The Sermon on the Mount
Simply let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No.’ Anything more comes from the evil one. Matthew 5:37 · Berean Standard Bible
Just let your yes be yes and your no be no. Anything beyond that comes from the evil one. Be so honest that no one ever needs you to swear to prove it.
This is one of the most challenging and beautiful things Jesus ever said. Imagine being known as someone whose simple word is completely trustworthy.
Jesus calls for radical simplicity and honesty.
In a world full of spin, exaggeration, and manipulation, Jesus calls His followers to be people of absolute integrity.
The solution is radical simplicity: 'Yes' means yes, 'No' means no. Anything beyond this (to perisson, 'the excess') comes from 'the evil one' (tou ponerou), indicating that the need for elaborate oaths signals a culture infected by deception.
This call for absolute verbal integrity was revolutionary in a culture where truth-telling depended on which oath formula was used.
Jesus, concluding the fourth antithesis.
Jesus replaces an elaborate system of oath-keeping with the most radical demand possible: complete, simple honesty in all speech.
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.’
39But I tell you not to resist an evil person. If someone slaps you on your right cheek, turn to him the other also;
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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