AI Summary
5 min readWalking Through Westminster: Lawful Oaths and Vows
The Westminster Confession's chapter on lawful oaths and vows runs seven paragraphs long—longer than most readers expect for a topic that rarely comes up in everyday conversation. Yet as the hosts of this Presbycast episode make clear, without oaths and vows, Presbyterianism as a system of church government simply does not function. No church membership without membership vows. No ordained officers without ordination vows. No church discipline without sworn testimony. The chapter is not a historical curiosity from the 1640s; it is the backbone of how the Reformed churches actually operate.
What an Oath Is and Why It Matters
The confession opens with a striking claim: "A lawful oath is a part of religious worship." This is not a throwaway line. When a Christian swears an oath—whether in a courtroom, before a magistrate, or in a church context—they are calling upon God to witness what they assert or promise. That act is an act of worship, because it invokes the name of the holy God. The hosts emphasize that this connects directly to the Third Commandment: taking God's name in vain originally referred to making an oath in God's name and then violating it.
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What you'll learn
- 1 (00:13) **Opening & Context** - The hosts introduce Chapter 22 of the Westminster Confession on lawful oaths and vows, noting its historical context and rarity among confessions.
- 2 (10:52) **Paragraph 1: Lawful Oath as Religious Worship** - The first paragraph defines a lawful oath as a part of religious worship, calling God to witness what is asserted.
- 3 (17:06) **Gospel Application: Christ Kept the Vows** - The hosts pivot to the good news that Christ perfectly kept every oath and vow, crediting His obedience to believers.
- 4 (19:47) **Paragraph 2: Swearing Only in God's Name** - The second paragraph asserts that oaths must be taken only in God's name, with holy fear, and are warranted under the New Testament when imposed by lawful authority.
- 5 (25:32) **Paragraph 3: Weightiness and Thoughtfulness** - The third paragraph requires that oaths be taken with due consideration of their weight, binding only to what is good, just, and possible to perform.
- 6 (30:14) **Paragraph 4: Plain Sense, No Equivocation, Binding to the Hurt** - The fourth paragraph demands oaths be taken in the plain and common sense of the words, without mental reservation, and that they bind to performance even to one's own hurt, even if made to heretics or infidels.
- 7 (40:50) **Paragraph 5: The Vow is Like a Promissory Oath** - The fifth paragraph states that a vow is of the same nature as a promissory oath and requires the same religious care and faithfulness.
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Show Notes
OPC pastor Chris Drew is our guide as we walk through the 22nd chapter of the Westminster Confession of Faith, "Of Lawful Oaths and Vows."
Watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xIXjf9Ykl9o
CHAPTER 22
Of Lawful Oaths and Vows
1. A lawful oath is a part of religious worship, wherein, upon just occasion, the person swearing solemnly calleth God to witness what he asserteth, or promiseth, and to judge him according to the truth or falsehood of what he sweareth.
2. The name of God only is that by which men ought to swear, and therein it is to be used with all holy fear and reverence. Therefore, to swear vainly, or rashly, by that glorious and dreadful Name; or, to swear at all by any other thing, is sinful, and to be abhorred. Yet, as in matters of weight and moment, an oath is warranted by the Word of God, under the new testament as well as under the old; so a lawful oath, being imposed by lawful authority, in such matters, ought to be taken.
3. Whosoever taketh an oath ought duly to consider the weightiness of so solemn an act, and therein to avouch nothing but what he is fully persuaded is the truth: neither may any man bind himself by oath to anything but what is good and just, and what he believeth so to be, and what he is able and resolved to perform.
4. An oath is to be taken in the plain and common sense of the words, without equivocation, or mental reservation. It cannot oblige to sin; but in anything not sinful, being taken, it binds to performance, although to a man's own hurt. Nor is it to be violated, although made to heretics, or infidels.
5. A vow is of the like nature with a promissory oath, and ought to be made with the like religious care, and to be performed with the like faithfulness.
6. It is not to be made to any creature, but to God alone: and, that it may be accepted, it is to be made voluntarily, out of faith, and conscience of duty, in way of thankfulness for mercy received, or for the obtaining of what we want, whereby we more strictly bind ourselves to necessary duties; or, to other things, so far and so long as they may fitly conduce thereunto.
7. No man may vow to do anything forbidden in the Word of God, or what would hinder any duty therein commanded, or which is not in his own power, and for the performance whereof he hath no promise of ability from God. In which respects, popish monastical vows of perpetual single life, professed poverty, and regular obedience, are so far from being degrees of higher perfection, that they are superstitious and sinful snares, in which no Christian may entangle himself.
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