Matthew 5:33–42

Matthew 5:33–42

When you say an oath (a strong promise). When you do more than you need to do.

A real disciple will always respect the truth. Someone may hurt you. But you will not want to hurt that person.

Jesus continued to give examples. They were about his teaching in Matthew 5:17–20. Again, he referred to a popular teaching of the Jews (Matthew 5:33). He gave a short account of some OT passages. They are: Leviticus 19:12; Numbers 30:2 and Deuteronomy 23:21. He did not agree with the Jewish religious leaders. They taught the opposite of what the Law intended. Jesus referred to the law about oaths (strong promises). This was what they taught. Only some oaths were important. But, Christians should not use oaths at all when they speak. When they say ‘yes’, they should mean ‘yes’. When they say ‘no’ they should mean ‘no’.

When you do more than you need to do

Read Matthew 5:38. Jesus again said words from Jewish tradition. They were short accounts of some passages in the OT. These were Exodus 21:24; Leviticus 24:20 and Deuteronomy 19:21. The short accounts were right. But the Jews had not understood them in the right way.

These OT instructions were for the law courts. (Read Deuteronomy 19:18 especially.) The laws gave principles. They were there to help judges to make decisions. There were two reasons for this.

• First, the law should control wrong desires. Someone has hurt you. So, you want to hurt that person. You have suffered. So, you want that person to suffer too.
• Second, the law removes punishment from personal feelings. It puts the responsibility with the court of law.

But, the Jews increased the principle of the Law. It became a guide for personal behaviour. People could use the Law in the courts wrongly too. They could use it to give excuses for their evil desires. They thought that someone had done bad things to them. So, they would use the court to do bad things to that person.

There is a big contrast in Matthew 5:39–42. Jesus showed how people should apply the Law. He referred to a blow on the cheek. This was a very bad thing to do in ancient Israel. Jesus suggested something here. It is never right to punish another person for a personal wrong.

But we must understand Jesus’ words in the right way. Someone might say, ‘A man should never say anything to those who behave badly.’ It could seem that Jesus meant that. But he did not mean that. It is important that people should be fair to everybody. The rights of other people are important too. So, people may defend themselves. But the disciple must stay holy. A disciple should accept it when someone does bad things to him or her. That is, if it only affects him or her. His or her love can then change attitudes.

In Jesus’ day, the Romans were in power. They could force Jews to do things (Matthew 5:41). And Jews could not refuse to obey their commands. This practice was not popular. And it might not be convenient. The Pharisees would obey. But they would show that they were unhappy about it. Jesus said that this must not be the standard for disciples. They must do their duties in a cheerful way. They must be generous in the way that they do the duties too.

Jesus gave an example in Matthew 5:42. There are people who really need help. This teaches what the disciple’s reaction should be to them. The disciple should help them all that he can.

Questions

• Should a Christian ever tell lies? Is there any situation when it might be right?
• Think about a certain situation. Someone has hurt you. You want to hurt that person in return. What should you do? Someone may say: ‘I can never forgive him for what he has done.’ How would you help the person who says that?
• Members of the Church should be willing to give in to other members. How can they show this? There is a principle in Matthew 5:39. Jesus spoke about someone who hits you on one side of your face. Jesus said that you should let that person hit the other side of your face too! How much should a Christian be like this? Think about an example. A thief steals some important equipment from the church. Should the people of the church forgive him? Should they call the police? Or, should they do both these things?

More explanation

Let us think about whether Christians should always refuse to fight.

We must look at Jesus’ words that are in the Bible. We must understand his words as the Bible describes them. We can see that Jesus was not speaking about national events. So, Jesus was not teaching that we must always refuse to fight in wars. He was not saying that we must not oppose evil. Discussion on these subjects must come from other passages.

It seems that Jesus was not speaking about social relationships either. Romans chapter 13 and 1 Peter chapter 2 are about society. Those passages show a person’s relationships in society. It would seem that Christians could be judges in courts of law. Jesus could be saying that a Christian should never go to court. Or, that he should not oppose a thief who comes into his house. Or, that he should just give away all that he has. But it is hard to believe that Jesus meant these things.

Jesus was teaching about our behaviour with other people. We must not have wrong attitudes. So, people may hurt us. But we must not want to hurt them. We should have an attitude of love.

Christians and oaths (strong promises)

Some people think that they should never say oaths in a court of law. They use Jesus’ words here (Matthew 5:33–37). But, this is wrong. Their understanding of Jesus’ words is not right.

The OT allowed oaths. In fact, it demanded them in certain situations. The OT describes holy men and women who said oaths. (Read Genesis 14:22–24; 21:23–24; 24:3, 9; 26:31; 28:20, 22; 31:53; 47:31; 50:5; Joshua 9:15; Judges 21:5; Ruth 1:16–18; 2 Samuel 15:21; 1 Kings 18:10; 2 Chronicles 15:14–15. These are only some of the references.) God says an oath in the Bible. (Read Genesis 22:16; 26:3; Psalm 89:3, 49; 110:4; 132:11; Jeremiah 11:5. Also, there is Luke 1:73 in the NT.) Jesus would not ignore anything that was from the OT. The High Priest gave Jesus a command. He told Jesus that he must answer. So, Jesus answered as if it was an oath. (Read Matthew 26:63–64.) Paul said oaths too. (Read 2 Corinthians 1:23 and Galatians 1:20.)

So, something is clear. God does not forbid all oaths. Jesus was teaching that it is important to be wise about oaths. People must always be serious when they use oaths. People should never use them because they want to be like non-Christians. They should never use them to swear against God. They should never use them to wish bad things for other people. Probably, oaths are never right in ordinary conversation.

Think about a person who makes an oath. He or she is going before God’s court. He or she is going before the Judge of all things. So, Jesus is teaching that truth is the standard of the Bible. People should always be able to believe what we say. We must never add to the truth. We must never take away from the truth when we speak. Promises should be promises.