Matthew 5:33-37 (NASB)
33 "Again, you have heard that the ancients were told, 'YOU SHALL NOT MAKE FALSE VOWS, BUT SHALL FULFILL YOUR VOWS TO THE LORD.'
34 "But I say to you, make no oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God,
35 or by the earth, for it is the footstool of His feet, or by Jerusalem, for it is THE CITY OF THE GREAT KING.
36 "Nor shall you make an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black.
37 "But let your statement be, 'Yes, yes' or 'No, no'; anything beyond these is of evil.
So, Jesus, in the passage above, begins by talking about "false vows (to the Lord)" the "ancients" spoke of and that vows to God were always to be fulfilled (
Leviticus 19:12; Deuteronomy 23:23). As he did in much of his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus contrasted this common Jewish practice with a "new" way that he was preaching, forbidding casual vow-making of various kinds: vowing by heaven, earth, Jerusalem or one's own head. Instead, Jesus commanded his audience to be certain and simple in their commitment to, or denial of, things (Yes, yes or, no, no), without casually adding a vow in emphasis of these statements, as was customary at the time.
This is because so much, currently and much more historically, within churches and outside, is defined by sworn vows, which are all of evil.
Well, this is actually going beyond what Jesus said and against the record of the rest of the New Testament. Jesus never forbade
every possible sort of vow but just a specific kind with which Jews of Christ's time had taken to peppering their speech. These vows were much like modern ones:
"I swear on my mother's grave..."
"I swear, on my honor..."
"I swear, by God, it's true..."
"By my beard, I swear it's true..."
And so, we read:
Acts 18:18
18 After this, Paul stayed many days longer and then took leave of the brothers and set sail for Syria, and with him Priscilla and Aquila. At Cenchreae he had cut his hair, for he was under a vow.
There was also the Nazarite vow described in
Numbers 6:1-21.
Anyway, I'm not sure what you're referring to regarding "so much within churches....defined by sworn vows."
We have it written that at least one person called Apostle did not repent in this, at least for a while.
??? Do you mean the apostle Paul? Did he repent of a vow?
To publicly say and promote those words of Christ the Lord would have gotten us executed possibly anywhere where church-folk and feudal-folk ruled, four hundred years ago.
Many things could have resulted in your execution four hundred years ago. They weren't all because of some biblical mandate, however.
One can even trace divisions within the Church of the Lord, to the content of many sworn vows, and in addition, to secret vows, personal allegiances and determinations which likewise are of evil.
Oookay...
How do you know this, exactly?
But the benefits of living those words the Lord has said, are more tremendous then all struggles. Anyone have examples to share?
Everyday, as I live in the truths of God's word, I have fresh examples of their reality and power. For example, there isn't a day that goes by where I don't have to submit myself to God, as His word repeatedly commands. When I do, it always astonishes me how God acts to fulfill His promises to me, dissolving sinful temptations so profoundly and powerfully that I don't even recognize that I've moved with God along His way, the moment of temptation far behind. No horrible struggle with myself; no forcing myself to follow God's will and way; no exhausting, hanging-on-by-my-fingernails battle with sin. Daily, I see how, as I yield to God, He alters my character, and desires, and priorities, filling my life with opportunity to serve Him. It's quite an adventure!