My Definition for Lying Was Wrong

August 11, 2016 — James 5:12

But above all, my brothers, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or by any other oath, but let your “yes” be yes and your “no” be no, so that you may not fall under condemnation.

How much do words matter to us?

Growing up, one of the most valuable lessons my father taught me is that a man’s word is the only thing that no one can take away from him. That means that the only one who can change what people think about what I say is me. If I say that I am going to do something, and then I don’t, that is going to have effect on how people size me up next time I use words to make a statement about my actions.

I don’t think it is too controversial of a statement to say that Christians are to be people who are motivated by honesty. I would argue that the biggest problem with lying comes from the biggest problem with sin in general: it is a twisting and damaging of reality.

As people who have been made one with Christ we need to go one step further than many believers do when it comes to the words that we say. It isn’t about the fact that God doesn’t like it when we tell a lie. Speaking untruths runs in fundamental opposition to the man who made the stunning claim that He is truth (John 14:6).

So if we do the math, it becomes apparent that since we are united to Christ in His death and resurrection, and we remain a part of Him through the continual partaking of him through sacrament, we ought also to be truth as we are the body of Christ to this world. Since truth isn’t a set of correct things and incorrect things, but rather the very person of Christ, there are some serious implications for those who claim to be one with Him.

That is why James says that this command is the most important one that he has written so far. We don’t get to swear oaths by other outside sources because we are already united to truth. What we say ought to be motivated out the the reality of who we are: one with our Lord; one with Truth.

Throughout Scripture, believers are called to a life of holiness not because they are able to attain such a life by their own efforts, and not to make their heavenly Father happy, but because living that life is an acting out of what is true. We walk by faith and not by sight because our senses tell us one thing, but our Savior tells us another. For that reason, our words ought to be likewise motivated out of who we are in Christ.

When we strive to be truthful based on a model of correctness, or accuracy, we are going to find that we are defining truth for ourselves, rather than accepting the mystery that Truth is in the bread that we eat, the wine that we drink, and our brothers and sisters that we meet when we gather together.

The debate shouldn’t be about whether we can know what is true absolutely, the discussion ought to be what we ought and ought not to say, when we are fundamentally one with the very person of truth. In James’ case, that meant getting rid of daily practices that undermined the reality that believers were a part of. It is not fitting for believers to use outside sources to swear by since they have access to Truth Himself. Likewise, there are some areas of our speech that we must examine. In the end, we ought to rely on the simplicity of our words standing for themselves. Our yes and no ought to line up with who we are in Jesus.