The sermon 'Lawful Oaths and Vows (Part 1)' by Eric Bechler examines the concept of lawful oaths according to the second London Baptist Confession of 1689. It defines a lawful oath as part of religious worship, where individuals swear truthfully and righteously, invoking God as a witness and judge. The sermon discusses the nature of oaths, differentiating between esoteric (asserting facts in a courtroom) and promissory oaths (making promises in marriages and contracts). Historical context is provided, highlighting controversies with Anabaptists, who rejected swearing oaths based on their interpretation of the New Testament. The sermon contrasts this with the confession's stance that lawful oaths are a form of worship. Biblical references from Leviticus, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and the New Testament, including the Apostle Paul's actions, are used to support the argument. The sermon emphasizes the seriousness and religious significance of taking oaths, noting that it is a solemn act of worship and allegiance to God.

A reading today from the second London Baptist Confession of 1689 comes from a new chapter, chapter 23, of Lawful Oaths and Vows, paragraph 1. A lawful oath is a part of religious worship wherein the person swearing in truth, righteousness, and judgment solemnly calleth God to witness what he sweareth and to judge him according to the truth or falseness thereof. We move on to the topic today of oaths and vows. Over the next five weeks, we'll look at the nature of oaths, the nature of a lawful oath, in whose name an oath is to be made, the weightiness of oaths, the clarity of oaths, and the taking of vows. We're all familiar with oaths but let's take a look at his definition.

Noah Webster tells us that an oath is a solemn affirmation or declaration made with an appeal to God for the truth of what is affirmed. The appeal to God in an oath implies that the person prays for his vengeance and renounces his favor if the declaration is false. Or if the declaration is a promise, the person invokes the vengeance of God if he should fail to fulfill it. We see here two types of oaths. The first is called an esoteric oath where one asserts a statement of fact and is used to confirm the truthfulness and reliability of one's testimony that's found in a courtroom.

The second is called a promissory oath, where one makes a promise and is used to confirm one's intent to fulfill a promise, as seen in marriages and contracts. Once viewed religious in nature, oaths have begun more and more to lose their religious connection due to the rise of secularism in our societies. In our paragraph today, we start with the nature of an oath. But first let's understand why was this added to the confession? Why did they have a chapter on oaths here in our confession?

Were there controversies or disagreements in that time, in the past? Yes, yes there was. There was a group called the Anabaptists. They were a group of reformers who believed Luther and Zwingli had not quite gone far enough in correcting the traditions of the church. The Britannica website describes the Anabaptists as radicals who restricted their Biblicism to the New Testament and espoused three tenets that actually have become axiomatic or taken for granted here in the United States.

The separation of church and state, the voluntary church, and religious liberty. The Anabaptists also believed in the possibility of a Christian society whose members were marked both by conversion experience and by a highly disciplined deportment or personal conduct. In obedience to New Testament and as described in their Schleitheim Confession of 1527, they repudiated swearing oaths and recourse to violence. They were pacifists. The saints, they believed, should withdraw from the wicked world.

Across Europe at that time, Anabaptists were perceived by both Catholics and Protestants alike as a threat to the social and political order. And this concern was not unwarranted. In 1534, they took over the city of Munster, which is in today's Germany. This concern continued even into the next century, and we can look at the preface of the first London Baptist Confession of 1646. For the statement there, the preface states, a confession of faith of seven congregations or churches of Christ in London, which are commonly but unjustly called Anabaptists, published for the vindication of the truth and information of the ignorant, likewise for the taking off those assertions which are frequently both in pulpit and in print, unjustly cast upon them." Printed in London in 1646.

They wanted to be very clear that they were not part of the churches of the Anabaptists. They wanted not to be seen as anarchists. It is possible these concerns also played a role in the decision to start with the Westminster Confession and Savoy Declaration in the development of the Second London Baptist confession. But where are the Anabaptists today? Have their churches survived the centuries since the confessions were written?

Today we can look at the Mennonites, we can look at the Amish, the Landmark Baptists, and the various brethren groups as having roots going back to the Anabaptist doctrines. In contrast to the position of the Anabaptists who lean on Matthew 5, verses 33 through 37, which records Jesus teaching that we not take an oath at all. We confess that an oath is not only lawful, but that a lawful oath is part of religious worship. Ligonier Ministries offer some insight into this passage in Matthew 5. A careful consideration of Matthew's text shows us that Jesus was not outlawing all oaths and vows.

Instead, he was correcting a common Jewish belief that if you swear an oath by anything other than God's name, you are not obliged to fulfill the oath. Jesus' point is that swearing an oath by heaven, Jerusalem, or any other thing does not release someone from keeping that oath. As long as it is a lawful oath, it is made in the presence of God the creator, even when his name is not invoked. Thus the Lord will hold us accountable. Jesus was teaching that it's better not to swear an oath at all if you are looking for a way of getting out of it or from keeping it.

So it appears that oaths are still loud in some cases. Let's address lawful oaths by looking first at the Old Testament and into the new. In Leviticus 19, God speaks to Moses a series of moral and ceremonial laws. In verse 12, he touches on oaths, and ye shall not swear by my name falsely, neither shalt thou profane the name of thy God. I am the Lord." This corresponds to the third commandment, thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless to take his name in vain.

Exodus 27. This commandment protects the sanctity of truth, which is of great importance as we interact with others. In Isaiah 45, 23, the Lord speaks to Isaiah, I have sworn by myself, the word has gone out of my mouth and righteousness and shall not return. That unto me, every knee shall bow and every tongue shall swear." Barnes notes on the Bible comments that on that last phrase, every tongue shall swear, This expression is evidently taken from the practice of taking an oath of allegiance to a sovereign. And here means that all would solemnly acknowledge him to be the true God and submit themselves to His government and to His will.

An oath of allegiance would fall into that category I described of a promissory oath. God speaks to Jeremiah, if you will return, O Israel, says the Lord, return to me. And if you will put away your abominations out of my sight, then you shall not be moved. And you shall swear the Lord lives in truth, in judgment, in righteousness. The nations shall bless themselves in Him.

And in Him they shall glory. Jeremiah 4, 1, and 2. Benson's commentary here states, In taking a solemn oath, thou shalt appear not to dead and vain idols, but to Jehovah, the living and true God. This is put here for the whole worship of God, acknowledging and owning God as the only God, which is strongly expressed by this act. In truth, this is in sincerity, knowing that the matter of the oath is strictly true.

In judgment, deliberately and advisedly and reverently, the occasion being great and important, in righteousness, that none be injured by it, that the things we engage to do or to see done be both lawful and possible, and that we look to the performance of our oaths. What about the New Testament? In Acts 18, 18, we see the Apostle Paul has made a vow after he converted to Christ, which was commonplace for the Jews. We also see the Isaiah passage referenced by Paul in Romans 14, 11. Every knee shall bow to me and every tongue shall confess to God.

Again, from Barnes notes, the phrase confess to God In the Hebrew here, every tongue shall swear, not swear by God, but to Him. That is to pay Him our vows or answer to Him in oath for our conduct. And this is the same as confessing to him or acknowledging him as our judge. Paul writes, for God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I make mention of you always in my prayers. This is in his letter to the Romans, chapter 1-9.

John Gill comments, these words are an appeal to God and carry in them the nature and the form of an oath. And we see this repeated in several types of phrases, this appeal to God as witness and judge, and a number of other passages in the New Testament. In 2 Corinthians 1, 18, but as God is faithful, our word to you is not yes and no. In 2 Corinthians 11, 31, the God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ is blessed forever, knows that I am not lying. Galatians 1.20 and there's others.

But it's swearing an oath, a lawful oath, also part of religious worship, as our confession states. A. H. Hodges states that a lawful oath consists in calling upon God the occasion being of sufficient seriousness and importance to witness the truth of what we affirm is true and our voluntary assumption of an obligation to do something in the future with an implied imprecation of God's disfavor if we lie or prove unfaithful to our engagements. Hence an oath is an act of supreme religious worship since it recognizes the omnipresence, omniscience, absolute justice, and sovereignty of the person whose august witness is invoked and whose judgment is appealed to as final.

In the Old Testament we find that the post-exilic people gathered together, Ezra called them together, to read from the book of the law of the Lord their God and confessed and worshiped the Lord their God in Nehemiah 9.3. And they also joined with their brethren and their nobles and entered into a curse and an oath to walk in God's law, which was given by Moses, the servant of God, and to observe and do all the commandments of the Lord our God, and His ordinances and His statutes." Nehemiah 10.29. We see from these verses that the people of Israel swore an oath to God to obey His commands during a time in which they were gathered to worship God. From some commentaries from Ligonier it states, one of the ways in which we worship God is by calling on him to be the witness and the enforcer of the oaths and the vows that we take. In one sense, every worship service is itself an oath or vow, every Lord's Day we come before God with praise, confessing our sin, testifying that we are His people, and recommitting ourselves to serving Him in the week ahead of us.

Worship is a holy occasion in which we meet with our holy God to swear allegiance to Him. It is not a time for frivolity. Taking on oath is a solemn act, and we must consider carefully the weightiness of the matter before calling upon God to be our witness and our judge. Amen.