PPG 212 4/2/85

DOCTRINE OF OATHS

A. Two categories of oaths were used in Old Testament times.

1. An oath of affirmation was used in the function of jurisprudence in providing testimony in a case, i.e., that which is admissable as evidence, not hearsay. The witness took an oath on the stand to God as the greater, as the punisher of perjury. The witness was said to be under oath when he testified.

2. An oath as a promise was used when man ratified an assertion; he would take an oath before God as the greater. This was an ultimate appeal to divine authority in keeping one’s word.

B. Use of Oaths in Bible Times.

1. Oaths were used as tests of allegiance. For example, one took an oath in the name of God to perform one’s duty in the function of an office.

2. The Jewish military and law enforcement took an oath in the name of Adonai Elohim. We do a similar thing today.

3. The custom also refers to judicial or official oaths.

4. Generally, the Bible does not recognize the validity of private oaths, as illustrated by our Lord’s condemnation of private oaths in business in Matt 5:33.

C. Bible Oaths Include:

1. Those of judicial procedure, i.e., the oath in the function of law to determine what is hearsay versus what is evidence.

2. The oath of allegiance to a sovereign or a superior.

3. An agreement or stipulation for the performance of an act, Gen 14:22, 24:2.

4. A vow made in the form of an oath.

5. A form of oath used frequently in the Bible is “as the Lord lives,” found in 1 Sam 14:39, 19:6; 2 Sam 15:21; 1 Kg 18:10.

D. God’s Oath. 1. Heb 6:16, “For men take an oath by the greater, and to them the oath is given for a confirmation, and that is the end of all dispute.”

a. In other words, in resolving anything, from allegiance to jurisprudence, an oath was used.

b. To the Jews in Jerusalem in A.D. 67, taking an oath in the name of God was a well-known custom for settling a dispute, to confirm a promise, or to resolve some problem in court.

2. Heb 6:17, “By which solemn oath, God, even more willing to demonstrate to the heirs of the promise the immutability of His decrees, pledged Himself as a guarantee by an oath.”

a. God took an oath as a confirmation or guarantee of His promises, of the validity of Abraham’s escrow blessing. He took an oath that the blessings were there on deposit. But being God, He couldn’t take an oath by anyone greater; therefore, He took the oath by Himself.

b. The first immutable thing is God Himself. The second immutable thing is God’s promise.

c. So when God gives a promise, the fact that HE gives it means that promise carries its own immutability.

d. The second immutable thing, God’s promise in time, is the revelation of what God did for you in eternity past.

e. Again, there are only two immutable things: what God is, and what God says. God and doctrine are the two immutable things.

f. God demonstrates to us through doctrine what He did for us in eternity past. There is no way in our minds and in our thinking that we could ever come close to penetrating eternity past. Only God knows what He did, because only He was there. Yet He is willing to demonstrate this to us with something else that is immutable: He reveals it in His Word.

g. The person of God the Father as the grantor designed our escrow blessings. The revelation about God in the Bible is the means of conveying our escrow blessings to us in time. Why must we have this information? Because without doctrine, we’re like a ship without a rudder. We have no true motivation nor any real understanding of how we glorify God.

h. God is not only immutable, but He is fair. Therefore, He has revealed to us these things pertaining to His plan.

i. God has a perfect, immutable plan for you. To harness your life to the Immutable is where the blessing and meaning of life begins.

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