Question: Mr. McLemore, when Jesus taught “Swear not at all,” what do you think he meant?

Answer: See Matthew 5:34-37 and James 5:12.  I assume the question concerns what bearing this teaching has on fulfilling the legal requirement of taking oaths in court, etc.  Jesus seems to address ordinary communications rather than those in judicial contexts.  He denounces the approach by which one is untruthful at times and then takes recourse to oaths in order to convince others that this time it is the truth! People should always speak the truth and should have a reputation for being truthful.  However, there is a proper place for oaths (e.g., see Hebrews 6:17, 18), and one place is in contexts where one is not known by reputation by all parties concerned.   In such cases, an oath involves going on public record for the truthfulness of one’s statements among people to whom one is not well known.  It is similar to a signature on contracts where a mere verbal agreement is impractical.  The possibility that Jesus’ teaching does not address oath-taking in judicial contexts should not be taken as a license to lie except when one is “under oath!”