See comments on 5:33-37. An oath involved invoking a deity as witness to the veracity of one's claim. On the popular level, people had begun using many surrogate phrases for God's name, hoping to avoid judgment if they broke the oath. Pharisees endeavored to distinguish which oath phrases were actually binding, but Jesus rejected such casuistry (E. Sanders 1990:55, 91; compare CD 16.6-13). On blind guides (23:16, 24; compare 23:17, 19; Lk 6:39), see 15:14 and the principles in 6:22-23, 7:3-5 and 13:14-17.

As in 23:19, Jewish people viewed the altar as consecrating whatever was offered on it (Bonsirven 1964:124). Pharisees may have prohibited swearing by the gold of the temple because they believed that it, unlike the temple or the altar, was subject to lien (Gundry 1982:463); in any case, Jesus rejects their reasoning. Jesus rails in part against traditions that have created inconsistent standards of holiness. (We might compare churches today that rightly condemn smoking or overeating as polluting the body yet remain silent on watching television programs that pollute the mind. Some traditional churches regard particular styles of clothing or music as "worldly" yet harbor jealousy, materialism and other attitudes the Bible explicitly condemns as worldly. Some churches fight for the authority of Scripture yet care so little for it in practice that they ignore the context of verses or explain away passages that seem too difficult, like God's demand that Christians care for the poor or witness to their neighbor.) But Jesus' attack is ultimately directed against the profanation of God's name. Because any surrogate oath nevertheless represents God's name and implicitly calls him to witness, any breach of truthfulness demands judgment no less severe.