Preface

In redemptive history we find divine warrant and approval for oaths and vows to God by persons, households, nations, and churches.  Some of the many scriptures pertaining to oaths and vows include:

Numbers 30:2 - If a man vow a vow unto the LORD, or swear an oath to bind his soul with a bond; he shall not break his word, he shall do according to all that proceedeth out of his mouth.

Deuteronomy 6:13 - Thou shalt fear the LORD thy God, and serve him, and shalt swear by his name.

Joshua 24:24 - So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day, and set them a statute and an ordinance in Shechem.

Nehemiah 10:29 - They clave to their brethren, their nobles, and entered into a curse, and into an oath, to walk in God's law, which was given by Moses the servant of God, and to observe and do all the commandments of the LORD our Lord, and his judgments and his statutes.

II Kings 11:17 - And Jehoiada made a covenant between the LORD and the king and the people, that they should be the LORD'S people; between the king also and the people.

Isaiah 19:18,21 - In that day shall five cities in the land of Egypt speak the language of Canaan, and swear to the LORD of hosts; one shall be called, The city of destruction…And the LORD shall be known to Egypt, and the Egyptians shall know the LORD in that day, and shall do sacrifice and oblation; yea, they shall vow a vow unto the LORD, and perform [it].

Isaiah 44:5 - One shall say, I [am] the LORD'S; and another shall call [himself] by the name of Jacob; and another shall subscribe [with] his hand unto the LORD, and surname [himself] by the name of Israel.
 

The Westminster Confession of Faith summarizes the scriptural principles regarding oaths and vows as follows:

I. A lawful oath is a part of religious worship, wherein upon just occasion, the person swearing solemnly calleth God to witness what he asserteth or promiseth; and to judge him according to the truth or falsehood of what he sweareth.

II. The name of God only is that by which men ought to swear, and therein it is to be used with all holy fear and reverence; therefore to swear vainly or rashly by that glorious and dreadful name, or to swear at all by any other thing, is sinful, and to be   abhorred. Yet, as, in matters of weight and moment, an oath is warranted by the Word of God, under the New Testament, as well as under the Old, so a lawful oath, being imposed by lawful authority, in such matters ought to be taken.

III. Whosoever taketh an oath ought duly to consider the weightiness of so solemn an act, and therein to avouch nothing but what he is fully persuaded is the truth. Neither may any man bind himself by oath to any thing but what is good and just, and what he believeth so to be, and what he is able and resolved to perform. Yet it is a sin to refuse an oath touching any thing that is good and just, being imposed by lawful authority.

IV. An oath is to be taken in the plain and common sense of the words, without equivocation or mental reservation. It can not oblige to sin; but in any thing not sinful, being taken, it binds to performance, although to a man's own hurt: nor is it to be violated, although made to heretics or infidels.

V. A vow is of the like nature with a promissory oath, and ought to be made with the like religious care, and to be performed with the like faithfulness.

VI. It is not to be made to any creature, but to God alone: and that it may be accepted, it is to be made voluntarily, out of faith and conscience of duty, in way of thankfulness for mercy received, or for obtaining of what we want; whereby we more strictly bind ourselves to necessary duties, or to other things, so far and so long as they may fitly conduce thereunto.

VII. No man may vow to do any thing forbidden in the Word of God, or what would hinder any duty therein commanded, or which is not in his own power, and for the performance of which he hath no promise or ability from God. In which respects, monastical vows of perpetual single life, professed poverty, and regular obedience, are so far from being degrees of higher perfection, that they are superstitious and sinful snares, in which no Christian may entangle himself.
 

Social covenants were of great value during the reformation and afterwards- in places such as Geneva, Scotland, and New England- towards promoting and maintaining sound religious life and doctrine.

It will be the practice of our family (and our family’s descendants are encouraged to do the same), once a family member has reached the age of 13 and completed a reasonably thorough instruction in the Bible and the Westminster Standards (which do so faithfully summarize scriptural teaching on the chief doctrines of the Christian faith), to sign and date the following Family Covenant.  In addition, it will be the practice every five years hence to sign and date again this covenant, re-affirming commitment to Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior and to the reformed Christian faith in which He calls us to walk.  This covenant is in many respects patterned after the National Covenant of Scotland, which our ancestors swore to uphold.
 

Family Covenant

Considering the great happiness which may flow from a full and perfect union of this household and its posterity, by joining of all in one and the same Covenant with God, we each for himself subscribes his name hereto.  We, the members and descendants of the family of Joseph Parnell McCarter signing our names to this covenant, do swear to follow Jesus Christ as our personal Lord and Savior, looking to Him as the only propitiation for our sins, and endeavoring to serve Him in gratitude for His gift of salvation in accordance with His holy word.  Having been instructed and catechized in the Westminster Standards (especially in its Confession and Catechisms) and the Bible, we swear a firm commitment to the Presbyterian and Reformed Faith as outlined in the Westminster Confession and Catechisms (strictly interpreted), affirming it as an accurate summary of the teaching of scripture.

In so doing, we affirm our agreement with the doctrines outlined in the Westminster Confession and Catechisms, including but not limited to the total depravity of man, justification by faith alone, sola scriptura, predestination, the abiding authority of the Ten Commandments, the Christian Sabbath, the establishment principle, six-day creation, and the coming Day of Judgment.  We do also affirm our agreement with the regulative principle of worship, rejecting the addition to worship of any element not explicitly or implicitly commanded in the word of God.  Consequently, we commit ourselves to defending and upholding exclusive psalmody and no musical instruments in the public worship of God, as well as other necessary consequences of the regulative principle of worship.  We swear to abstain from immoral entertainment and adultery.  We swear to marry in the Lord, and only such as will in good conscience subscribe to this Family Covenant.  In marriage we swear to obey the divine command to be fruitful and multiply, and to abstain from acts which would wrongly thwart or hinder the command.  And we swear to confess and repent of our sins in accordance with Biblical mandate.  We swear to uphold and defend the reformed Christian faith, and to promote Christ’s kingdom here on earth - in our own personal lives, our families, our church, and our state - which will tend to the glory of God, the preservation of religion, and the peace of this family.
 
 

Subscribed by:
 
 
 
 
 

Note: The Westminster Confession and Catechisms can be viewed at http://www.reformed.org/documents/index.html .