South Woods Baptist Church

In many ways, my understanding of the 3rd commandment bore resemblance to that of the Pharisees and ancient rabbis. They concluded the primary application of this commandment had to do with taking oaths. If one used the name of the Lord in his oath, he was bound and obligated against all odds to perform his vow; otherwise he would have taken the Lord's name in vain and thus held guilty before the Lord. But, if he vowed concerning a matter and used something other than the Lord's name to strengthen the vow, such as, "I swear to you by the gold of the temple," then he did not consider himself totally obligated to fulfill the vow. This is precisely what Jesus upbraids in the Sermon on the Mount: "But I say to you, make no oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, or by the earth, for is the footstool of His feet, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King" (Matt. 5:34-35). He implied much more in the 3rd commandment.

Jesus' point is that the early Jews had missed the point! Taking the Lord's name in vain is much more than a simple, adverse construction in a sentence. His name can be taken in vain when not even mentioned.

Each of the commandments makes use of a literary device called synecdoche, which means literally, 'to take together.' For instance, if you say, "I'm working hard to put bread on the table," you do not mean that your only purpose in working is to put a loaf of bread on your table. Putting literal bread on the table is part of the whole reason for your working but not all of it. So synecdoche implies that the part stands for the whole. In this regard, the prohibition, "You shall have no other gods before Me," is part of what God is commanding but there's more to it. We might put it like this, "You shall not have other gods before Me but you shall have Me alone as your God." The prohibition implies the positive assertion as well.

This use of synecdoche is particularly important as we consider the 3rd commandment, for in it we not only hear the prohibition against bearing God's name improperly but also in the right use of His name in worship, faith, and conversation. We must consider the weightiness of God's glory when we bear His name in life and with lips. The shift to the third person in the 3rd commandment highlights this. In the first two commandments, the Lord God addresses us by the use of personal pronouns "Me" and "I." But the 3rd commandment calls special attention to the name of the Lord your God as though someone else in the high court of heaven instructs us in the proper way to honor Him and "His name." John Calvin capsules the commandment's meaning: "God wills that we hallow the majesty of his name" [Institutes, 2.8.22]. Jesus taught us to pray, "Hallowed be Your name" (Matt. 6:9). What does it mean to give proper honor to, or to hallow, the name of the Lord? And in what ways might we take His name in vain?

I. Three words

There's a certain ring to this command: "You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not leave him unpunished who takes His name in vain." "Take... name... vain," three words repeated in the second clause, all summarizing the thrust of the commandment, help us to grasp its meaning.

1. What mean the three words?

Take can be rendered "take up, take away, bear, bring, bring forth, stir, lift up, fetch, set up." With that string of meanings, the word implies usage or the way we employ in word or thought or action the name of the Lord [Wm. Plummer, The Ten Commandments, 237].

Name carries more than simply the idea of the syllabic sounds by which a person is called. In Hebrew thought "a person's name included his whole being" [J. Douma, The Ten Commandments: Manual for the Christian Life, 75]. In that curious chapter toward the end of 2 Samuel, the writer recounts David's "mighty men." After identifying Adino the Eznite, Eleazar the son of Dodo, and Shammah the son of Agee as the "three mighty men," he mentions Abishai as their leader, and offers this comment, that Abishai "had a name as well as the three" (2 Sam. 23:18). This obviously doesn't mean that Abishai had a moniker by which he was called, but rather he had a particular honor, character, and ability that identified him with the three mighty men. In this case name does not refer to what he was called but to what he was.

"The name of the Lord your God" therefore conveys more than the titles of the Lord, though these are certainly important; rather name refers to what the Lord is in His character, honor, worth, dignity, and being as the Sovereign Lord. God revealed His name as Yahweh [from the four Hebrew consonants known as the tetragrammaton, YHWH], thus giving identity to Himself as "I am that I am" (Ex. 3:14), or "the self-existing eternal God" [Brian Edwards, The Ten Commandments for Today, 98]. His name therefore is an extension of His being in all that He has created, commanded, and promised. The name of the Lord touches all of human existence: as Creator our lives are to be lived with reference to Him; as Lawgiver our behavior is to reflect the moral dignity of the Creator; and as the Covenant-keeping God, all that have entered into covenant with Him through the promises in the gospel of Jesus Christ, are to live as God's children.

Vain expresses the idea of "evil, iniquity, wickedness, falsehood, emptiness, vanity, nothingness" [Plummer 238]. To "take the name of the Lord your God in vain" implies that one so lives or speaks or acts in such a way that the honor of the Lord is considered nothingness, His being evil, and His glory empty. Rather than declaring with the Psalmist, "O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is Your name in all the earth," the one that takes the Lord's name in vain considers the Lord to be without majesty and transcendence (Psa. 8:1). It is tantamount to declaring, "Your name is worth nothing in my estimation."

2. Three errors with the three words

This commandment, though central to worship, speech, and daily living, gets regularly overlooked. It's thought to be the kind of thing that a person must stoop extremely low to violate. It is most ardently broken, or so it is thought, among the riff-raff of society. But that fails to take into account the scope of the three words we've just considered. At least three errors accompany the misunderstanding of the 3rd commandment.

Error #1: this commandment can only be broken consciously. It's not the kind of thing that we do without at least a few careless, though conscious thoughts! I will admit that careless thoughts are part of breaking this commandment. But often it is broken without any thought. It is probably broken as much in church as anywhere when the name of the Lord is taken upon our thoughts and tongues without truly honoring Him with our hearts. Brian Edwards rightly states, "It has been well said that Christians do not tell lies, they just sing them in their hymns! All this is a violation of the third Commandment" [104].

Error #2: this commandment is restricted to employing God's name in association with profanity or cursing. That is included; make no mistake about that. Yet this commandment is regularly broken by those who would never utter a profane word.

Error #3: some think that devoted Christians get a pass on this commandment, that it is broken only by obstinate unbelievers, convinced atheists, or stubborn backsliders. On the contrary, breaking the 3rd commandment may be the most regular failure of Christians.

II. Don't do it!

That's what we gather by the prohibitions in the Ten Commandments; don't do it. But if we are going to avoid doing something we must understand what it entails, and as believers, we must depend upon the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit. Jochem Douma identifies three common ways in the Bible that God's name was taken in vain [74-75]. First, "the name is misused in sorcery." Ancient sorcerers and conjurers would seek to use the name of a particular god among a people in order to harness its magical powers. The seven sons of Sceva, a certain Jewish priest identified by Luke concerning an incident in Ephesus, sought to harness the name of Jesus Christ they had heard Paul use in order to exorcise a demon. "I adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preaches," they said over the evil spirits. But it backfired! The demonized man leaped on them, subdued them, and stripped them naked (Acts 19:11-20). Their use of the name of Jesus Christ came out of a belief in superstitions and not out of devotion and honor to Him. The Lord's name taken in vain will not go unpunished! That was proved out vividly in Ephesus so that due to this incident, "fear fell upon them all and the name of the Lord Jesus was being magnified," Luke records.

Second, "the name is misused in false prophecy." False prophets never identified themselves as such but rather used the name of the Lord to prop up their false declarations. Jeremiah grew frustrated with the false prophets in 6th century Judah, as they sought to undermine every warning that he uttered in the name of the Lord by issuing their false prophecies in the name of the Lord. The Lord told Jeremiah, "The prophets are prophesying falsehood in My name." In other words, they claimed to have received word from God about the particular matter in which they spoke. The Lord assured Jeremiah that the very things the false prophets said would not happen, sword and famine, would be the source of their end (Jer. 14:13-15). That serves as a continual warning to the many modern day false prophets that fill the television screens and often in pulpits, claiming to have a word from the Lord outside of the revelation of Holy Scripture. We dare not give heed to them lest we take the Lord's name in vain by honoring such false utterances.

Third, "the name is misused in the false oath." Later in the Pentateuch, the Lord declared, "You shall not swear falsely by My name, so as to profane the name of your God; I am the Lord" (Lev. 19:12). Here is the use of the Lord's name to give the appearance that what a person is saying is true when actually it is false. In the courtroom it is called perjury, or lying under oath. In this case, the holy and pure name of the Lord is used as an instrument of deceit. Often, the Lord's name is used in casual conversation to make one's assertions believable, when in fact, they are false.

These three common breaches of the 3rd commandment only touch the hem of the garment.

1. Obvious violation

"You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain." It doesn't take a trained theologian to figure out that the addition of God's name to a profanity violates this commandment. Yet it is done so casually in our day with it being commonly part of television shows, movies, sports and talk radio interviews. I've never heard the devil's name attached to one of these expletives. Nor have I heard anyone attach the name of Allah or Buddha or Vishnu to strengthen the force of one's invectives. I think Douma correctly states, "Even if modern swearing is not a self-conscious demonstration of unbelief, it is nonetheless very clearly a symptom of unbelief. People who have turned their backs on God naturally take up using His name idly" [82-83, italics original].

Phil Ryken explains that the way our society uses God's name in vain serves to prove the existence of God.

All of the bad language on television and at the movies reveals how godless our culture has become. But it also shows that we can never get away from God. People can't seem to swear without using God's name. Why is that? What does it tell us about the human condition? I think it proves the existence of God. Like everything else people say, cursing comes from the heart. When non-Christians use God's name-even in vain-it shows that deep down they know there really is a God. Their rage is direct rebellion against his honor [Written in Stone, 94].

2. Not quite so obvious violations

If the failure in the 3rd commandment is using God's name, which represents His whole being and nature, in a trite, empty, frivolous, or demeaning way, then some of the casual ways that God's name is used among Christians may top the list of breaking this commandment. When we use "my God" or "my Lord" or "Jesus Christ" as a way to express our shock, dismay, surprise, elation, or just casual interjection in conversation, then we've taken His name in vain. If we indeed believe that the name of the Lord is majestic and glorious, and then to inject such a holy name into our conversation as an exclamation without reference to His honor is comparable to adding His name to a profanity. In both cases, God's name is treated without respect and dignity. As J.I. Packer points out, this commandment refers to "any use or involvement of God's name that is empty, frivolous, or insincere" [The Ten Commandments, 40]. "Frivolous" use of His name in our day is more common than not. I imagine that in the workplace, in the community, and on the campus, not a day goes by that we don't hear such trivialized, empty use of God's name. We must guard our own hearts and tongues at this point; and we must be a help to each other in honoring the Lord's name.

Another area that sometime Christians, and quite often pastors, violate this commandment is in the use of the Lord's name for jokes or cute stories that are nothing more than efforts to draw attention to ourselves. His name is too glorious and holy to be trivialized. We need to be speaking the name of the Lord. Our conversation ought to have regular references to Him whom we have pledged our love and devotion through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ. But this must never be done in a self-serving way or in a way that degrades the honor and majesty of His name.

My brethren, some of us may be in habitual breach of this commandment and do not even recognize it. We may have grown up with the trite interjection of the Lord's name in conversation. Let us help one another. We don't have to scathe but we can lovingly call attention to those occasions when the honor of the Lord is disgraced through such triteness. If you are the one that receives this gentle rebuke, accept it as from the Lord as a means toward your sanctification. The world about us watches our lives but also listens to what we say. How can we use God's name tritely, and then turn around and speak to someone about the dignity and glory of Christ in the gospel?

3. Even less obvious violations

"You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain," and the deep seriousness of this command is found in the second clause, "for the Lord will not leave him unpunished who takes His name in vain." What happens at a wedding? A man and a woman join hands and vow before God and before witnesses to remain faithful to each other in marriage. That is a vow that invokes the name of the Lord, so that in open confession the couple enters into covenant with each other to keep their vows inviolable. That is one reason that divorce is such a serious matter: God's name is taken in vain when the vow of faithfulness and fidelity are broken.

How about those occasions when someone claims, "God told me to tell you such and such"? Did God indeed verbalize this to you? Granted, there are those times that the Lord deeply impresses upon us to speak to someone or those times that we sense the leadership of the Lord in speaking or explaining the Word of God to them. Yet we must be careful about casually tossing around the Lord's name in such a way as "to advance our own agenda," as Ryken puts it [95]. That kind of misuse of God's name may very well fall into the realm of false prophecy.

Christians bear the name of the Lord as His people. We are called by His name. It is through faith in that name of Christ that we are saved (Acts 4:12). We call upon the name of the Lord and are saved (Rom. 10:13). To those who overcome by faith, Jesus declares that He will "write on him the name of My God" (Rev. 3:12). The triumphant scene in Revelation 14:1 describes believers with Christ as "having His name and the name of His Father written on their foreheads." Revelation 22:4 pictures believers in heaven: "they will see His face and His name will be on their foreheads." Everything about our relationship to God through Christ and His sacrificial death relates to the name of the Lord. When we who bear the name of the Lord as His redeemed, live like the world or neglect our spiritual walks, then we take the name of the Lord in vain. We treat the name by which we are called as Christians with disrespect. We give the world occasion to blaspheme the good name of the Lord even as David did by his careless sin (2 Sam. 12:14). "You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain."

III. The other part of the synecdoche

If we only focus on the prohibition in the 3rd commandment but fail to see the positive assertions and exhortations found in this synecdoche, then we miss some of the best instruction that we have for our worship and Christian living. If we are prohibited from taking the name of the Lord our God in vain, then we certainly are not to be neutral about the name of the Lord. Instead, we are to give ourselves to honoring and glorying in His name!

1. Positive assertions-glorying in the Name

John Calvin's comments prove helpful in thinking on this. "The purpose of this commandment is: God wills that we hallow the majesty of his name... To this prohibition duly corresponds the commandment that we should be zealous and careful to honor his name with godly reverence" [2.8.22]. How do we do this? (1) Our thoughts and words should "savor of his excellence," as Calvin put it. This requires that we regularly read and meditate upon the Word of God, particularly those passages that help us to think of the Lord's excellence. (2) Insist on proper interpretation of God's Word in times of preaching and teaching. "Give us the Word of God," should be our cry! And with that, properly interpret the Word (2 Tim. 2:15). I agree with Edwards, "Today the greatest challenge to the evangelical is that of 'hermeneutics'-the correct interpretation and understanding of the Bible" [112]. Interpretation employs the name of the Lord either honorably or vainly.

(3) Proper interpretation of the Word also affects the way that we give proper honor to the Lord's name in worship. Scripture must direct and regulate our worship. We must never give way to triteness and gimmickry as substitutes for Scripture-driven worship. The so-called "dog-and-pony shows" that pass for worship services take the Lord's name in vain. Brian Edwards reminds us, "...the test of true worship is not whether it makes us happy but whether it makes us holy; not whether it pleases us, but whether it pleases God. Worship is not always a pleasure, sometimes it is very painful" [104]. (4) We must recognize with grateful praise all of the works of the Lord by His wise providence. In doing this, we duly honor Him, so that even in those things that we do not fully grasp His purpose, we glory in His wisdom, power, and eternal purpose.

2. Reaction to dishonoring God

Zeal for the honor of the Lord's name must characterize us, especially in a day when everywhere we turn it seems that someone speaks degradingly of Him. This is especially found in the way people will quickly use God's name to curse or as an expletive. Rob Schenck recounted the way that he handled this on one occasion.

Some years ago, after a long speaking itinerary in the Midwest, I boarded a late-night flight to return home. I was tired and looking forward to a rest. Sitting behind me in the airplane were two salesmen whose conversation was peppered with profanity. I had finally had it when they began running the Lord's name into the gutter. I raised myself up from my seat and turned around so that I was looking down on them from my perch. Then I asked, "Are either of you in the ministry?"

The one in the aisle seat raised his eyebrows incredulously and said, "What the...would ever make you think that?"

"Well, I am in the ministry," I said with a smile. "And I am amazed at your communication skills. You just said God, damn, hell, and Jesus Christ in one sentence. I can't get all of that into a whole sermon!" They both blushed, and I didn't hear another word from them for the remainder of the flight! [Quoted by Phil Ryken, 95].

That kind of response, or something similar, might become the instrument that God will be pleased to use to bring conviction to someone of their own sinful ways, and their need for Christ to deliver them from their bondage to sin. Mind you, this is never to be handled in a self-righteous way, as though we come across with the attitude, "I would never talk in such a way!" Rather, our purpose must be the glory and honor of the Lord. Our actions must be for Him and not for our comfort. Not every occasion is such that we can speak up, but many times we can and must not therefore remain silent when the name of the Lord is taken in vain.

Nor should we spend our time listening to things that major on taking God's name in vain. Some of the popular music of our day highlights denigrating the Lord's name. Do we have any business listening to that kind of material? There are some movies that Christians need not attend, or if mistakenly attend, get up and walk out so as not to be fed the stream of God-profaning language and attitudes so prevalent in our day. Let us take a lesson from the angels around the throne of God that never cease to give glory to the Lord (Rev. 4:8-11).

Conclusion

How do you treat the name of the Lord in the way that you talk, the way that you live as a Christian, and in the way you respond to His name being dishonored by the world? Even in worship, do you casually take His name upon your lips without giving thought to His majesty or His holiness or the grace He has shown in giving His Son on our behalf?

Let us seek to be zealous in honoring the name of the Lord!