On This Day: Woe to the Blind Guides’ Word Games

“Woe to you, blind guides, who say, ‘If anyone swears by the temple, it is nothing, but if anyone swears by the gold of the temple, he is bound by his oath.’ You blind fools! For which is greater, the gold or the temple that has made the gold sacred? And you say, ‘If anyone swears by the altar, it is nothing, but if anyone swears by the gift that is on the altar, he is bound by his oath.’ You blind men! For which is greater, the gift or the altar that makes the gift sacred? So whoever swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it. And whoever swears by the temple swears by it and by him who dwells in it. And whoever swears by heaven swears by the throne of God and by him who sits upon it. (Matthew 23:16-22)

 

   The imagery is simple. The religious elite who lead the religious life of the people are blind and should not be followed. And one of the things they do in their blind guiding is create word games about swearing oaths that leave people never sure what to expect, which is the exact opposite of what God says in his word about giving our word.

   In short, God’s word taught that oaths were absolute. If you give someone your word, keep it. As Psalm 15:4 stated, the person who “shall sojourn in your tent” and “shall dwell on your holy hill” (vs 1) is he/she who “swears to his own hurt and does not change”. This person is true. If they give their word at one time, and when it is time to keep their word things change and now it is going to cost more than they expected, they bear their “own hurt” (suck it up and accept whatever extra hardship is involved) and do not change what they promised.

   Jesus did not change God’s requirements for swearing. Everything he said about making a vow to someone, or what we would now call “making a promise”, is still in effect. If you give your word, keep it.

   However, in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus had already taught people not to swear oaths. Instead, he said, “Let what you say be simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything more than this comes from evil” (Matthew 5:37). In other words, crossing one’s fingers is evil.

   The application for me is not only what I stated above, to keep my word and have nothing to do with word games, but also to apply this wherever pastors, teachers, preachers, and influencers teach a blind-guided view of God’s word. When anyone says we should accept some Scriptures (usually the warm-fuzzy ones) and reject others (usually the convicting “trust and obey” ones), they are playing word games.

   Instead, Jesus said we should live “by every word that comes from the mouth of God”. Paul said that he was innocent of the blood of all men since he proclaimed “the whole counsel of God”. The Bereans searched the Scriptures every day to find out if what they were being taught was true.

   We do distinguish between how to apply the New Covenant from the Old, but we do not follow the blind into any kind of “semantics” with God’s word. And woe to any blind guides who are leading people away from God’s word with their legalistic word games.

 

© 2024 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517, Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8

Email: in2freedom@gmail.com

Unless otherwise noted, Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.)