{"id":396,"date":"2014-09-15T12:00:59","date_gmt":"2014-09-15T12:00:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/?p=396"},"modified":"2014-08-30T21:19:59","modified_gmt":"2014-08-30T21:19:59","slug":"matthew-533-37-oaths-bible-difficulties","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/2014\/09\/matthew-533-37-oaths-bible-difficulties.html","title":{"rendered":"Matthew 5:33-37; Oaths (Bible Difficulties)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cYou have heard that it was said to the people long ago, \u2018Do not break your oath, but fulfill to the Lord the vows you have made\u2026\u2019\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

In case you\u2019re wondering, Jesus wasn’t quoting the Old Testament when he said that. At least not exactly.<\/p>\n

Bible scholars think that this point in Christ\u2019s Sermon on the Mount was instead a kind of colloquial summary of several Scriptures, lumped into a saying that Jesus\u2019 hearers already recognized (i.e., \u201cYou have heard\u2026\u201d<\/em>). The first part of his statement might have been a reference to the command of Leviticus 19:12, \u201cDo not swear falsely by my name\u2026\u201d The second part is less obvious, but probably related to Psalm 50:14, \u201cSacrifice thank offerings to God, fulfill your vows to the Most High.\u201d<\/p>\n

In light of this \u201ccreative paraphrasing\u201d of Scripture, some question why Jesus opted to misquote the Old Testament here. Did he simply forget the exact phrasing? Was he unconcerned about textual accuracy, or implying that the original language was unreliable? Was he not quoting Scripture at all, but referencing some other source instead?<\/p>\n

Given the context of his broader teaching here, that last option seems most likely. It\u2019s very possible his phrasing quoted familiar rabbinical teachings rather than the Bible itself. That choice highlighted for listeners, at least subtly, how extra-biblical traditions had become so prevalent and revered they were often regarded on par with God\u2019s Word\u2014and used in place of the actual words of Scripture.<\/p>\n

In essence, by quoting what his audience had been taught instead of what was accurate according to Old Testament texts, he may have been suggesting to his listeners, \u201cWhat you’ve heard all your lives\u2014and the way you’ve heard it\u2014isn’t exactly what is true.\u201d<\/p>\n

Similar to religious leaders of ancient Israel, we modern Christians have had copious amounts of teaching between Jesus\u2019 time and ours. One has to wonder where we too are susceptible to allowing our familiar, accepted traditions to overshadow God\u2019s original truth.<\/p>\n

Works Cited<\/a>:<\/p>\n

[BKB, 117]<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u2126\u2126\u2126<\/p>\n

About: For Bible Study Nerds\u2122<\/a><\/p>\n

About: Mike Nappa<\/a><\/p>\n

Copyright \u00a9 2014 to present by\u00a0Nappaland Communications Inc<\/a>. All Rights Reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cYou have heard that it was said to the people long ago, \u2018Do not break your oath, but fulfill to the Lord the vows you have made\u2026\u2019\u201d In case you\u2019re wondering, Jesus wasn’t quoting the Old Testament when he said that. At least not exactly. Bible scholars think that this point in Christ\u2019s Sermon on…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":571,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,2],"tags":[158,159,111],"class_list":["post-396","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bibledifficulties","category-matthew","tag-leviticus-1912","tag-oaths","tag-sermon-on-the-mount"],"yoast_head":"\nMatthew 5:33-37; Oaths (Bible Difficulties) - For Bible Study Nerds<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, nofollow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Matthew 5:33-37; Oaths (Bible Difficulties) - For Bible Study Nerds\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u201cYou have heard that it was said to the people long ago, \u2018Do not break your oath, but fulfill to the Lord the vows you have made\u2026\u2019\u201d In case you\u2019re wondering, Jesus wasn’t quoting the Old Testament when he said that. At least not exactly. Bible scholars think that this point in Christ\u2019s Sermon on…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/2014\/09\/matthew-533-37-oaths-bible-difficulties.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"For Bible Study Nerds\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-09-15T12:00:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-08-30T21:19:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Mike Nappa\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Matthew 5:33-37; Oaths (Bible Difficulties) - For Bible Study Nerds","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"nofollow"},"og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Matthew 5:33-37; Oaths (Bible Difficulties) - For Bible Study Nerds","og_description":"\u201cYou have heard that it was said to the people long ago, \u2018Do not break your oath, but fulfill to the Lord the vows you have made\u2026\u2019\u201d In case you\u2019re wondering, Jesus wasn’t quoting the Old Testament when he said that. At least not exactly. Bible scholars think that this point in Christ\u2019s Sermon on…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/2014\/09\/matthew-533-37-oaths-bible-difficulties.html","og_site_name":"For Bible Study Nerds","article_published_time":"2014-09-15T12:00:59+00:00","article_modified_time":"2014-08-30T21:19:59+00:00","author":"Mike Nappa","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/2014\/09\/matthew-533-37-oaths-bible-difficulties.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/2014\/09\/matthew-533-37-oaths-bible-difficulties.html","name":"Matthew 5:33-37; Oaths (Bible Difficulties) - For Bible Study Nerds","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/#website"},"datePublished":"2014-09-15T12:00:59+00:00","dateModified":"2014-08-30T21:19:59+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/#\/schema\/person\/a0ce37903172885871b0c504c6694575"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/2014\/09\/matthew-533-37-oaths-bible-difficulties.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/2014\/09\/matthew-533-37-oaths-bible-difficulties.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/2014\/09\/matthew-533-37-oaths-bible-difficulties.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Matthew 5:33-37; Oaths (Bible Difficulties)"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/","name":"For Bible Study Nerds","description":"Beliefnet Voices - Mike Nappa","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/#\/schema\/person\/a0ce37903172885871b0c504c6694575","name":"Mike Nappa","description":"Mike Nappa is an entertainment journalist at FamilyFans.com, a bestselling author\u2014and a notorious Bible Study Nerd. He's a former youth pastor who shepherded kids on staff at Chuck Swindoll's church in Southern California\u2014and he's a bestselling and award-winning author with more than a million copies of his books sold worldwide. Plus, he holds a degree in Christian Education with an emphasis in Bible Theology. So, you know, he\u2019s got that going for him. Mike is also a pop culture dork who watches too much TV, reads too many comic books, utters too many bad words, laughs at all the wrong jokes, and often gets in trouble because he says whatever he happens to be thinking at the moment\u2014like quoting an R-rated movie in the middle of a sermon. Yeah, he\u2019s a mess (just like you!), but he kind of likes it that way. Most of all, Mike Nappa loves Jesus, and he figures that covers over a multitude of sins. Learn more at nappaland.com\/mikenappa.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.biblestudynerds.com"],"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/author\/mnappa"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/396","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/571"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=396"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/396\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":399,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/396\/revisions\/399"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=396"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=396"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=396"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}