" I will serve God ONLY IF my parents are saved"
"If God blesses me in this area of my life, then i will join God full-time"
" When God gives me a girlfriend, then i'll see about it"
Stulac exposes the flaw of this argument in his commentary on James
Now it is the lack of faith that must appall James in the act of swearing. It is unbelief that would move his readers to try to save themselves by a manipulative use of oaths. It is through lack of faith that we disbelieve God's "compassion and mercy" and so want to strike a bargain. Striking a bargain with God cuts at the very heart of the gospel; it is an attempt to rely on the worth of one's own offering instead of relying on God's grace in the offering of Christ on the cross. Bargaining is a reliance on works; James is insisting that we rely on grace. He is again teaching the opposite of what some have portrayed as an anti-Pauline works-righteousness. James says above all and you will be condemned because he is addressing not just a simple matter of dishonesty but a fundamental lack of faith and denial of grace.
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