---
title: Matthew 5:37
url: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/matthew-5-37/
markdown: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/matthew-5-37.md
type: verse
perspective: Protestant (historic Nicene) response to Jehovah's Witness teaching
reference: Matthew 5:37
testament: NT
section: Gospels
index: https://jw-apologetics.app/llms.txt
---

# Matthew 5:37

## Text (Berean Standard Bible)

> Simply let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No.’ Anything more comes from the evil one.

## NWT Wording of the Key Phrase

- NWT (2013 revision): "Just let your word 'Yes' mean yes, your 'No,' no, for what goes beyond these is from the wicked one."

## JW Usage

The Watchtower applies "let your word 'Yes' mean yes, your 'No,' no" to integrity in everyday speech. Witnesses are encouraged to be honest, to keep their word, and to avoid evasive or ambiguous communication. The verse is read devotionally — it rarely functions as a check on organisational practice.

## Protestant Usage

Hold the verse up against the Lösch declaration. In 2014, Governing Body member Gerrit Lösch signed a court declaration in Lopez v. Watchtower that "I do not direct, and have never directed, the day-to-day operations of Watchtower" and "I do not answer to Watchtower" — at the same time the Watchtower was telling Jehovah's Witnesses that "our spiritual health and our relationship with God depend on this channel" of the Governing Body (15 July 2013, p. 20). One of those statements was made under penalty of perjury. The other was made in the pages of the Watchtower itself. Pair Matthew 5:37 with Proverbs 12:22 ("lying lips are detestable to Jehovah") and John 18:20 (Jesus: "I have spoken nothing in secret"). Jesus's standard for integrity in communication is the same standard the apostle Paul applied in 2 Corinthians 4:2: "we have renounced the shameful, underhanded things." A "yes" to members and a "no" to the courts is not the integrity Jesus describes here.

## Arguments Using This Verse

- [The Lösch Court Declaration](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/losch-declaration.md) — 'I Do Not Answer to the Watchtower' [Authority]
- [Geoffrey Jackson's ARC Testimony — One Voice in Court, Another in Print](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/geoffrey-jackson-arc-testimony.md) — Matthew 5:33-37 — Let your yes be yes [Authority]