Why Oaths of Office Matter to God

Reformation Baptist Church

People often think that what made America unique was its separation of powers and system of checks and balances, but those ideas were not really new at the time or unique to America. What actually was unique was having the Constitution as a single written document that formed the structure and scope of powers of the government and having every officer in that government take an oath to uphold and defend the Constitution. In almost every other government, the standard expectation was that officials would try to use their authority in any way they could get away with and the checks and balances against one person becoming a tyrant was that others who had power as well would stand against them. But the oath of office was different. It constrained by establishing that those who did not keep their oaths were both morally and legally impeachable. This allowed for powerful figures to be held in check or even removed without violence and bloodshed. And one of the reasons for taking oaths is to ask God to judge when the oath is broken. So here's the question: Does God still care about oaths and does he still judge people and nations when they fail to uphold them? Because that's really the key point about oaths. They aren't just super-serious secular promises. They invoke the name and identity of God. And God promises that He will judge, not just the person who swore the oath (Leviticus 19:11-12), but also the people who were witnesses to the oath, if they do not require it to be upheld (Leviticus 5:1). So in this episode, we want to look at what God says about oaths, and how we as Americans have broken our promises made before God. We also want to specif