Jesus, County Clerks, and Oaths of Office

It's much like watching a car wreck: how the Federal Court will decide the fate of Kim Davis, Rowan County (KY) Clerk. There seem to be a number of issues in play here, as all sides have a vested interest in the matter. Here's the irony in the entire affair: if a person follows Christ, there really is no halfway—you're either all in or not. There is no picking or choosing of what He had to say for the sake of convenience.

The forgotten precedence is this: Jesus gave a strong command in the Sermon on the Mount to not take oaths. It reads as such:

Again, you have heard that it was said to an older generation, 'Do not break an oath, but fulfill your vows to the Lord.' But I say to you, do not take oaths at all—not by heaven, because it is the throne of God, not by earth, because it is his footstool, and not by Jerusalem, because it is the city of the great King. Do not take an oath by your head, because you are not able to make one hair white or black. Let your word be 'Yes, yes' or 'No, no.' More than this is from the evil one. (Matthew 5:33-37, NET)

There are those who will want to digress into arguments as to whether the Sermon on the Mount is a sermon to Jews or to Jews and Gentiles combined, or whether this is an Old Covenant (pre-cross) sermon or a sermon looking forward to the New Covenant. I'm going to set those aside, because this isn't guidance on Levitical ceremonial rules, but a clarification of Leviticus 19:12, offset in single quote marks in the preceding quote; this is a moral entreaty that goes back to the Decalogue (the seminary term for the 10 Commandments).

Jesus was "tightening down," if you will, on the fact that many children of God were attempting to invoke God in the taking of an oath. The problem is, if one invokes an oath using God's name and breaks it, you have just made God party to a lie. Hence the commandment of not taking the Lord's name in vain (Exodus 20:7). Folk Christianity / Churchianity has replaced that meaning with a command against the language of cursing and "cuss words." As well-intended as that might be, it's terribly shallow, and shows a distinct ignorance of biblical culture and biblical knowledge.

For the record, here is the Oath of Office Kim Davis took, most likely with her hand resting on a Bible:

I do solemnly swear [or affirm, as the case may be] that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of this Commonwealth, and be faithful and true to the Commonwealth of Kentucky so long as I continue a citizen thereof, and that I will faithfully execute, to the best of my ability, the office of [...] according to law; and I do further solemnly swear [or affirm] that since the adoption of this present Constitution, I, being a citizen of this State, have not fought a duel with deadly weapons within this State nor out of it, nor have I sent or accepted a challenge to fight a duel with deadly weapons, nor have I acted as second in carrying a challenge, nor aided or assisted any person thus offending, so help me God. (Kentucky Constitution, Section 228, revised September 28, 1891)

Now the problem can be seen for what it is. And it isn't the fact that Kentucky still prohibits dueling with deadly weapons to this day. When the Pharisees attempted to corner Jesus regarding Caesar, coins, and taxes, Jesus pointed out that the Roman Emperor was going to extract his pound of flesh from everyone (yes, my paraphrase of the pericope beginning in Matthew 22:15.) It is inescapable for Christians in any society. Because the United States is not a Christian theocracy—as much as some folks like to pretend it is—there will always be friction between the laws of a secular society and the laws of God. It cannot be any other way.

I'm not attempting to throw stones with this statement; I'm a big a hypocrite as anyone else sitting in a church pew. But the obvious truth seems to be this: Kim Davis has brought this upon herself. God didn't do it; Jesus didn't do it; the Commonwealth of Kentucky didn't do it. Ms. Davis took a public oath, invoked the name of God—against the better recommendations of Jesus—and is now paying the price in both the courts of public opinion as well as the U.S. District Court in Ashland, Kentucky. God is no more obligated to bail out Kim Davis than the person who jumps in a barrel to go over Niagara Falls and cries out for protection halfway down. Proceed at your own risk in such games.

We all know how this is going to play out. The reality of the situation is this: Jesus doesn't play around. If a person is going to follow Him, be prepared to suffer the slings and arrows of interaction between what is secular and what is sacred, based upon the choices you make.

Edit: clarified the quotation in Matthew.