The Sermon on the Mount
Nor should you swear by your head, for you cannot make a single hair white or black. Matthew 5:36 · Berean Standard Bible
Don't even swear by your own head, because you can't change a single hair from white to black. You're not in enough control to guarantee anything with an oath.
This is humbling. We think we control so much, but we can't even decide what color our hair will be. How can we promise things that aren't in our power?
Jesus points out our limitations.
True humility starts with recognizing what we can and can't control. Oaths pretend we have power we don't.
Even one's own head cannot serve as a guarantee, since humans cannot control the most basic physical attribute (hair color). This demonstrates human inability to guarantee anything by oath.
The argument from inability is compelling: if you cannot even control whether your hair is white or black, how can you presume to guarantee the future with an oath?
Jesus, concluding the argument against oaths.
Jesus undermines the entire foundation of oath-taking by exposing human powerlessness over even the simplest aspects of existence.
34But I tell you not to swear at all: either by heaven, for it is God’s throne;
35or by the earth, for it is His footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King.
36Nor should you swear by your head, for you cannot make a single hair white or black.
37Simply let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No.’ Anything more comes from the evil one.
38You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye and tooth for tooth.’
Read all of Matthew 5 — Jesus turns the world's values upside down. The blessed aren't the powerful — they're the poor in spirit, the grieving, the meek.
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