a good Christian to have. I imagine honesty would be somewhere on everybody’s list. Honesty is an essential part of every Christian’s reputation. In James 5:12, we read, “But above all, my brethren, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or with any other oath. But let your “Yes” be “Yes,” and your “No,” “No,” lest you fall into judgment.” If we look at the context of James' letter, he introduces several marks of genuine Christianity, and directs his teaching specifically at men who want to be teachers. However, James’ inspired teaching applies to every Christian. Though verse 12 seems to be a simple teaching about oaths, a point is being made about the importance of having an honest reputation. Genuine Christians don’t have to preface every statement with a promise that what we say is truthful. The only reason someone does that is if they have a reputation of dishonesty, and they want someone to ignore that reputation and believe what we are about to say. As Christians, people shouldn’t be skeptical of whether or not our word is good. A Christian’s word must always be truthful and give no one a reason to doubt. That’s why there’s no need for a genuine Christian to take an oath of any kind.
James explains the necessity of an honest reputation this way because, in those days, the Jews would swear to the truth of every statement they made. But they found a loophole in this practice, as they often managed to do. They would swear either by heaven or by earth. If their oath was made using the name of God, they considered it binding, but an oath made by something else could be justifiably broken, in their minds. This ridiculous practice gave the Jews a reputation of dishonesty. In fact, the gentiles mistrusted the Jews for that very reason. In Romans 2, the Apostle Paul rebukes the Jews for seeing themselves as guides to the blind and wretched gentiles. They thought they were justified because of their knowledge of the law, but they weren’t keeping the law they were teaching! They were being hypocrites, and the name of God was blasphemed among the gentiles because of their conduct.They would teach the truth, then take oaths that they had no intention of keeping. They thought they could lie as long as the statement wasn’t connected to the name of God. But James has news for these Christians who had carried this practice of their former life into the church. Every word you say as a Christian is binding! Therefore, no oath is necessary for the Christian. We should have a reputation of always telling the truth and keeping our word.
“Let your “Yes” be “Yes,” and your “No,” “No,” lest you fall into judgment.”
- Eric Bullock, Evangelist
