Meaning
Oath a solemn appeal to God, permitted on fitting occasions (Deut 6:13; Jer 4:2), in various forms (Gen 16:5; 2Sam 12:5; Ruth 1:17; Hos 4:15; Rom 1:9), and taken in different ways (Gen 14:22; 24:2; 2Chr 6:22). God is represented as taking an oath (Heb 6:16-18), so also Christ (Matt 26:64), and Paul (Rom 9:1; Gal 1:20; Phil 1:8). The precept, "Swear not at all," refers probably to ordinary conversation between man and man (Matt 5:34, 37). but if the words are taken as referring to oaths, then their intention may have been to show "that the proper state of Christians is to require no oaths; that when evil is expelled from among them every yea and nay will be as decisive as an oath, every promise as binding as a vow."
