Let your ‘yes’ be ‘yes’

But above all, my brethren, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or with any other oath. But let your "Yes" be "Yes," and your "No," "No," lest you fall into judgment. – James 5v12 

I think it is interesting that James uses the phrase ‘Above all my brethren’ here. Obviously this is important and not something we can take lightly or just dismiss. 

What is the ‘above all?’ ‘Do not swear an oath of any kind.’ I would not fight over it, but my personal impression is that we are not to take an oath on the Bible, or perhaps even say, ‘So help me God’ when committing to tell the truth in court. 

Leaving that aside for now one thing is true. Our word should be enough. Our ‘yes’ should be ‘yes’ and our ‘no’ should be ‘no’ and that should be the end of the story. Absolute honesty and integrity should mark the child of God.  When we say something that should be it – people should know beyond a shadow of a doubt that it is the truth. 

I think there is an implication here as well. We need to be very careful about what we promise. We should never promise something if there is any doubt that we can carry it through. ‘I’ll do my best’ or ‘I’ll try’ are probably wiser to use than ‘I promise’ when it comes to plans. “Lord willing’ is of course the best response. 

Particulars aside, we need to be people of our word. There should be no doubt when we say something that we are telling the truth and that we can be trusted. God expects no less out of His people.