A Vow Unto God

by Leonard V Johnson

God’s living word teaches us ──

“When you take a vow to God, do not delay to pay it; For He has no pleasure in fools. Pay what you have vowed── 5) Better not to vow than to vow and not pay.” – Ecclesiastes 5:4-5.

Now, there are different types of vows. Some are needed, and then there are those that should never be made.

Two types of vows tend to be more prevalent ──

• Remaining committed to the LORD God after repentance and baptism.
• Remaining faithful to our spouse and our vows after marriage.

Brethren, are we, as true Christians, continuing to live up to what our Master, Elder Brother, Advocate, and Savior, Jesus Christ, expects of us?

We have a sermon to assist you: Does the World Know You Are a Christian?

Sadly, as we get ever closer to the end of this present age, most professing Christians will be continuing only lip service unto Jesus. Including some in His own Church ──

“’ And to the [messenger] of the church of the Laodiceans write,

‘These things says the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God: 15) ‘I know your works that you are neither cold nor hot, I could wish you were cold or hot. 16) So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth. 17) Because you say, ‘I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’ ── and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked ── 18) I COUNSEL YOU to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see. 19) As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous AND REPENT.

20) Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.

21) To him who OVERCOMES …’” – who overcomes this lukewarmness in faith, “ …’ I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.

22) ‘He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’” – Revelation 3:14-22.

Here, our Lord Jesus tells us that some in His own Church, the very Body of Christ, will be only lukewarm in their faith and service to Him, and that without repentance, He will vomit them out of His mouth! Sadly, there are some that believe they are rich in faith and service. In Matthew He says, “’ Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, BUT HE WHO DOES THE WILL OF MY FATHER IN HEAVEN.’” There are some, even in His own Church, that say unto Him, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ ‘Lord, haven’t we built large church buildings for You──haven’t we published and distributed millions of magazines in Your name?’ ‘Lord, haven’t we taken on the name Philadelphia, and been loyal to You, telling everyone that we are Your ‘little flock’?’ And we are told, brethren, that He will declare to such ──

“’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’” – Matthew 7:21-23.

He tells us, brethren, here, that if we are lukewarm in the faith and in service to Him, we should REPENT and OVERCOME!

We should always be striving to overcome! Overcome this evil and very present world, to overcome our enemy, the Devil and Satan, and to overcome ourselves──we war within ourselves, as the Apostle Paul tells us ──

“For we know that the law [the holy and righteous Ten Commandments] is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin. 15) For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do.” – Romans 7:14-15.

He also warns and admonishes us, brethren ──

“But evil men AND IMPOSTERS will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived. 14) But you MUST continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, …” ── for like the Bereans, who searched the Scriptures daily to prove all things and to hold fast that which is good, we should as well! “ … knowing from whom you have learned them.” – 2 Timothy 3:13-14.

Notice also what the Apostle Peter said that all people should do ──

“ …’ Repent, and let every one of you be baptized IN THE NAME OF JESUS CHRIST for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. … ‘Be saved from this perverse generation.’” – Acts 2:38, 40.

Indeed, repentance and baptism are types of vows unto God!

What Is a Vow?

Let’s understand what a vow is. In Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, it states ──

1vow \ ‘vaů\ n [ME vowe, fr. OF vou, fr. L votum, fr. neut. of votus, pp. of vovēre to vow; akin to Gk euchesthai to pray, vow, Skt vāghat sacrificer] (14c): a solemn promise or assertion; specif: one by which a person is bound to an act of service, or condition. 1

So, we should indeed consider! Vows should never be taken insincerely! The LORD God does not require us to make a vow in the first place. Because it is better not to vow than to vow and then not perform or complete that vow. Yet, if it is a binding vow unto God, He does expect us to perform it!

Sadly, too many people make a hasty vow and then wake up too late to realize they should have never made a solemn vow unto the LORD God. Most people are not as SPIRITUALLY MATURE as they think they are to know the difference between a foolish vow and a wise one.

Notice also what our LORD God says ──

“’ When you make a vow to the LORD your God, you shall not delay to pay it; for the LORD your God will surely require it of you, and it would be a sin to you. 22) But if you abstain from vowing, it shall not be a sin to you. 23) That which has gone from your lips you shall keep and perform, for you voluntarily vowed to the LORD your God what you have promised with your mouth.’” – Deuteronomy 23:21-23.

Pay close attention to the significance of these verses! It is a sin to break a binding vow. Yet, to make no vow is to avoid sin.

To break a vow means that you have lied. Lying──bearing false witness──is a violation of the LORD God’s Ten Commandments. This is how serious the breaking of a vow is!

This passage makes it crystal clear that every vow WHICH YOU BIND with the LORD God or any individual MUST BE KEPT. Yet not all vows are bound by the LORD God.

When We Are Not Responsible for a Vow

This is so important to the LORD God that one entire chapter within His living word is devoted to this very subject! Let’s turn to the Book of Numbers chapter 30.

Verse 1 ── “Then Moses spoke to the heads of the tribes concerning the children of Israel, saying, ‘This is the thing which the LORD has commanded: 2) If a man makes a vow to the LORD, or swears an oath to bind himself by some agreement, he shall not break his word; he shall do according to all the proceeds out of his mouth.

3) Or if a woman makes a vow to the LORD, and binds herself by some agreement while in her father’s house in her youth, 4) and her father hears her vow and the agreement by which she has bound herself, and her father holds his peace, then all her vows shall stand, and every agreement with which she has bound herself shall stand.’”

So, if she is still living at home unmarried in her parents’ house, and she makes a vow, a promise, an agreement, and her father has heard this agreement, and does not disapprove──then her vow is binding and has to be paid. She is bound to keep her vow.

Verse 5 ── “’ But if her father overrules her on the day that he hears, then none of her vows nor her agreements by which she has bound herself shall stand; and the LORD will release her, because her father overruled her.’”

So, here we have a young woman, still living in her parents’ house unmarried, in which her father has rule of the home. If her father──on the day when he hears his daughter’s vow──disapproves of her vow, he has the authority to disannul it. In this case, the young woman is not responsible for that vow. The LORD God does not hold it against her for having taken such a vow. The LORD God will not hold her to the vow. So, here we have the LORD God’s example of a father──who is head of his household──having the authority to annul the vow of a person who is still living at home unmarried.

Verse 6 ── “’ If indeed she TAKES A HUSBAND, while bound by her vows or by a rash utterance from her lips by which she bound herself, 7) and HER HUSBAND HEARS IT, and makes no response to her on the day that he hears, then her vows shall stand, and her agreements by which she bound herself shall stand. 8) But if HER HUSBAND overrules her on the day that he hears it, he shall make void her vow which she took and what she uttered with her lips, by which she bound herself, and the LORD will release her.’”

Concerning a young boy still living at home: he only becomes responsible for any vows or agreements he may make when he becomes of age ──age 20.

This indeed is the living word of the Eternal One!

“the husband is the head of the wife”

So then, if a wife takes a rash vow, and her husband── HEARS IT on the day she made it ──disapproves of it, he can overrule her vow. The husband is the head of the wife (Ephesians 5:23). The LORD God makes the husband responsible for the vows of his wife.

Let’s now continue down in verse 9 ── “’ Also any vow of a widow or a divorced woman, by which she has bound herself, shall stand against her.

10) If she vowed in her husband’s house, or bound herself by an agreement with an oath, 11) and HER HUSBAND heard it, and made no response to her and did not overrule her, then all her vows shall stand, and every agreement by which she bound herself shall stand.

12) But if HER HUSBAND truly made them void on the day he heard them, then whatever proceeded from her lips concerning her vows or concerning the agreement binding her, it shall NOT stand; her husband has made them void, and the LORD will release her.’”

Notice this critical verse. Verse 13 ── “’ EVERY VOW and ever binding oath to afflict her soul, HER HUSBAND MAY CONFIRM IT, or HER HUSBAND MAY MAKE IT VOID.’”

So, as we learned earlier, it’s also the father’s responsibility to either confirm or make void his young daughter's, who is unmarried and still living at home, vows or agreements.

God’s Ministers’ Responsibility

Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, gave His ministers the ability to ‘bind and loosen’ on earth ──

“’ Assuredly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.’” – Matthew 18:18.

It’s about our Lord Jesus’ Church having the authority to bind or loosen sin or doctrine, not necessarily a permission slip for the officiating of weddings. It’s about community discipline and forgiveness, though their authority can be exercised in various ways, including marriage counseling; the verse is not strictly about the marriage ceremony.

Let us notice that under the Old Covenant, the LORD God gave His priests, the Levites, the responsibility, if needed, to judge certain important decisions. Turn with us to Deuteronomy 17 ──

Beginning in verse 8 ── “’ If a matter arises which is too hard for you to judge, between degrees of guilt for bloodshed, between one judgment or another, or between one punishment or another, matters of controversy within your gates, then you shall arise and go up to the place which the LORD your God chooses. 9) And you shall come to the priests, the Levites, and to the judge there in those days, and inquire of them; they shall pronounce upon you the sentence of judgment.

10) You shall do according to the sentence which they pronounce upon you in that place which the LORD chooses. And you shall be careful to do according to all that they order you. 11) According to the sentence of the law in which they instruct you, according to the judgment which they tell you, you shall do; you shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left from the sentence which they pronounce upon you.’” – Deuteronomy 17:8-11.

It is the ETERNAL GOD who determines what is right and what is wrong. He reveals it to His ministers through His Spirit ──through prayer and Scriptural study. So, when vows or agreements, or matters of controversy, are too difficult for a judge to decide between one judgment or another, one punishment or another, then the LORD’s ELDERS [His Ministers] should be consulted. The Eternal God and our Lord Jesus Christ are in the upper heavenly realms at this moment in time, and have also given, if needed, His ministers a responsibility to make decisions for His people according to the Law of God and His living eternal word ── the Holy Bible. □

1 Webster M. Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, Incorporated, convocation, 1996, pp 1325.