TAKING THE LORD’S NAME IN VAIN

By Stephen Harper

    When the Israelites came to Mount Sinai after their deliverance from Egyptian captivity, God spoke with them there and gave to them the set of laws we know best as the Ten Command­ments (Ex. 20:1-17). Those laws, along with many others that would be deliv­ered there at Sinai, outlined the will of God for His people and defined the life they should live in order to please Him. The third com­mandment given, of the Ten Command­ments, said, “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain” (v. 7). It is this command­ment I would like us to consider today — its meaning then and now, and how men might be guilty of transgressing this com­mand in ways that most do not consider.

    First of all, we must consider that the Ten Commandments, along with all com­mands of the Old Law, are not our stan­dard for today. Jesus has been given all authority (Matt. 28:18) and it is through Jesus Christ that God speaks to us today (Heb. 1:1, 2). Since the bringing in of the new covenant, the old has been replaced and made obsolete (Heb. 8:13). That is not to say that all things given in the Old Testament are useless, for we know that we should learn some important lessons from what was written before (Rom. 15:4; 1 Cor. 10:11). While we may learn some lessons from the Old Law, we cannot use it as our source of authority for what is taught, believed, and practiced within the Lord's church today, else we cut ourselves off from Christ (Gal. 5:4) and we make the blood of Christ ineffective to us (v. 2).

    But while the Old Testament is not our law, we can certainly see some important principles that are still effective and impor­tant for any and all who seek to please God. Even within the Ten Commandments, we find a standard of behavior and moral­ity that still stands — not because we are obligated to follow the Ten Command­ments, but because these principles and moral standards were repeated by Jesus and the apostles and writers of the New Testament books as standards of conduct for the children of God throughout all ages and civilizations.

    This commandment is one which carries over into New Testament instruction, though not stated as plainly as the way it is here. To see how this carries over, we must first consider the commandment and its meaning. The problem with this is that this commandment is one that some have a particular application based on their belief that there is either only one way it can be interpreted, or at least the interpretation they hold to is the most important way it should be interpreted. Like any text, I be­lieve we should take it for its full meaning, but not go beyond what was intended; that is proper Biblical interpretation and, nec­essarily, proper application. If we do not fully understand the interpretation, we will not fully apply it as it was meant to be ap­plied!

    Matthew Henry, in his commentary on this commandment, outlines for us five ways men may take the name of the Lord in vain, and I would have to concur with his conclusions. They are as follows:

    Hypocrisy. When people wear the name of God [or in our case, Christ] and live like the world, we are — in effect — taking His name in vain and profaning it. There is a standard of conduct Christians must heed that God's name will be glorified (1 Pet. 2:11, 12); when we do not live up to that standard, we bring reproach upon that name. As Christians, we cannot tell the world that they must put away sin — and then indulge in the very thing we forbid others! This hypocritical way of life was se­verely chastised by Paul when he wrote the Roman brethren, and pointed out that such a way of life caused the world to blaspheme the name of God (Rom. 2:22-24). May we never take the name of Christ upon us without understanding that, by doing so, we bear a great responsibility for upholding its due honor.

    Covenant-breaking and False Oaths. "Covenant-breaking" sounds like an ar­chaic term, but it still applies to all men and should be especially important for those who are God's people. And, yet, how many so-called Christians think nothing of breaking their vows before God? Especially in the realm of marriage, "religious" peo­ple are just as apt to divorce as those of the world, so what message must the world be learning from us? If we tout the importance of lifetime commitments, but then divorce just as frequently as the un­godly, are we not taking His name in vain when we fail to uphold those vows? The world does not invoke His name much any­more in the marriage ceremony, but those who claim to be followers of God do; do we really mean what we say? We better! God says plainly, “When you vow a vow to God, do not delay paying it, for he has no pleas­ure in fools. Pay what you vow. It is better that you should not vow than that you should vow and not pay” (Eccl. 5:4, 5). Before you make that vow before men and God, you had better be willing to uphold it.

    Many commentators say the intended meaning of the commandment applies to false oaths. While it is certainly one of the meanings, it is also not the only meaning. But God did specifically forbid the use of false oaths; that is, making oaths one never intended to keep — usually after in­voking God's name to assure the other party that you were sincere. This reminds me of the words of a political spokesman from a few years ago who, when asked about certain unkept campaign promises, replied, "He kept the ones he meant to keep." His audacity was shocking, or at least it should be! God does not take oaths lightly!

    Profanity. Our society is apparently get­ting more crude by generations, and I shudder to think what I and my kids will be hearing when we all get a little older! Nowadays, it is not uncommon to hear people utter exclamations using God's name in a profane [common] way. [At the same time, you won't hear many using His name in a positive context.] On several television shows, it is almost guaranteed that the reaction of the people on the show will be that unholy exclamation. Now, in the computer vernacular, there is even a shortened form of this unholy exclamation [OMG] that makes texting and "instant messaging" easier to profane His name. When I was a lot younger, most religious people understood this was unacceptable; nowadays, I hear some of my own broth­ers and sisters in Christ using this unholy exclamation. This is not a positive trend! Surely we can do better than this!

    Careless Usage. This error is one often overlooked by many simply because they do not realize they are using God's name in a flippant, careless manner. But take a look around at our society and you can easily see that there is a lost respect for God and His name. Take a look around even a "religious bookstore" and you see that it is being treated lightly or disre­spectfully even by those who claim to be His closest adherents! Take a look inside the churches of this country and you see God has been brought down to the level of man and Jesus is just another of our "good buddies" with whom we can go out drinking and doing "guy things" with on the weekends [in the churches]. Whatever happened to "Almighty God" and "King of Kings"? Shouldn't places of worship be where God's name is exalted and not profaned?

    Friends and brethren, let us not get to the point we, too, take the name of our Lord in vain. Let us live so that the world will glorify God and Christ and that they will have no reason to charge us with taking His name in vain (Titus 2:7, 8). God will not hold him guiltless who does so.

Think about it. &

(From: TRUTH & REASON, a bulletin of the Glendale church of Christ, Glendale, AZ. Editor: Steven Harper)