Published in the bulletin of Holy Ghost Catholic Church in Knoxville, TN, on 4th Sunday of Easter.
My dear Parishioners,
Peace! There are eight (8) “In Brief” articles in the Catechism of the Catholic Church addressing the Second Commandment of the Decalogue, ‘You shall not take the Name of the Lord, your God, in vain.’ The following is a reflection on CCC 2163.
One way the Holy Name of God is taken in vain is by uttering false oaths, calling God to witness our lie(s). Perjury is a hybrid sort of sin, blending both the 2nd and 8th Commandments (not to take the Name of the Lord in vain, not to lie). Perjury is linked in Sacred Scripture with other evils such as “murder, theft, dissimulation, corruption and unfaithfulness” all of which disquiet the good (cf. Wisdom 14:25). How often, sadly, as children did we say “I swear to God…” invoking God’s authority as to the truth of our statement. The sin is when what we have said is not in fact true. To otherwise “swear to God” is blasphemous without perjury when uttered in senseless rage. Swearing an oath by a false god is no less grievous a sin in that it breaks the First Commandment (cf. Jeremiah 12:16; Amos 8:14).
In Sacred Scripture we are exhorted to “love not a false oath” because such a thing is hated by the Lord (Zechariah 8:17). The voiding of an oath or breaking an oath are similarly decried in Sacred Scripture (cf. Ezekiel 16:59; 17:16, 18).
Saint Peter, before Pentecost and his final conversion (cf. John 21:15–19) famously swore an oath that he did not know the Lord Jesus (cf. Matthew 26:72). Among other infamous instances of perjury comes the 42nd President of the United States of America, who in 1998 lied under oath to “tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help me God.” The scriptural form of an oath is “God is witness between me and thee” (Genesis 31:50) .
The grievousness of invoking the holy and true God to witness a lie stems primarily from God’s holiness and faithfulness. Sacred Scripture is insistent that God is faithful and true (cf. Deuteronomy 32:4; Hosea 11:12; 1 Corinthians 1:9; 10:13; 2 Corinthians 1:18; 2 Thessalonians 3:3; John 3:33; Roman 3:4). Jesus Christ our Lord and God is the way, the truth and the life (cf. John 14:6) who teaches us through Saint Paul that we are to “speak the truth in love” (Ephesians 4:15) knowing that “God is love” (1 John 4:16) and does not condone false oaths. The Lord Jesus Himself, as well as Saint Paul took oaths (cf. Matthew 26:63; 2 Corinthians 1:23; Galatians 1:20). We show our love for both God and neighbor (cf. Matthew 22:37–39; Luke 10:27; Mark 12:30–31) when we revere God’s Holy Name and let our yes be yes and our no be no, since anything else is from the evil one (cf. Matthew 5:37; James 5:12). May the truth and love of God be ever on our lips.
God bless you!
Father John Arthur Orr