Oct 5, 2026 · 19 min · 9 segments
"In verse 23 "But I call God to witness against me..." It's kind of like the modern saying "On God I did/didn't..." which Christians are called not to do?" "2 Corinthians 1:23 -> Is Paul using an…
Carl MattheiGuestMaggieHostSachinGuestWe've got a few questions here.
We've started our series in 2 Corinthians, chapter 1 and 2 this week.
Carl, we have a few questions about chapter 1, verse 23.
Yeah, I'll read it out.
I'll start from 33.
Again, you have heard that it was said to those of old, you shall not swear falsely, but shall perform to the Lord what you have sworn.
But I say to you, do not take an oath at all, either by heaven... for it is the throne of God or by the earth for it is his footstool or by Jerusalem for it is the city of the great king and do not take an oath by your head for you cannot make one hair white or black let what you say be simply yes or no anything more than this comes from evil
Yes, okay, it's interesting, isn't it? It does look like Paul is kind of claiming oath-like, you know, making something like an oath.
And it's really interesting because Jesus, back in the Sermon on the Mount, is saying you shouldn't need to make an oath because you are reliable and trustworthy.
You don't have to back it up with all kinds of invocations and oaths and things.
And yet the Apostle Paul doesn't see that doing something like he does in our chapters this week is out of line with that.
In Chapter 3, it would be easy to come away from the opening verses to think letters of recommendation must be really bad because the Apostle Paul says, do we need letters of recommendation? No, you are our letter of recommendation.
And so we can't just kind of take one part of Scripture and just dogmatically say, okay, oaths are out, letters of recommendation are out, We just need to read a little bit more sensitively and keep reading broadly across the Bible to work out what's Jesus really saying? What's the issue with oaths? It's about truthfulness.
We've got a few questions here.
We've started our series in 2 Corinthians, chapter 1 and 2 this week.
Carl, we have a few questions about chapter 1, verse 23.
Yeah, I'll read it out.
I'll start from 33.
Again, you have heard that it was said to those of old, you shall not swear falsely, but shall perform to the Lord what you have sworn.
But I say to you, do not take an oath at all, either by heaven... for it is the throne of God or by the earth for it is his footstool or by Jerusalem for it is the city of the great king and do not take an oath by your head for you cannot make one hair white or black let what you say be simply yes or no anything more than this comes from evil
Yes, okay, it's interesting, isn't it? It does look like Paul is kind of claiming oath-like, you know, making something like an oath.
And it's really interesting because Jesus, back in the Sermon on the Mount, is saying you shouldn't need to make an oath because you are reliable and trustworthy.
You don't have to back it up with all kinds of invocations and oaths and things.
And yet the Apostle Paul doesn't see that doing something like he does in our chapters this week is out of line with that.
In Chapter 3, it would be easy to come away from the opening verses to think letters of recommendation must be really bad because the Apostle Paul says, do we need letters of recommendation? No, you are our letter of recommendation.
And so we can't just kind of take one part of Scripture and just dogmatically say, okay, oaths are out, letters of recommendation are out, We just need to read a little bit more sensitively and keep reading broadly across the Bible to work out what's Jesus really saying? What's the issue with oaths? It's about truthfulness.
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