Let Your Yes Be Yes and No Be No: What Does Matthew 5:37 Mean?

Matthew 5:37 reads, “But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil.” King James Version (KJV)

Also, see the meaning of Be At Peace With All Men in the Bible.

Let Your Yes Be Yes and No Be No: Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary

5:33-37 There is no reason to consider that solemn oaths in a court of justice, or on other proper occasions, are wrong, provided they are taken with due reverence.

But all oaths taken without necessity, or in common conversation, must be sinful, as well as all those expressions which are appeals to God, though persons think thereby to evade the guilt of swearing.

The worse men are, the less they are bound by oaths; the better they are, the less there is need for them. Our Lord does not enjoin the precise terms wherein we are to affirm or deny, but such a constant regard to truth as would render oaths unnecessary.

Also, see the meaning of My Sheep Hear My Voice in the Bible.

Matthew 5:37 | Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

Verse 37. – Your communication. Similarly, the Authorized Version in Ephesians 4:29, in archaic usage for “talk.” Yea, yea; Nay, nay. Christ permits as far as the repetition of the asseveration.

The adoption here by a few authorities of the phrase in James 5:12 (“Let your yea be yea; and your nay, nay,” τὸ ναὶ ναὶ κ.τ.λ..)is unsuitable; for here the question is not of truthfulness, but of fervency in asseveration.

Whatsoever is more than these; “that which is over and above these” (Rheims). There is a superfluity (περισσόν) in more fervent asseverations, which has its origin ἐκ τοῦ πονηροῖ.

Cometh of evil. So the Revised Version margin, “as in ver. 39; 6:13.’ Revised Version, is of the evil one (vide Matthew 6:13, note; and cf. 1 John 3:12).

Also, see the meaning of Run the Race With Endurance in the Bible.