Truthfulness

At a glance

The chapter heading text (KJV)

“Again, ye have heard that it hath been said by them of old time, Thou shalt not forswear thyself, but shalt perform unto the Lord thine oaths: But I say unto you, Swear not at all… But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil.”

Matthew 5:33–37 KJV

Summary

Bonhoeffer surveys how differently the church has historically read Jesus' prohibition of oaths — some early Christians banning them outright, most later traditions permitting oaths within careful limits — before offering his own account of what is actually at stake. An oath, he observes, implicitly concedes that ordinary human speech cannot always be trusted, and sets apart certain especially solemn statements as more binding than the rest. The very existence of the oath is evidence of a community, or a self, still divided between truthful and less-than-truthful speech.

For the disciple, Bonhoeffer argues, this division should already have been dissolved. Truthfulness is only possible, in his account, where sin has been fully uncovered and forgiven — where a person no longer has anything left to hide from Jesus, because Jesus has already called them into the light and revealed them to themselves. Someone who still needs to conceal parts of their life will always, eventually, need something like an oath to prop up whatever they do say; someone with nothing left to conceal has no need of reinforcement, because their plain word already carries full weight.

This is why he treats the cross as the actual ground of a disciple's truthfulness. It is the cross that exposes human sin so completely that further concealment becomes pointless, and it is only in that condition of being fully known and forgiven that a person is free to be simply truthful, without needing dramatic guarantees attached to particular statements. Untruthfulness toward others, Bonhoeffer notes, always shatters fellowship; truthfulness, uncomfortable as it can be, is what makes real brotherhood possible in the first place.

The chapter closes by tying this back to the disciple community's visible witness: a people who no longer swear because they no longer need to are demonstrating, in ordinary daily speech, the same reality that salt and light demonstrated earlier — an otherworldly directness that the surrounding culture, still operating on the assumption that speech needs enforcement, will notice as genuinely strange.

Key points

• An oath implicitly admits that ordinary speech cannot always be trusted — it sets apart certain statements as more binding than everyday words.
• Bonhoeffer roots the disciple's truthfulness in having nothing left to hide, because the cross has already exposed and forgiven their sin.
• Someone still concealing parts of their life will eventually need reinforcement, like an oath, to be believed; someone fully known has no such need.
• Untruthfulness toward others shatters fellowship; truthfulness, however costly, is what makes real brotherhood possible.
• A community that no longer needs oaths is, like salt and light earlier, quietly demonstrating an otherworldly directness to a watching culture.

Related Scripture

• James 5:12
• Ephesians 4:25
• Colossians 3:9–10
• 1 John 1:7

For reflection and discussion

1. Where in your life do you still feel the need to ‘reinforce’ your word — over-explaining, over-promising — rather than trusting a simple yes or no to be believed?
2. Bonhoeffer ties truthfulness to having nothing left to hide because of the cross. Is there something you are still concealing, from others or from yourself, that this chapter names as unfinished business?
3. Can you recall a time truthfulness cost you something in a relationship, but ultimately made real fellowship possible where a comfortable evasion would not have?