Calvin on the Making and Taking of Oaths

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Romans 1:9 "For God is my witness..."

"He proves his love by its effects ; for had he not greatly loved them, he would not have so anxiously commended them to the Lord, and espe cially he would not have so ardently desired to promote their welfare by his own labours. His anxiety then and his ardent desire were certain evidences of his love; for had they not sprung from it, they would never have existed. And as he knew it to be necessary for establishing confidence in his preaching, that the Romans should be fully persuaded of his sincerity, he added an oath — a needful remedy, whenever a declaration, which ought to be received as true and indubitable, vacillates through uncertainty. For since an oath is nothing else but an appeal to God as to the truth of what we declare, most foolish is it to deny that the Apostle used here an oath. He did not notwithstanding transgress the prohibition of Christ.

It hence appears that it was not Christ's design (as the superstitious Anabaptists dream) to abolish oaths altogether, hut on the contrary to call attention to the due observance of the law ; and the law, allowing an oath, only condemns perjury and needless swearing. If then we would use an oath aright, let us imitate the seriousness and the reverent manner exhibited by the Apostle; and that you may understand what it is, know that God is so called as a witness, that He is also appealed to as an avenger, in case we deceive..."

John Calvin Commentaries Vol. xix, Romans 1:9

A Grave Heresy

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"In this present day there is a grave heresy which has permeated large areas of the Christian Church; it claims that the Christian life of victory is produced solely by an inward guidance of the Holy Spirit. In matters of Christian ethics, whether it be in reference to how to love one's neighbor or to deciding if any particular activity is wrong, many Christians claim that for moral authority they depend only upon the guidance of the Spirit. Whichever way the Spirit "moves" them is the way which they trust to be right. Now even the most elementary biblical doctrine should dissuade these subjective moralists, for who among sinfully depraved men can trust his inner inclinations? On such a basis as has been described how could one possibly test the spirits to see if they be from God or Beelzebub? Does such a way of life affirm the sufficiency of God's canonical word? Does Scripture describe the work of the Spirit as that of mystical guidance? All these questions are fundamental and to be answered negatively."

Greg Bahnsen in Theonomy in Christian Ethics

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