Appendix 5. Biblical Support of Vows

There are several words appearing in the Bible that are sometimes translated vow, but they are decidedly different Greek words. One Greek word, omnuo, appears 27 times in the Bible and is always translated into the English word swear in the King James Bible.

In Matthew 5:33 we see, “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:”

Here the word oath is translated consistently from the word horkos.1 It is defined, “that which has been pledged or promised with an oath.”

The word oath in other translations is translated “vow”.

Acts 18:18 tells us Paul “had a vow”. In the King James the word for vow here is euche.

Omnuo, horkos and other words all have different meanings in the Greek and can misdirect our thinking if you switch from, swear, oath, and vow. The Church must establish which definition or meaning we apply to the word vow when used in relationship to a religious order.

The same word translated vow in Acts is translated prayer in James 5:15 where he is specifically talking about a vow of faith:

“ And the prayer [euche vow] of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.”

Since we are told not to swear by Christ and also by James2 then when the Church says Vow of poverty we are actually saying a Prayer of poverty, or chastity, faith and obedience, applying the meaning of the word euche. This is not to say the ordained minister’s conscience is not bound. It is. But it is bound by love for Christ and God and the “prayer” or vow is the witness of that bond.

The word euche is from the word euchomai3 and the meaning is “1) to pray to God 2) to wish, to pray, to pray for.” Our use of the word vow expresses our intent and prayer for assistance from God to dedicate ourselves to him, stay true to that dedication, be faithful in the exercise of our duties, and obedient to the will of God. It is not like an oath in the sense of omnuo or horkos which is meant to bind us under another’s authority and there is no prohibition against it. In fact it is the essence of the call to prayer to God the Father..

The vow of poverty

The vow of poverty means that the Ordained Ministers of His Holy Church do not hold any property as their personal estate or inheritance but they hold all things in common for the benefit of Jesus and the Father.4

Jesus was the King that preexisted the first century. He was the highest son of David who was the anointed king of Israel which was the Kingdom of God on earth passed down from Noah to Shem and to Abraham, Jacob and their descendants. They were set free from the bondage of Egypt by Moses but went under the authority of a king first with Saul and then with David. Finally Jesus came as the Messiah and took the kingdom from those who had again twisted it into an apostate state with their statutes and ordinances.

Matthew 21:43 Therefore say I unto you, The Kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof.

In that original Kingdom, God set aside a certain group of people who were called Levites, and mostly came from the tribe of Levi. This took place when the people were called out of the walled-in camp of the golden calf, and most of those who came out were Levites. These people were separated from the main body of the nation in several ways, and for particular purposes.

Minister Vows of the Church

Vows should be taken for a term of years as a Novitiate, or for life as a fully Ordained Member or Minister. Families are covered while they remain under the coverture of the head of the house or the surviving Order. Husbands and Wives must Participate, or consent to the truth of the vows as an individual profession of Faith, Hope, and Obedience to Christ.

The Vow of Poverty means that the Ministers of His Holy Church do not hold any property as their personal estate, but hold all things in common for the benefit of Jesus and Our Father.5

Numbers 18:23-24 “But ... shall do the service of the tabernacle of the congregation, and they shall bear their iniquity: [it shall be] a statute for ever throughout your generations, that among the children of Israel they have no inheritance.”

2 Cor. 4:5 “For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus’ sake.”

This stipulation was to do with owning land as a personal estate.

Numbers 18:20 “And the LORD spake unto Aaron, Thou shalt have no inheritance in their land, neither shalt thou have any part among them: I am thy part and thine inheritance among the children of Israel.”

There was a great deal of detail added by Moses as to how these ministers of God’s kingdom were to operate, but this is often misunderstood because of the metaphor of the language.

Deuteronomy 18:1 “The priests the Levites, [and] all the tribe of Levi, shall have no part nor inheritance with Israel: they shall eat the offerings of the LORD made by fire, and his inheritance. Therefore shall they have no inheritance among their brethren: the LORD is their inheritance, as he hath said unto them.”

In the verses that followed, it was outlined that they were to be able to partake personally of a part of the contributions of the people that were given to God. There was a practical side to this position and status. The Levites were only tithed6 to according to their service7. There was no compelled tax upon the people by the Levites as an exercising authority, for in those days there was no king in Israel.8

By the time Jesus arrived, the Levites had begun to own land some 160 years before, by the grace of the Hasmonean dynasty of kings in Judea. And more than 70 years before Christ’s birth, the Pharisees had managed to pass a statute that allowed the courts to enforce the contributions of the people as a compelled tax.

2 Corinthians 8:9 “For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich.”

When Jesus called men out, He also set certain requirements upon those men chosen to minister His Kingdom of God at hand. Applying precept upon precept, we see that He also required that they have no inheritance in property or land.

Luke 14:33 “So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath9, he cannot be my disciple.”

This was a direct statement, not a general suggestion, and was in accordance with the statements attributed to God in relationship to His bondservants who ministered His Kingdom on earth, the Levites. By Jesus also making this a requirement of the ministers having no estate of wealth and property in the Kingdom of God it was assured that the public ministers of the kingdom would truly remain public servants unless the people allowed otherwise.

Contributions to God’s kingdom and its servants are always based on individual choice. They are not compelled by men or statutes of men.

Matthew 6:3 But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth:

Jesus informed his disciples that he would appoint to them the kingdom that he was taking away from those who at that time sat in the seat of Moses. In Luke 12:32 He told them to “Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom,” going on in Luke 12:33 to require them to “Sell that ye have, and give alms; provide yourselves bags which wax not old, a treasure in the heavens that faileth not, where no thief approacheth, neither moth corrupteth.”

In the Kingdom of God the people were not to put all their gold and silver into a central place, vault or golden calf. They were to keep their money in their purses and give it upon the altar of God according to need and service. This established liberty in the land and in their hearts and the responsibilities and rights granted by God in their hands within their families10.

Luke 12:34 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

Christ knew that if the ministers were to focus on riches in the royal treasuries of the temple that they would soon forget about service to the people. If they were only allowed tithing according to their service and the wealth of the kingdom remained in the hands of the people then the kingdom would remain healthy. As soon as wealth is centered in the temple or Church the wrong kind of ministers are attracted to the service of the people. The ministers must remain servants.

2 Cor. 4:5 For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus’ sake.

The vow of chastity

The Vow of Chastity means that the Brethren, as the bride of Christ, does not commit adultery with another ruling authority.11 Israel was a nation and Christ preached and appointed a kingdom. Israel was often accused of fornication12 and adultery13 as a nation.

Isaiah 23:17 And it shall come to pass after the end of seventy years, that the LORD will visit Tyre, and she shall turn to her hire, and shall commit fornication with all the kingdoms of the world upon the face of the earth.

Ezekiel 16:26 Thou hast also committed fornication with the Egyptians thy neighbours, great of flesh; and hast increased thy whoredoms, to provoke me to anger.

Acts 15:20 “But that we write unto them, that they abstain from pollutions of idols, and [from] fornication, and [from] things strangled, and [from] blood.”

Acts 15:29 “That ye abstain from meats offered to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication: from which if ye keep yourselves, ye shall do well. Fare ye well.”

1 Corinthians 4:20 “For the Kingdom of God [is] not in word, but in power.”

1 Corinthians 5:1 “It is reported commonly [that there is] fornication among you, and such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles, that one should have his father’s wife.”

The ministers of the kingdom cannot make agreements with other governments, because they belong to God as servants of God.

Numbers 3:12 “And I, behold, I have taken the Levites from among the children of Israel instead of all the firstborn that openeth the matrix among the children of Israel: therefore the Levites shall be mine;”14

Exodus 23:32 “Thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor with their gods.”

And in the matter of adulterating the ministry, we see that whole nations and the Church can commit adultery, which is idolatry.

Jeremiah 3:8, 10 “And I saw, when for all the causes whereby backsliding Israel committed adultery I had put her away, and given her a bill of divorce; yet her treacherous sister Judah feared not, but went and played the harlot also. And it came to pass through the lightness of her whoredom, that she defiled the land, and committed adultery with stones and with stocks. And yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah hath not turned unto me with her whole heart, but feignedly, saith the LORD.”

Jeremiah 5:7 “How shall I pardon thee for this? thy children have forsaken me, and sworn by [them that are] no gods: when I had fed them to the full, they then committed adultery, and assembled themselves by troops in the harlots’ houses...”

Jer. 7:9 “Will ye steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and burn incense unto Baal, and walk after other gods whom ye know not;”

Jeremiah 23:14 “I have seen also in the prophets of Jerusalem an horrible thing: they commit adultery, and walk in lies: they strengthen also the hands of evildoers, that none doth return from his wickedness: they are all of them unto me as Sodom, and the inhabitants thereof as Gomorrah.”

Romans 2:22 “Thou that sayest a man should not commit adultery, dost thou commit adultery? thou that abhorrest idols, dost thou commit sacrilege?”

2 Peter 2:14,19 “Having eyes full of adultery, and that cannot cease from sin; beguiling unstable souls: an heart they have exercised with covetous practices; cursed children: Which have forsaken the right way, and are gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Bosor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness; But was rebuked for his iniquity: the dumb ass speaking with man’s voice forbade the madness of the prophet. These are wells without water, clouds that are carried with a tempest; to whom the mist of darkness is reserved for ever. For when they speak great swelling words of vanity, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through much wantonness, those that were clean escaped from them who live in error. While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage.”

Revelation 14:4 “These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were redeemed from among men, [being] the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb.”

Ministers of Christ’s appointed Kingdom are bondservants under the authority of God only.

Matthew 20:27,28 “And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant: Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.”

Matthew 23:11 “But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant.”

Luke 12:37 “Blessed [are] those servants, whom the lord when he cometh shall find watching: verily I say unto you, that he shall gird himself, and make them to sit down to meat, and will come forth and serve them.”

Acts 16:17 “The same followed Paul and us, and cried, saying, These men are the servants of the most high God, which shew unto us the way of salvation.”

Romans 1:1 “Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called [to be] an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God,”

Galatians 1:10 “For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ.”

Philippians 1:1 “Paul and Timotheus, the servants of Jesus Christ, to all the saints in Christ Jesus which are at Philippi, with the bishops and deacons:”

Colossians 1:7 “As ye also learned of Epaphras our dear fellowservant, who is for you a faithful minister of Christ;”

2 Timothy 2:24 “And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all [men], apt to teach, patient,”

James 1:1 “James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting.”

2 Peter 1:1 “Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ:”

Jude 1:1 “Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, to them that are sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ, [and] called:”

Revelation 22:9 “Then saith he unto me, See [thou do it] not: for I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren the prophets, and of them which keep the sayings of this book: worship God.”

Ministers occupying this separate estate of God cannot sell or contract away any part of God’s property, rights, or Kingdom. Jesus remained a servant King, and so shall His servants.

2 Corinthians 6:15 “And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel?”

Romans 8:21 “Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.”

Galatians 5:1 “Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.”

The vow of faith

The Vow of Faith means that the Brethren, as the servants of Christ, do give their full faith, fidelity, and allegiance to the Anointed King of the Kingdom of God at hand, rather than systems like that of Egypt.15

The Brethren, by their faith, are committed to showing their faith and allegiance in God Our Father.

Psalms 62:8 “Trust in him at all times; [ye] people, pour out your heart before him: God [is] a refuge for us. Selah.”

Psalms 146:3 “Put not your trust in princes, [nor] in the son of man, in whom [there is] no help.”

Our trust must be in the Lord, and not in the men who would hold lordship over their brothers.

Genesis 15:1 “After these things the word of the LORD came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I [am] thy shield, [and] thy exceeding great reward.”

Genesis 50:19 “And Joseph said unto them, Fear not: for [am] I in the place of God?”

Joshua 10:25 “And Joshua said unto them, Fear not, nor be dismayed, be strong and of good courage: for thus shall the LORD do to all your enemies against whom ye fight.”

2 Kings 18:20, 21 “Thou sayest, (but [they are but] vain words,) [I have] counsel and strength for the war. Now on whom dost thou trust, that thou rebellest against me? Now, behold, thou trustest upon the staff of this bruised reed, [even] upon Egypt, on which if a man lean, it will go into his hand, and pierce it: so [is] Pharaoh king of Egypt unto all that trust on him.”

Proverbs 29:25 “The fear of man bringeth a snare: but whoso putteth his trust in the LORD shall be safe.”

Matthew 10:28 “And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.”

Luke 12:32 “Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.”

With true trust and faith in God, we shall abide in His commandment to “Fear not”.

Isaiah 30:3 “Therefore shall the strength of Pharaoh be your shame, and the trust in the shadow of Egypt [your] confusion.”

Isaiah 30:12 “Wherefore thus saith the Holy One of Israel, Because ye despise this word, and trust in oppression and perverseness, and stay thereon:”

Matthew 12:21 “And in his name shall the Gentiles trust.”

Mark 1:15 “And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the Kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.”

Mark 11:22 “And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith16 in God.”

Philippians 3:20 “For our conversation17 is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ:”

James 5:15 “And the prayer [vow]18 of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.”

Luke 22:25-29 “... And I appoint unto you a kingdom, as my Father hath appointed unto me;”

Galatians 3:26 “For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.”

Titus 2:10 “Not purloining, but shewing all good fidelity; that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things.”

The vow of obedience

The Vow of Obedience means that the Brethren, as the bride of Christ, does not disobey the Will of the Husband who honors the will of His Father in Heaven. 19

Matthew 7:21 “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.” Matthew 12:50 “For whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother.” Matthew 19:17 “And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? [there is] none good but one, [that is], God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.”

Mark 4:41 “And they feared exceedingly, and said one to another, What manner of man is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”

John 8:51 “Verily, verily, I say unto you, If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death.” John 14:15 “If ye love me, keep my commandments.”

John 14:21-24 “He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him... Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father’s which sent me.”

John 15:10 “If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love.

Acts 5:29 “Then Peter and the [other] apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men.

James 1:25 But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth [therein], he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.”

God directs appointed Ministers to service and be a light to all governments of the world.

Matthew 20:25,27 “But Jesus called them unto him, and said, Ye know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them. But it shall not be so among you: but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister; And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant”

Mark 10:42, 44 “But Jesus called them to him, and saith unto them, Ye know that they which are accounted to rule over the Gentiles exercise lordship over them; and their great ones exercise authority upon them. But so shall it not be among you: but whosoever will be great among you, shall be your minister: And whosoever of you will be the chiefest, shall be servant of all.”

Luke 22:25, 29 “And he said unto them, The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them; and they that exercise authority upon them are called benefactors. But ye shall not be so: but he that is greatest among you, let him be as the younger; and he that is chief, as he that doth serve. For whether is greater, he that sitteth at meat, or he that serveth? is not he that sitteth at meat? but I am among you as he that serveth. Ye are they which have continued with me in my temptations. And I appoint unto you a kingdom, as my Father hath appointed unto me;”

Matthew 10:7 “And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

Acts 5:29 “Then Peter and the [other] apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men.”

 

 

Footnotes

Other publications:
The Covenants of the gods
The Free Church Report