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Heidelberg Catechism, Question 102

Question 102

May we also swear by saints, or any other creatures?

No; for a lawful oath is a calling upon God, as the one who knows the heart (1 Kings 8;39), that he will bear witness to the truth, and punish me if I swear falsely: which honor is due to no creature (2 Cor. 1;23).

Scripture references for paragraph 1

Berean Standard Bible. Public domain text and source credits.

1 Kings 8:39

39be heard by You from heaven, Your dwelling place. And may You forgive and act, and repay each man according to all his ways, since You know his heart—for You alone know the hearts of all men—

James 5:12

12Above all, my brothers, do not swear, not by heaven or earth or by any other oath. Simply let your “Yes” be yes, and your “No,” no, so that you will not fall under judgment.

2 Corinthians 1:23

23I call God as my witness that it was in order to spare you that I did not return to Corinth.

Romans 1:9

9God, whom I serve with my spirit in preaching the gospel of His Son, is my witness how constantly I remember you

Deuteronomy 32:35

35Vengeance is Mine; I will repay. In due time their foot will slip; for their day of disaster is near, and their doom is coming quickly.”

Matthew 4:10

10“Away from Me, Satan!” Jesus declared. “For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve Him only.’”

Matthew 5:34-36

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.

Source and edition

Heidelberg Catechism. RCA English, E. R. Good & Bro., Tiffin, 1879. RCA English, E. R. Good & Bro., Tiffin, 1879

Public Domain (historic text); CC BY-SA 4.0 (Wikisource transcription). Source transcription.

Transcription licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0.

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