PENnED

“Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.” -Exodus 20:7 KJV

This message was aired in Taglish (Tagalog/Engish) over…

For some time now I’ve been wondering about whether or not the popular interpretation of the third commandment is accurate. The reason why I doubt the accuracy of the common interpretation is because of the way the commandment is being applied: shallowly.

How often have we heard people say to not curse or swear because it violates the third commandment? But is that all to it?

I am not saying that it’s OK to use profanity. Far from it! In fact, I feel embarrass if someone would, in his or her unguarded moment would utter expletives. This is especially so when that person is someone I know personally.

Perhaps people have been focusing on cursing or swearing as the violation of “Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain…” not only because it is obviously bad or disgusting, but also because it is often committed.

There may be other acts that are also violations of the third commandment but they may have been ignored perhaps because they appear to be OK. This is especially so when such violation is camouflaged in the practice of piety.

I think the way some people are using the name of God in prayer is also a violation of the commandment. I’ve heard people, including pastors, pray in a way that the Lord’s name is misused. The pray may go like this:

Father God, Jesus, we bless your name…Father God. We praise you, Lord… Father God.  We adore you… Father God. We come to you in the name of Jesus… Father God. We pray, Lord, for our ministry, Father Gdo. Bring more souls to your kingdom, Lord…Father God. Yes, Lord… Father God… in Jesus name, amen and amen!

This kind of praying just drives me nuts! We don’t use each other’s names as many times when we’re talking to each other, so why use the Lord’s name as filler when talking to him? (And two “amens”? Why? One is not enough?)

The reason why I am pointing these things out is to show that there may be other and perhaps less obvious ways that people use the name of the Lord in vain. But I must also confess that I have an ulterior motive for doing so, and that is to make us think that perhaps the reason why we have not really truly grasped the meaning of the third commandment is because we quickly jump into the application of the commandment when we need to understand what it is really all about in the first place.

To do that, it is necessary that we need to look at the third commandment within the context of Israel’s Exodus experience, as well as in view of what the New Testament and our Lord Jesus have to say about the commandments, including the third commandment, of course.

The Context of the Exodus

We have to bear in mind that the giving of the Decalogue, or Ten Commandments, does not begin immediately with dos and don’ts. Rather, it begins with a reminder that the Lord that issues these commands is the one that “have brought (Israel) out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.”

It is, therefore, important that we look at the Ten Commandments as proceeding from the gracious act of God and, as a result of it, the freedom of Israel.

In other words, because of what God has done, Israel is now free to worship the Lord their God, a God that has given them a new identity: as a people belonging to the Lord and each other. It is, therefore, not surprising that the first four of the Ten Commandments have to do with Israel’s relationship with God and the rest have to do with their relationship with one another!

It seems obvious then that the Commandments are given to nourish these relationships. And as far as the third commandment is concerned, it is given so that the “saved” people of Israel might respond to the great “I am,” the LORD their God, who saved them from slavery in the land of Egypt. How? Among other things, by not using God’s name in vain.

The name of the Lord is too holy to utter that even today some Jews avoid speaking it. Obviously, to utter God’s name in vain is even a worse thing to do. But a name in the ancient world functions more than it does today—it tells more about the one that bears the name.

In the context of the Exodus, the Lord was clearly shown as a God who was superior to all the gods of Egypt. The Lord was the almighty God that saved Israel. Thus the Lord deserves worship and honor from those who have been saved. Vain use of the Lord’s name is therefore absolutely inappropriate.

The Lenses of New Testament and the Words of Jesus

That obeying the commandments, or whatever it is that believers need to do, should be done in response to the saving act of a gracious God is made even clearer in the New Testament. In Ephesians 2, after declaring, “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not the result of works, so that no one may boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9), the Apostle Paul goes on to say, “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them” (v.10).

The saved ones take on a new identity and, as a people “created in Christ Jesus,” they are expected to behave in a way that expresses that identity. If one identifies himself or herself as a believer in Jesus, then that person should live in a way that expresses such faith or relationship with Jesus, or that he or she is truly “in Jesus” (which, by the way, what we should have in mind when we end our prayer with “in Jesus’ name,” and not just think of it as some magical formula).

So rather than just a commandment that is there to discourage people from cursing or swearing or other ways of literally using the Lord’s name in vain, the third commandment behooves us to take a deeper look at our relationship with the Lord—to ask the question whether we have truly experienced the saving act of our gracious Lord who died on the cross for our sake… whether or not we are truly in Jesus, a name which means, “the Lord is salvation.”

Jesus himself warns against faking it:

 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ (Matthew 7:21-23, NIV).

On the other hand, those that have been truly saved have their identity planted securely in Christ. In an authentic way, they respond to his grace as they live out the life of a people who have been saved and set free from the bondage of sin and, by doing so, honor the Lord’s name.